集思广益

Origin and story

The Records of the Three Kingdoms' biography of Dong He preserves instructions that Zhuge Liang gave his staff. He explains that advisers should bring together many people's thoughts to increase the benefit of sound counsel. Avoiding disagreement out of embarrassment, he warns, leaves omissions and causes harm.

Zhuge Liang recalls the frank assistance of Xu Shu and Dong He. Dong He would return to an unresolved matter repeatedly, and Zhuge Liang valued that persistence rather than resenting it. The modern four-character idiom condenses his longer wording, ji zhong si, guang zhong yi. Its point is useful collective judgment, including honest correction, not simply having a large meeting.