说曹操,曹操到 (shuo1 Cao2 Cao1, Cao2 Cao1 dao4)

This Chinese proverb is amazingly similar to the English saying "Speak of the Devil, and he is bound to appear". It has exactly the same meaning, and they have the same sentence structure. (One wonders whether the English had known of Cao Cao, or the Chinese had heard of Lucifer.)

Cao Cao was a general-king of the state of Wei (魏) during the Three Kingdoms period, and he was notorious for his cruelty. One of his famous sayings is "I would rather wrong all the people under heaven than to have them wrong me!" (宁可我负天下,天下人不可负我!) He said this after he realised that an elderly couple whom he had put to death had actually saved his life previously. After his only-too-timely demise, this was often used as justification for the many bloodbaths and massacres that occurred in Chinese history. From this one revealing expression, one can understand the fear that his subordinates had of him.

Fortunately, both Cao Cao and the Devil possess neither omniscience nor omnipresence, so their presence at such events can only be put down to mere coincidences.

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