門庭若市

This idiom comes fromIntrigues of the Warring States·Intrigues of Qi.During the WarringStates Period， the minister of the State of Qi， Zou Ji was a handsome man. Once， he asked his wife: \"Who is more handsome， Xu Gong or me?\" (Xu Gong was a famous handsome man at that time. ) She answered: \"How can Xu Gong compare to you?\" Then he asked his concubine the same question. She answered immediately: \"Of course you are more handsome than Xu.\"

The next day， a visitor called on Zou for help. He tried the same question on him. \"It's very clear that you are more nice-looking than him，\" the guest answered firmly.

A few days later， Xu Gong came to visit him. Zou seized the chance to look him up and down clearly and found that he himself was uglier than Xu. So he thought over again and again why all of them didn't like to tell the truth. Finally， he drew a conclusion:\"Some of them may show favouritism to me， and others may ask me for help.\" From this， Zou realized that the King of Qi must be more fooled by honeyed words than common people.

The next day， when he went to the court， he told the King about everything he had experienced， and he suggested that to be a King who should listen to public words and accept criticism and guard against flattery. The King considered that Zou's words were reasonable and issued an order immediately that anyone in the court， high or lows even the common people could give their good suggestions or point out the mistakes of the state affairs. Then the King would reward them.

Upon hearing the King's order， a lot of officials and common people flocked to the palace to present their opinions or point out the mistakes one after another. Then the front gate of the palace was as crowded as a marketplace.

Now we use it to describe that famous families are very popular because their houses are full of visitors.

此語出自《戰國策·齊策》。戰國時期，齊國有一位大臣叫鄒忌，人長得很英俊。一天，他問妻子：“我和徐公比，誰長得好看？”（徐公是當時齊國出了名的美男子。）他妻子說：“你好看，徐公比不上你。”他又去問他的愛妾，愛妾說：“你是世界上最英俊的男人，徐公怎能和你比呢？”

又有一次，鄒忌家中來位客人，他也這樣問了客人，客人也說：“徐公沒有你美！”

可巧有一天，徐公到鄒忌家拜訪，鄒忌趁此機會，仔細地打量了徐公，他發現自己實在比不上徐公。于是他想，為什么他們都不說真話，可能是偏愛自己和有求于自己，他從此點聯想到齊威王受的蒙蔽一定會更多。

第二天上朝時，他就把發生在自己身上的事說給齊威王聽，并向齊王建議：應廣開言路，接受批評，朝政反對空虛吹捧。齊王聽了覺得很有道理，便發布了一道命令，“不論是大臣還是地方官員，甚至老百姓，皆可直接指責朝政中的錯誤，凡舉諫者都可以得到賞賜。”結果，進諫的人群川流不息，宮廷門前熱鬧得像市場一樣。

后用此典比喻有名望的人家人來人往比較熱鬧，形容交際來往的人很多。