📖 Meaning
To relentlessly pursue and strike down an already-defeated villain or enemy. The idiom advises against showing mercy to bad people who have temporarily lost power, because if they recover, they will strike back. It emphasizes thoroughness in eliminating evil rather than stopping halfway out of misplaced compassion.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom comes from Lu Xun's famous essay 'On "Fair Play" Should Be Deferred' (论'费厄泼赖'应该缓行), published in his 1927 collection 'The Grave' (坟). Lu Xun argued that when a vicious dog falls into water, one should not pity it or pull it out — instead, one should keep beating it, because if it climbs back onto land, it will bite you again. He used this metaphor to criticize intellectuals of his time who advocated for 'fair play' toward defeated warlords and reactionaries, warning that leniency toward the wicked would only lead to more harm. The essay became highly influential in modern Chinese political thought, shaping the ruthless approach to class struggle in later revolutionary discourse.
💡 Example Usage
对于这种坏人，我们必须打落水狗，绝不手软。
When dealing with such villains, we must beat the drowning dog and show no mercy whatsoever.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 打落水狗
- Pinyin: dǎ luò shuǐ gǒu
- Literal Translation: beat, fallen, water, dog
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4