Chinese idiom · 成语
鱼目混珠
Meaning
Fish eyes mixed with pearls; passing off fakes.
Character by character
Origin and story
Literary imageA fish's eye can resemble a pearl without having a pearl's value. This comparison has a long textual history: Li Shan's commentary on a letter by Ren Fang in the Wen Xuan quotes the Han Shi Wai Zhuan on fish eyes resembling pearls. Li Bai likewise contrasted fish eyes with precious things in his Minggao song for Master Cen. These are antecedents of the image, not necessarily the exact four-character wording.
The later novel Hua Yue Hen, chapter 17, uses the familiar expression itself. Its force is the substitution of an inferior or false thing for something genuine. There is no need to supply an invented story about a particular pearl merchant.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
这批零件里混入了仿冒品，卖家想鱼目混珠。
Counterfeit parts have been mixed into this batch; the seller is trying to pass them off as genuine.
Use for fakes or inferior goods presented as genuine; not simply a mixture of different things.