Chinese idiom · 成语
义无反顾
Meaning
Duty without looking back; resolute commitment.
Character by character
Origin and story
political proclamationSima Xiangru's proclamation to Ba and Shu presents frontier soldiers rushing to respond to alarm beacons, facing blades and arrows without turning back. The original wording uses bu rather than wu. The proclamation also disavows officials' excessive demands on local people while urging them to fulfill duties to the Han government. Its praise of steadfastness is therefore part of imperial persuasion, not a detached description of every participant's motives. The later idiom retains the moral language but applies more widely to wholehearted commitment to a cause or responsibility that the speaker regards as right.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
得知社区急需志愿者，她义无反顾地报名参加了周末的送餐服务。
Learning that the community urgently needed volunteers, she signed up without hesitation for the weekend meal-delivery service.
Usually praises firm commitment to something considered right or necessary, not stubbornness for its own sake.