📖 Meaning
In ancient Chinese economic thought, this referred to abandoning commerce and crafts (the 'branches') to return to agriculture and sericulture (the 'root'). It embodies the traditional policy of valuing farming as the foundation of society while restraining mercantile pursuits.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from ancient Chinese agrarian philosophy prominent during the Warring States and Han dynasty periods. Thinkers such as those in the Legalist and Confucian traditions held that agriculture was the 'root' (本) of a stable state, while commerce and crafts were the 'branches' (末). Rulers and reformers, notably under Emperor Wen and Emperor Wu of Han, promoted policies of 'valuing the fundamental and restraining the secondary' (重本抑末) to secure grain production and social order. The phrase is also written as 弃末返本.
💡 Example Usage
古人重农抑商，提倡弃末反本，以求富国强兵。
The ancients valued farming over commerce and advocated returning to agriculture as the root, seeking to enrich the state and strengthen the military.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 弃末反本
- Pinyin: qì mò fǎn běn
- Literal Translation: discard, branch, return, root
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4