The story of butchering a cow: Zhuang Zhou, a representative of Taoism during the Warring States period, told a story: a chef slaughtered a cow for King Hui of Liang, and his cow slaughtering technique was very skillful, the knife moved flexibly in the cracks of the cow's bones without any obstacles, and it was very rhythmic. King Hui of Liang was dumbfounded and praised him for his skill. The chef said he had been unraveling cows for 19 years and knew the structure of the cow perfectly.

Chopping people

The idiom of "chopping people" is finely chopped meat; "baking" is roasted meat. The idiom of "popular people" originally refers to the food that everyone loves to eat, and it is often used as a metaphor for the things that everyone praises and the poems that are recited.

This idiom comes from Mencius. The idiom of Diligence of Heart is that Zeng Zhe was addicted to goat jujubes, while Zeng Zi could not bear to eat goat jujubes. Gongsun Chou asked, "Which is better, chopped food or goat dates?" Mencius said, "Chopped food is the best!" Gongsun Chou said, "Then why did Zeng Zi eat chopped food but not goat dates?" Mencius said, "The popular food is the same, but the goat dates are unique. The name is not taboo, the name is the same, the name is unique."

During the Spring and Autumn Period, there were two men, father and son, who were both disciples of Confucius. The father, Zeng Zhe, loved to eat goat jujube (a kind of wild fruit, commonly called milk persimmon); the son, Zeng Sen, was a filial son, and could not bear to eat goat jujube after his father's death. This incident had been greatly celebrated by the Confucian children at that time.

By the time of the Warring States period, Meng Zi's disciple Gong Sun Chou could not understand this incident, so he went to ask his teacher Meng Zi for advice. Gongsun Chou asked, "Teacher, which is better, chopped pork or goat dates?"

"Of course the chopped food is delicious, there is no one who doesn't love chopped food!" Gongsun Chou asked again, "Since chopped food is delicious, then both Zeng Sen and his father loved to eat chopped food? Then why didn't Zeng Sen abstain from eating chopped food, but only abstained from eating goat jujubes?"

Meng Zi replied, "The chow mein is what everyone loves to eat; the taste of goat jujube is not as good as chow mein, but it is what Zeng Zhe especially loves to eat. So Zeng Zhen only abstained from eating goat jujube. It is like abstaining from calling one's elders by their first name and not by their last name; the last name is the same, but the first name is unique to oneself."

Mengzi's words made Gongsun Chou realize the truth of it. Later, people derived the idiom of "popular people" from Mengzi's "popular, all the same". The idiom of "popular" is used to describe the things that are praised by everyone and the poems that are recited.