📖 Meaning
To burn the bridge after crossing it. Once one's goal is achieved, one discards or turns against those who helped along the way. It describes ingratitude and ruthless opportunism.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase appears in the Qing-era novel《官场现形记》by 李宝嘉, where it is used to criticize officials who abandon their benefactors once they attain position. The metaphor is a variant of the older and more common expression 过河拆桥. In both forms, the imagery of destroying a bridge after safely crossing it symbolizes discarding the very means of help that made success possible.
💡 Example Usage
他这种过桥拆桥的做法，迟早会失去所有朋友。
His habit of burning bridges will sooner or later cost him all his friends.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 过桥拆桥
- Pinyin: guò qiáo chāi qiáo
- Literal Translation: cross, bridge, dismantle, bridge
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4