刻舟求剑

Mandarin

simpl.		刻舟求剑
trad.		刻舟求劍

Etymology

Literally: notch the boat in search of the sword

• 239 BCE: Lü Buwei, Mister Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals (呂氏春秋˙察今)

  楚人有涉江者，其剑自舟中坠于水。遽契其舟，曰：是吾剑之所从坠。舟止，从其所契者入水求之。舟已行矣，而剑不行。求剑若此，不亦惑乎。

  There was a man from the state of Chu who was crossing a river. His sword fell from the boat into the river. He quickly made a notch on the boat saying, "This is the place where my sword fell in. When the boat stops, I will go into the water and search for my sword from the spot where I made the notch." The boat was already moving, but the sword had not moved. Is it not suspect to search for the sword in this manner?

Idiom

刻舟求剑 (simplified, Pinyin kè zhōu qiú jiàn, traditional 刻舟求劍)

1. rigidly cling to an idea or approach without considering the reality of a situation; to stubbornly cling to tradition
   • c. 1330 - 1400: Luo Guanzhong, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Chapter 120 (三国演义/第120回)

     似你这样寻根究底，便是刻舟求剑，胶柱鼓瑟了

     It seems as though this kind of thorough investigation that you are conducting is like notching a moving boat in order to mark where your sword dropped into the river, you are being inflexible.

   • c. 1900 - 1995: Xia Yan, Unite and advance through liberation thought (解放思想团结前进)

     文学艺术工作者必须正视我国当前迅速变化的实际，来考察我们过去用惯了的文艺理论，而不能刻舟求剑。

     Workers in the literary arts must squarely face the reality of the rapid changes currently taking place within our country when considering the wellworn theories of the past about literature and art, and must not stubbornly cling to tradition.

References

• "刻舟求剑" (in Mandarin), Guoyu Cidian On-line Mandarin Dictionary (國語辭典). URL accessed on 2008-04-01.
• 2007, Hanyu Da Cidian 3.0 (in Mandarin), Hong Kong: Commercial Press, ISBN 9789620702778: