Thượng lương bất chính hạ lương sai

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Those in higher positions are not upright, while those below are disobedient

Literally: Upper beam not straight, lower beam crooked

Examples

Khi thượng lương bất chính hạ lương sai thì xã hội dễ rơi vào loạnWhen those in higher positions are not upright and those below are disobedient, society easily falls into chaos

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Headword listed in the vdict.com proverb dictionary index (discovery source; headword only — no source content copied). Entered as candidate 2026-08-05; definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-08; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “Thượng lương bất chính hạ lương sai” mean?

Those in higher positions are not upright, while those below are disobedient Literally: Upper beam not straight, lower beam crooked

Is “Thượng lương bất chính hạ lương sai” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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