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From: MDBG CC-CEDICT Chinese-English Dictionary 漢英字典

 郢書燕說 [ㄧㄥˇ ㄕㄨ ㄧㄢ ㄕㄨㄛ; ying3 shu1 yan1 shuo1]
 lit. Ying writes a letter and Yan reads it
 fig. to misinterpret the original meaning
 to pile up errors
 refers to the letter from capital 郢[ㄧㄥˇ; ying3] of 楚[ㄔㄨˇ; chu3] in which the inadvertent words "hold up the candle" are mistaken by the minister of 燕[ㄧㄢ; yan1] as "promote the wise"
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