只許州官放火 --- 不許百姓点灯 The story

Zhi3 xu3 zhou1 guan1 fan4 hua3, bu4xu3bai3xing4dian3deng1.

From nciku note.

During the Song dynasty there was a magistrate named Tian Deng who resented people calling or writing his name. He even ordered them to avoid using any adaptation of the word "deng" (this word has the same pronunciation with another "deng", meaning lamp). Whenever someone did so, he became extremely angry; he ended up lashing many minor officials. Therefore, all the people in the state decided to call a lamp (deng), fire. On the Lantern Festival, the lamps were on for three days as celebration, and this was done in Tian's state as well. The local government would put out an official notice to inform every family to make preparations for the festival. To avoid using the word lamp, his followers wrote this sentence on these notices, "According to custom the fire would be set for three days in our state." When others read the notices, they did not know whether to laugh or to cry and be afraid.