Chinese idiom · 成语
同流合污
Meaning
Flow with the stream, join filth; to sink to corruption.
Character by character
Origin and story
Classical argumentIn the Mencius, Wan Zhang asks about the apparently respectable people whom Confucius called village worthies. Mencius explains that their seeming loyalty and honesty win general approval, yet they accommodate corrupt customs rather than follow genuine moral standards. He describes them as conforming to prevailing ways and joining with a polluted world.
The idiom condenses those two longer clauses. Its background is therefore moral conformity disguised as goodness, not a story about entering a dirty river. Later usage commonly means joining others in wrongdoing. It is stronger than merely following a fashion or belonging to the same social group.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
同事劝他一起虚报费用，他拒绝同流合污。
His colleagues urged him to submit false expenses with them, but he refused to join in.
Condemns participating in wrongdoing, not mere social association.