📖 Meaning
This idiom describes people collectively following a prevailing trend or example until it becomes a widespread custom. It evokes the image of grass bending before the wind, with everyone turning in the same direction. The phrase often carries a neutral or slightly critical tone about herd behavior.
📜 Origin Story
The expression derives from classical Chinese historiography, where the variant '靡然向风' appears in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (史记) to describe how the populace followed a ruler's moral example and formed new customs. '靡然' means grass-like submission — bending before the wind — and '乡' is an ancient variant of '向,' meaning 'toward.' Together they paint a picture of the entire realm turning toward a single prevailing influence.
💡 Example Usage
新政推行后，天下靡然乡风，社会风气为之一变。
After the new policies were implemented, the whole realm followed the prevailing trend, and social customs changed accordingly.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 靡然乡风
- Pinyin: mí rán xiāng fēng
- Literal Translation: fall before, toward, wind, trend
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4