The state of Lu was the cradleland（发源地） of Confucianism, and there were a great number of Confucian scholars in the state. Duke Aigong of the state of Lu was very proud of this.
But Zhang Zi thought that those who had the title of Confucian scholar were not necessarily true Confucianists. So there were not many, but too few Confucian scholars in the state of Lu.
He said, "I hear that those Confucian scholars who wear a round top headgear（帽子） are familiar with meteorology（气象状态） and the order of nature; and those who wear square shoes know geography; those who bear a jade1（翡翠） are good at making decisions. The people who have feat2 and abilities do not necessarily wear the scholar's costumes. And those who do wear the scholar's costumes do not necessarily have feat and abilities. If your majesty3 do not believe what I said, you could just issue an order saying, 'whoever who wears scholar's costume but has no feat and abilities will be executed!' and see if there will still be some people wearing scholar's costume." Duke Aigong of the state of Lu adopted his suggestion.
Five days after the order was issued, you could not find any people wearing the scholar's costume in the streets of the state of Lu any more.
鲁哀公为自己的国家是儒家的发源地，并拥有众多的儒生感到自豪和骄傲。
而庄子却认为有儒生称号的人并不意味着这人一定就是儒家，鲁国的儒生不是多了，而是少了。
他说：“我听说，儒生中戴着圆顶帽子的，能通晓气象天时；穿着方形鞋子的，能明晓地理；身佩玉炔的，遇事能够决断。有技艺、有本领的人士，英语小故事不一定要穿儒士的服装；穿儒士服装的，也不一定有技艺、有本领。您如果认为我的话不低，不妨号令全国‘没有真实技艺和本领却穿着儒士服装的，处以死刑！’看看是否还有人穿儒服装”。鲁哀公同意了。
下令五日之后，鲁国穿儒服的人在街头一下子就没有了踪迹。
