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.