Basic Information
Chinese Idiom: 引狼入室
Pinyin: yǐn láng rù shì
Literal Meaning: Lead a wolf into one’s own house.
Figurative Meaning: To invite malicious, dangerous people into one’s home, team or inner circle, thus bringing disasters and troubles upon oneself.
Cultural Background
In traditional Chinese culture, wolves have long symbolized vicious, greedy and untrustworthy villains. This idiom uses a sharp animal metaphor to criticize foolish and careless conduct: a person mistakenly trusts a harmful outsider and lets them get close, only to suffer severe harm, betrayal or losses later. It serves as a warning against blind trust of strangers with evil intentions.
Origin & English Translation
From Act 1 of the Yuan Dynasty opera Master Luo Li by Zhang Guobin:
I am not leading wolves to nest inside my house, nor inviting centipedes to crawl into my ears.
From Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio · Lady Li by Pu Songling of the Qing Dynasty
The Historian of the Strange comments: This scholar behaved immorally, and his retribution was terrible. Any man who remarries recklessly is essentially leading a wolf into his home – how could he hope to find a virtuous wife among those who indulge in illicit trysts and flee their families?
Cultural Note
This idiom is frequently used in political commentary and business strategy to criticize leaders or managers who make careless alliances with untrustworthy partners.
In Chinese history, there are many real examples of states inviting foreign troops to quell internal rebellions – only to find those troops refused to leave and ended up conquering the country.
For example, Emperor Huizong of Northern Song once allied with the Jurchen Jin against Liao. After destroying Liao, Jin turned on Song, leading to disaster. In the Three Kingdoms period, Yuan Shao died without formally naming an heir. The Yuan brothers, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, both want to be the successor. Soon, they turned on each other. Yuan Tan even sought help from none other than Cao Cao – their shared archenemy. This was not just naive; it was catastrophic. Also in the Three Kingdoms period, in order to eliminate the powerful eunuch faction known as the Ten Attendants, He Jin and Yuan Shao had schemed meticulously and invited Dong Zhuo to the capital, intending to use Dong Zhuo as a tiger to devour the wolves (the eunuchs), only to end up inviting a wolf into their own house.
It is also used in personal relationships to warn against trusting strangers too quickly, especially when you have something valuable to protect.
Usage
Derogatory. It is used to reproach people who carelessly bring dangerous bad actors into their private lives, organizations or inner circle, triggering self-inflicted misfortunes.
Key Lesson
Do not trust the enemy just because they look weak, friendly, or useful. Once you let a threat inside your borders, your home, or your organization, it is much harder to defend yourself. Always examine the true intentions of outsiders before giving them access to your inner circle.
Equivalent English idioms
- Nurse a viper in one’s bosom
- Let the fox into the henhouse
- Put the fox in charge of the henhouse
- Open the door to a wolf
- Invite trouble into one’s own house
- Bring a Trojan horse into the camp
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