A Precarious Pile of Eggs 危如累卵

The Chinese idiom 危如累卵 (wei1 ru2 lei3 luan3) literally means as precarious as a pile of eggs and comes from a story about King Liu Pi, ruler of the State of Wu.

After his son was killed during a quarrel with a prince of the Han imperial court, King Liu grew to hate the Han regime with a passion. He started by pretending that he was under the weather in order to miss the regular sessions of the imperial court. But, ultimately this did not help. So, he began plotting a rebellion against the Han regime.

King Liu Pi's aid, Mei Cheng, heard about the plot and warned the king that he could not succeed in a battle against the Han regime and that he was likely to be taken to the cleaners. Mei advised the king that to continue plotting against such a formidable foe would leave the king in a situation as precarious as a pile of eggs.

Mei's prediction was correct. When the Han emperor was told that some states, including King Liu Pi's State of Wu, were expanding their military he introduced measures to tighten the control of his central government. And when Liu's plot of rebellion finally came to light, the emperor sent in a large army to crush the revolt. In just three months, all the rebel troops from the State of Wu were wiped out and King Liu Pi was killed.

The popular Chinese idiom 危如累卵 (wei1 ru2 lei3 luan3) is today used to describe situations wher a person has placed themselves (or has been placed by circumstances) in a situation wher there is an imminent danger of something bad happening. English speakers might describe a person in such as situation as being on a slippery slope.