📖 Meaning
Literally 'the grass bends as the wind passes.' It metaphorically describes how moral virtue and cultural education exert a transformative influence on people, just as wind naturally bends the grass. Used to characterize the gentle yet irresistible force of virtuous leadership shaping public morals.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom traces to a dialogue in the Analects (论语·颜渊) between Confucius and Ji Kangzi, in which Confucius remarks, 'The virtue of the superior man is like wind; the virtue of the small man is like grass; when the wind passes over the grass, it must bend.' This teaching held that a ruler's moral example naturally transforms the common people. '草偃风行' is a reordered variant of the more common '风行草偃,' both conveying the same idea of moral influence at work.
💡 Example Usage
朝廷崇道尚德，草偃风行，四海风俗为之一变。
When the court reveres the Way and honors virtue, its influence spreads like wind bending the grass, and customs throughout the realm are transformed.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 草偃风行
- Pinyin: cǎo yǎn fēng xíng
- Literal Translation: grass, bend, wind, blow
- Category: Leadership
- Characters: 4