Chinese idiom · 成语
草菅人命
Meaning
To treat lives like straw; to disregard human lives.
Character by character
Origin and story
Classical political argumentThe Bao Fu chapter of the Da Dai Liji discusses how a ruler's education shapes his conduct. It describes Zhao Gao teaching Hu Hai harsh punishment rather than humane principles, so that on becoming ruler Hu Hai treats killing people as casually as cutting grass. The passage asks whether this is simply innate wickedness or the consequence of bad instruction. Parallel wording survives in Jia Yi's Xinshu and in his Hanshu biography.
The idiom condenses that brutal comparison. 菅 is a grass, and human lives are being treated as disposable vegetation. It strongly condemns reckless or deliberate disregard for life, not merely an ordinary mistake.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
明知设备有危险还强迫工人开工，简直是草菅人命。
Forcing workers to start despite known equipment hazards is a flagrant disregard for human life.
A severe accusation involving danger to life; unsuitable for trivial carelessness.