Chinese idiom · 成语
他山之石
Meaning
Stones from another hill; external lessons to improve oneself.
Character by character
Origin and story
Poetic imageThe Shijing (詩經), in the poem He Ming or Crane Cry, speaks of stones from another mountain being useful for working jade. They are ordinary rough material, yet they help shape something prized. The poem places the image beside a crane heard from a distant marsh, fish moving between deep and shallow water, and trees in a garden.
Later commentators draw different moral lessons from these comparisons. One enduring reading is that even an outside or unwelcome influence can help correct one’s deficiencies. The familiar extended saying is 他山之石，可以攻玉. Its practical lesson is to learn from beyond one’s own circle, including criticism and other people’s experience, not to assume that everything foreign is automatically better.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
别的学校处理这个问题的经验，可以作为我们的他山之石。
Other schools' experience handling this problem can provide useful lessons for us.
An outside example or criticism used to improve one's own work; often follows 作为 or 借鉴.