Chinese idiom · 成语
城门失火
Meaning
City gate catches fire; innocent bystanders suffer.
Character by character
Origin and story
Traditional explanatory taleThe fuller saying is 城门失火，殃及池鱼: a fire at the city gate brings disaster to the fish. Material preserved from Ying Shao’s Fengsu Tongyi (風俗通義) records competing explanations. One makes Chi Yu a gate official burned while fighting the fire. Another, citing Baijia Shu (百家書), says people draw water from a pond to extinguish the flames, emptying it and leaving its fish exposed.
Du Bi later uses the full saying in a proclamation, warning that conflict can harm people outside the original dispute. The familiar fish version is an explanatory tale, not a securely established report of a particular fire. The lesson concerns innocent parties suffering through indirect consequences.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
两个部门争预算，连我们的培训也取消了，真是城门失火，殃及池鱼。
Two departments fought over the budget, and even our training was canceled—innocent bystanders paid the price.
Normally use the full paired saying to make the unintended harm clear.