Chinese idiom · 成语

邯郸匍匐

hán dān pú fú

Meaning

To crawl like in Handan; to lose one’s way by copying others.

Character by character

邯郸Handan (city)

匍匐crawl

Origin and story

From Zhuangzi (Zhuāng zǐ). A man mimicked Handan’s walk, forgot his own, and crawled home.