Lu Yu was a learned man of integrity in the period of Three Kingdoms (220-280), serving as a senior official.
Once the emperor was selecting talents for a post, officials recommended a lot of famous people. The emperor of Wei said, “I would like to let Lu Yu select the right person instead of those well-known but incapable ones. Fame is just like a pancake drawn on the wall. You cannot eat it.”
Lu Yu suggested the emperor to combine examination with selection. From then on, officials were appointed according to their real ability. Lu Yu’s method for selection was widely praised.
The idiom came from what the emperor said. At first, it indicated enjoying an empty fame”. Later, people use it to describe satisfying oneself by imagining things or consoling oneself with false hopes.
Empty fame is pointless. Just like the current economy, you can relate the drawing of a pancake to the earlier bubble days where the only way to go is up.
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