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焚書坑儒

简焚书坑儒 · 繁焚書坑儒

Mandarin · pinyin fén shū kēng rú

to burn the Confucian classics and bury alive the Confucian scholars (acts supposedly committed by the first emperor 秦始皇 Qín Shǐ huáng)

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Characters in this entry

焚: fén · burn
書: Look up this written character
坑: kēng · pit, hole; bury, trap; harry
儒: rú · Confucian scholar
书: shū · book, letter, document; writings

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Mandarin tones

2–1–1–2 · fen2 shu1 keng1 ru2

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

焚書坑儒 · find source passages ↗ · 焚书坑儒 · find source passages ↗

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(historical, also figurative) "burning of books and burying of scholars" (an event in the Qin dynasty)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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