📖 Meaning
A metaphor for being fickle and changing one's allegiance or stance constantly. It describes someone who shifts loyalties, opinions, or commitments from one moment to the next without holding firm. Equivalent to the more common form 朝秦暮楚.
📜 Origin Story
Qin and Chu were two powerful rival states during the Warring States period (475–221 BCE) of ancient China. Smaller states and wandering political advisors would switch alliances between Qin and Chu based on whichever side offered greater advantage, sometimes changing sides within a single day. The exact phrasing was crystallized by the Qing dynasty Confucian scholar Wang Fuzhi in his work 'Du Si Shu Da Quan Shuo' (Commentary on the Comprehensive Collection of the Four Books), where he condemned rootless wandering scholars who abandoned principle and would serve any ruler willing to employ them. The idiom thus denounces those who lack steadfast conviction and shift positions for self-interest.
💡 Example Usage
他在政治立场上晨秦暮楚，反复无常，实在难以让人信任。
He shifts his political stance constantly like a fair-weather ally, and is truly hard to trust.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 晨秦暮楚
- Pinyin: chén qín mù chǔ
- Literal Translation: morning Qin, evening Chu
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4