# 撥亂反正
## Chinese

| | | to put in order, to govern | disorder; to manage | to redress (an injustice), to right; to return | justice, right |
| trad. (撥亂反正) | trad. (撥亂反正) | 撥 | 亂 | 反 | 正 |
| simp. (拨乱反正) | simp. (拨乱反正) | 拨 | 乱 | 反 | 正 |

### Etymology

From the Commentary of Gongyang:
    From: Commentary of Gongyang, c. 206 BCE– 9 CE
    Jūnzǐ héwèi wéi “Chūnqiū”? Bō luànshì, fǎn zhū zhèng, mò jìn zhū “Chūnqiū”. [Pinyin]
    For what (purpose) did the Noble One compose the Spring and Autumn Annals? To repair a chaotic world and redress it in goodness and justice — there is no other way closer to (achieving this ideal) than (the meanings contained in the words of) the Spring and Autumn.
The character 撥 in this phrase is traditionally glossed as 治 (zhì, “to impose order; to govern/manage; to repair/cure; etc.”) — for instance by He Xiu (何休, 129–182 CE) and Yan Shigu (顏師古, 581–645 CE) — whereas 亂 is interpreted as "disordered; chaotic; upside-down". Alternatively (and rarely), 亂 is used as a verb that means "to apply order; to arrange; to manage", and is considered a synonym of 撥 here.

### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): bōluànfǎnzhèng
    (Zhuyin): ㄅㄛ ㄌㄨㄢˋ ㄈㄢˇ ㄓㄥˋ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): but$^6$ lyun$^6$ faan$^2$ zing$^3$
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: bōluànfǎnzhèng
*** Zhuyin: ㄅㄛ ㄌㄨㄢˋ ㄈㄢˇ ㄓㄥˋ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: boluànfǎnjhèng
*** Wade–Giles: po$^1$-luan$^4$-fan$^3$-chêng$^4$
*** Yale: bwō-lwàn-fǎn-jèng
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: boluannfaanjenq
*** Palladius: болуаньфаньчжэн (boluanʹfanʹčžɛn)
*** Sinological IPA : /pu̯ɔ⁵⁵ lu̯än⁵¹ fän²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂɤŋ⁵¹/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: but$^6$ lyun$^6$ faan$^2$ zing$^3$
*** Yale: buht lyuhn fáan jing
*** Cantonese Pinyin: but$^9$ lyn$^6$ faan$^2$ dzing$^3$
*** Guangdong Romanization: bud$^6$ lün$^6$ fan$^2$ jing$^3$
*** Sinological IPA : /puːt̚² lyːn²² faːn³⁵ t͡sɪŋ³³/
* Middle Chinese: pat lwanH phjon|pjonX tsyengH
Rime :
| Character | 撥 | 亂 | 反 | 反 | 正 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 |
| Initial (聲) | 幫 (1) | 來 (37) | 滂 (2) | 幫 (1) | 章 (23) |
| Final (韻) | 末 (64) | 桓 (62) | 元 (66) | 元 (66) | 清 (121) |
| Tone (調) | Checked (Ø) | Departing (H) | Level (Ø) | Rising (X) | Departing (H) |
| Openness (開合) | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Open |
| Division (等) | I | I | III | III | III |
| Fanqie | 北末切 | 郎段切 | 孚袁切 | 府遠切 | 之盛切 |
| Baxter | pat | lwanH | phjon | pjonX | tsyengH |
| Reconstructions ||||||
| Zhengzhang Shangfang | /puɑt̚/ | /luɑn$^H$/ | /pʰʉɐn/ | /pʉɐn$^X$/ | /t͡ɕiᴇŋ$^H$/ |
| Pan Wuyun | /pʷɑt̚/ | /lʷɑn$^H$/ | /pʰʷiɐn/ | /pʷiɐn$^X$/ | /t͡ɕiɛŋ$^H$/ |
| Shao Rongfen | /puɑt̚/ | /luɑn$^H$/ | /pʰiuɐn/ | /piuɐn$^X$/ | /t͡ɕiæŋ$^H$/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank | /pwat̚/ | /lwan$^H$/ | /pʰuan/ | /puan$^X$/ | /ciajŋ$^H$/ |
| Li Rong | /puɑt̚/ | /luɑn$^H$/ | /pʰiuɐn/ | /piuɐn$^X$/ | /t͡ɕiɛŋ$^H$/ |
| Wang Li | /puɑt̚/ | /luɑn$^H$/ | /pʰĭwɐn/ | /pĭwɐn$^X$/ | /t͡ɕĭɛŋ$^H$/ |
| Bernard Karlgren | /puɑt̚/ | /luɑn$^H$/ | /pʰi̯wɐn/ | /pi̯wɐn$^X$/ | /t͡ɕi̯ɛŋ$^H$/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex | bo | luàn | fān | fǎn | zhèng |
| Expected Cantonese Reflex | but$^3$ | lyun$^6$ | faan$^1$ | faan$^2$ | zing$^3$ |
* Old Chinese
    (Baxter–Sagart): /*pˤat [r]ˤo[n]-s Cə.panʔ teŋ-s/
    (Zhengzhang): /*paːd roːns pʰan|panʔ tjeŋs/
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014) :
| Character | 撥 | 亂 | 反 | 正 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 2/2 | 2/2 |
| Modern Beijing (Pinyin) | bō | luàn | fǎn | zhèng |
| Middle Chinese | ‹ pat › | ‹ lwan$^H$ › | ‹ pjon$^X$ › | ‹ tsyeng$^H$ › |
| Old Chinese | /*pˁat/ | /*[r]ˁo[n]-s/ | /*Cə.panʔ/ | /*teŋ-s/ |
| English | spread out | disorder, rebellion | reverse (v.) | correct (adj., v.) |
| Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary. |||||
Zhengzhang system (2003) :
| Character | 撥 | 亂 | 反 | 反 | 正 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 2/2 | 1/2 | 2/2 |
| No. | 2831 | 8645 | 2974 | 2968 | 17178 |
| Phonetic component | 發 | 亂 | 反 | 反 | 正 |
| Rime group | 月 | 元 | 元 | 元 | 耕 |
| Rime subdivision | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Corresponding MC rime | 撥 | 亂 | 飜 | 反 | 政 |
| Old Chinese | /*paːd/ | /*roːns/ | /*pʰan/ | /*panʔ/ | /*tjeŋs/ |

### Idiom

撥亂反正
* to bring order out of chaos; to set right what have been thrown into disorder; to restore justice
    From: The Book of Han, circa 1st century CE
    Hàn xìng, bōluànfǎnzhèng, rì bù xiá jǐ, yóu mìng Shūsūn Tōng zhì lǐyí, yǐ zhèng jūnchén zhī wèi. [Pinyin]
    In the early days since Han arose, (the imperial government) was thoroughly immersed in the business of righting the wrongs (of Qin and the wars that followed) as if there were never enough hours in each day, yet it was still able to commission Shusun Tong with the creation of court ceremonies, in order that the monarch and the subjects could find themselves in their rightful places.