兵不血刃 bīng bù xuè rèn bloodless victory

Explanation

比喻固执地拘泥于老方法，不懂得变通。

A metaphor for stubbornly sticking to old methods and inability to adapt.

Origin Story

战国时期，有个楚国人坐船渡江，不慎将剑掉入水中。他急忙在船舷上刻下记号，认为船靠岸后，从记号处下水就能找到宝剑。船到岸后，他照记号下水寻找，却遍寻不着。因为他忘了船在行进，剑却不会动。

zhàng guó shí qī, yǒu ge chǔ guó rén zuò chuán dù jiāng, bù shèn jiāng jiàn diào rù shuǐ zhōng. tā jí máng zài chuán xián shàng kè xià jì hào, rèn wéi chuán kào àn hòu, cóng jì hào chù xià shuǐ jiù néng zhǎo dào bǎo jiàn. chuán dào àn hòu, tā zhào jì hào xià shuǐ xún zhǎo, què biàn xún bù zhāo. yīn wèi tā wàng le chuán zài xíng jìn, jiàn què bù huì dòng.

During the Warring States period in China, a man dropped his sword into a river while boating. He quickly marked the spot on the boat's side, thinking he could find his sword by jumping into the water at that spot when the boat reached the shore. When the boat landed, he went to the marked spot and searched, but could not find his sword. He had forgotten that the boat kept moving, but the sword did not.

Usage

用作定语、状语；形容不费吹灰之力就取得胜利。

yòng zuò dìng yǔ, zhuàng yǔ; xiárong bù fèi chuī huī zhī lì jiù qǔ dé shèng lì

Used as an attributive and adverbial; describes a victory without effort.

Examples

• 他做事总是墨守成规，简直就是刻舟求剑。

  tā zuò shì zǒng shì mò shǒu chéng guī, jiǎn zhí jiù shì kè zhōu qiú jiàn

  He always follows the rules, it's simply outdated.

• 面对新情况，我们不能刻舟求剑，而要灵活变通。

  miàn duì xīn qíng kuàng, wǒ men bù néng kè zhōu qiú jiàn, ér yào líng huó biàn tōng

  In the face of new situations, we should be flexible and not stick to old ways

Related Idioms

• 墨守成规

• 死板

Opposite Idioms

• 随机应变

• 见机行事