Chinese idiom · 成语
随波逐流
Meaning
To follow the waves; to drift with the crowd.
Character by character
Origin and story
Literary dialogueThe Shiji (史記), volume 84, recounts a dialogue between the exiled Qu Yuan and a fisherman. Qu Yuan says he has been rejected because he remains clear-sighted in a confused world. The fisherman proposes adapting: if the world is muddy, why not follow its current and stir its waves? Qu Yuan refuses to let his own integrity be stained.
A related dialogue appears in the Chu Ci’s Fisherman, with different wording. These are literary presentations of a moral disagreement, not a transcript we can independently verify. The later idiom draws on the current-and-waves image to describe drifting with circumstances or copying prevailing behavior without a firm direction of one’s own.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
选专业时别只看别人报什么，随波逐流可能让你忽略自己的兴趣。
When choosing a major, don't just copy other people's choices; following the crowd may make you overlook your own interests.
Usually critical of lacking independent judgment; distinct from sensible adaptation to circumstances.