During the Western Jin Dynasty, a glib and talented young scholar named Qian Xiu caught the favor of powerful nobles and was appointed as an imperial advisor to the emperor.
Qian Xiu was a man who loved to boast. He once bragged to others, "If I were appointed prime minister and tasked with overseeing all officials, I would surely eliminate evil and reward virtue, purging the corrupt and promoting the pure. If I were made a military commander, I would defeat any enemy and achieve unparalleled glory."
However, he was merely a giant of words. In 291 AD, Qian Xiu held the important post of Minister of the Imperial Secretariat. At that time, the Western Jin imperial family was embroiled in the War of the Eight Princes, a struggle for the throne sparked by Emperor Hui of Jin, Sima Zhong, who was intellectually disabled. Faced with the rebellion of the princes, Qian Xiu not only dared not oppose them but also colluded with them.
He first served under Sima Ai, the Prince of Changsha, but after Sima Ai was killed, he defected to Sima Ying, the Prince of Chengdu. When the Prince of Hejian seized power, he switched allegiance again, becoming the prince's General Who Pacifies the North. After the Prince of Hejian was defeated by Sima Yue, the Prince of Donghai, Qian Xiu was killed in the ensuing chaos by one of the Prince of Hejian's own officers.
Later, the idiom "Stirring the Muddy and Raising the Clear" came to be used as a metaphor for eliminating evil and promoting good, as well as for removing the bad and developing the good.
Source: *Book of Jin*, "Biography of Qian Xiu"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "激浊扬清" came to describe eliminating evil and promoting good, as well as for removing the bad and developing the good.