Chinese idiom · 成语
刻舟求剑
Meaning
To cling to outdated methods or fail to adapt to changing circumstances.
Character by character
Origin and story
FableThe Chajin (察今) chapter of Lüshi Chunqiu (呂氏春秋) tells of a man from Chu who drops his sword into a river while crossing by boat. He immediately cuts a mark into the boat at the spot where it fell. Once the boat stops, he enters the water below his mark to look for the sword. The boat has moved, but the sword has not, so the mark no longer points to its location.
The text applies the fable to laws and government: using old rules without considering changed conditions is as mistaken as searching beneath the moving boat’s mark. The idiom now describes rigidly following an approach after the circumstances that made it useful have changed.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
市场已经变了，还照搬十年前的销售方法，简直是刻舟求剑。
The market has changed; copying the sales methods of ten years ago is hopelessly rigid.
Use it when someone ignores changed circumstances, not merely when their method is old.