Chinese idiom · 成语
拔苗助长
Meaning
To harm something by forcing its progress; to be overly eager.
Character by character
Origin and story
Philosophical fableIn Gongsun Chou I (公孫丑上) of Mencius (孟子), a man from Song worries that his seedlings are not growing. He pulls them upward, then returns home exhausted and announces that he has helped them grow. His son hurries out to inspect the field and finds that the seedlings have withered.
Mencius uses this fable while discussing the gradual cultivation of moral strength. Neglecting the seedlings is wrong, but forcing their growth is harmful too: care is needed without impatient interference. The classical wording uses ya (揠), meaning to pull up, which also appears in the variant 揠苗助长. Today 拔苗助长 warns against trying to accelerate development in a way that damages the very thing one hopes to improve.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
孩子刚开始学钢琴，就让他每天练很难的曲子，恐怕是在拔苗助长。
Making a child practice very difficult pieces every day when they’ve only just started piano may do more harm than good.
Use it for harmful pressure to progress too quickly, not for patient encouragement or appropriate practice.