Chinese idiom · 成语
依样画葫芦
Meaning
To copy a gourd exactly; blind imitation.
Character by character
Origin and story
literary anecdoteWei Tai's Dongxuan Bilu tells an anecdote about the court writer Tao Gu, who hoped that his long service would lead to higher office. Emperor Taizu reportedly dismissed the work of drafting proclamations as taking old models and changing a few words—merely drawing a gourd from an existing pattern. Tao responded with a rueful poem repeating the image. The account is a Song literary anecdote, and the emperor's reported description already calls it a popular saying, so neither speaker can securely be credited with inventing it. The idiom now criticizes copying a model without independent thought or adaptation.
In everyday life
别只依样画葫芦，先想想这个方案是否适合我们的读者。
Don't just copy the model; first consider whether this approach suits our readers.
Usually criticizes mechanical imitation, especially when a model needs adapting to a new situation.