To call a deer a horse
To deliberately distort the truth
Negative
凶手一直指鹿为马，企图推卸刑责，最后才在目击者指证历历下俯首认罪 | Xiōngshǒu yīzhí zhǐlùwéimǎ, qǐtú tuīxiè xíngzé, zuìhòu cái zài mùjí zhě zhǐzhèng lìlì xià fǔshǒu rènzuì
The murderer continually distorted the truth and tried to avoid the blame, but he bowed his head and confessed after hearing eyewitness' clear testimony
[Source]
他反驳我说的每一件事，甚至坚持指鹿为马 | Tā fǎnbó wǒ shuō de měi yī jiàn shì, shènzhì jiānchí zhǐlùwéimǎ
He refuted every single thing that I said, even going as far as to argue that black is white
[Source]
To argue that black is white
None
None
《史记》(Shǐ Jì), or the famous work "Records of the Grand Historian" by 司马迁 (Sī Mǎ Qiān).
After the death of 秦始皇 (Qín Shǐ Huáng, 259 - 210 BC), the first emperor of China, the court eunuch 赵高 (Zhào Gāo) managed to get the emperor's second son onto the throne and install himself as the prime minister. However, being the second most powerful person in the land still wasn't enough for him, and he started scheming to usurp the throne. He quickly realized that before he could take any action, he needed to figure out which court officials supported him, and so he came up with a ruse that would tell him just that.
On the day of the ruse, 赵高 had an attendant bring a deer into court. He then presented it to the new emperor and said, "Your Majesty, here is a great horse for you."
The emperor laughed and said, "A horse! You are greatly mistaken. This is clearly a deer."
赵高 replied, "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but please take another look. This is clearly a horse."
At this point, the ministers in the court started to get involved. Some remained silent, some agreed with the emperor and said the animal was a deer, and others agreed with 赵高 and said it was a horse.
After that day, 赵高 used a variety of methods to act against those who had told the truth, and the remaining officials grew to fear him greatly.