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刻舟求剑 (ke4 zhou1 qiu2 jian4) - A Lost Sword
By Zhang Ciyun |
July 13, 2008, Sunday
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Like English proverbs, many Chinese idioms and sayings are rather philosophical. The idiom ke zhou qiu jian or "finding a lost sword by marking the gunwale of a moving boat" is perhaps a good example here.
The story behind this saying is recorded in Master Lu's "Spring and Autumn Annals," written centuries ago.
The story says a man in the State of Chu was crossing a river in a boat.
Accidentally, his sword slipped from its sheath and fell into the river. He reached into the water immediately trying to catch the sword, but he was too late.
The man loved his sword very much so he decided to retrieve it at any cost. But how would he do it?
With a sudden inspiration, he fished a small knife from his pocket and made a mark on the side of the boat where he had dropped his sword.
When he found other passengers on the boat all watching him nonplused, he explained: "I've made a mark here because this is where my sword slipped into the water. Then later on I can locate my sword by looking at the mark here."
By and by, the boat cruised on and finally it reached its destination and anchored. The man jumped quickly into the river from the marked side of the boat to recover his lost sword. Of course, this proved futile.
Fellow passengers and other onlookers all laughed at the man. One of them said: "Sir, you have forgotten one thing here. After you carved a mark on the gunwale, it moved along with the boat, but the lost sword didn't."
Today, this idiom remains very alive in the Chinese language.
This is not just because almost very child in the country is still required by teachers and parents to memorize it, but also because there are still many people who, like the man in the boat thousands of years ago, make their judgment or decisions without taking into consideration changes in circumstances.
The story behind this saying is recorded in Master Lu's "Spring and Autumn Annals," written centuries ago.
The story says a man in the State of Chu was crossing a river in a boat.
Accidentally, his sword slipped from its sheath and fell into the river. He reached into the water immediately trying to catch the sword, but he was too late.
The man loved his sword very much so he decided to retrieve it at any cost. But how would he do it?
With a sudden inspiration, he fished a small knife from his pocket and made a mark on the side of the boat where he had dropped his sword.
When he found other passengers on the boat all watching him nonplused, he explained: "I've made a mark here because this is where my sword slipped into the water. Then later on I can locate my sword by looking at the mark here."
By and by, the boat cruised on and finally it reached its destination and anchored. The man jumped quickly into the river from the marked side of the boat to recover his lost sword. Of course, this proved futile.
Fellow passengers and other onlookers all laughed at the man. One of them said: "Sir, you have forgotten one thing here. After you carved a mark on the gunwale, it moved along with the boat, but the lost sword didn't."
Today, this idiom remains very alive in the Chinese language.
This is not just because almost very child in the country is still required by teachers and parents to memorize it, but also because there are still many people who, like the man in the boat thousands of years ago, make their judgment or decisions without taking into consideration changes in circumstances.
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