Chinese idiom · 成语
扬汤止沸
Meaning
To scoop boiling soup; addressing symptoms, not causes.
Character by character
Origin and story
philosophical analogyThe Jin Shu (盡數) chapter of Lüshi Chunqiu (呂氏春秋) contrasts working on symptoms with addressing their source. Its image is boiling water: trying to stop the boiling by applying hot water leaves the heat in place, whereas removing the fire stops it. The discussion belongs to ancient thinking about preserving life and treating causes, not to a recorded cooking contest.
Other early writings develop the related image of lifting and pouring the hot water. The familiar idiom often criticizes temporary relief that leaves a problem's cause untouched. Yet it can also acknowledge an emergency reprieve: a letter in the Sanguo Zhi uses the phrase appreciatively for being spared destruction. Context determines whether the stopgap is welcomed or judged inadequate.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
只清理手机照片却不关闭自动下载，不过是扬汤止沸，存储空间很快又会满。
Deleting phone photos without turning off automatic downloads only treats the symptom; storage will soon fill up again.
Usually a criticism of treating symptoms instead of causes; temporary relief is not always entirely useless.