毁誉参半

Origin and story

The Ministry of Education dictionary defines this expression as praise and criticism being roughly balanced, without establishing a particular founding story. A documented use occurs in Liang Qichao's preface to his biography of Guan Zhong. Liang argues that assessments of important statesmen have often been distorted by partisan loyalties and inherited prejudices; he describes Guan Zhong's reputation as divided between admiration and criticism.

That passage illustrates the idiom, but does not prove that Liang coined it. The expression reports mixed judgments about a person, work, or decision. It need not mean that exactly half of all reviewers approve, nor does it decide which side is correct.