📖 Meaning
To sail a boat downstream with the current. Metaphorically, it means adapting one's words and actions to prevailing circumstances, going along with the tide rather than resisting it.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from Chapter 4 of Cao Xueqin's classic Qing Dynasty novel 'Dream of the Red Chamber' (《红楼梦》). In the story, a subordinate advises a newly promoted official that since his promotion was secured through the influence of the powerful Jia and Wang families, and the offender Xue Pan is a relative of the Jia family, the official should 'go with the current' and resolve the case as a favor to those families, thereby securing future goodwill. The idiom later also appears in Li Lüyuan's Qing Dynasty novel 'Qilu Deng' (《歧路灯》).
💡 Example Usage
他看大家都同意了，便顺水行舟地表示支持。
Seeing that everyone else had agreed, he went with the flow and expressed his support.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 顺水行舟
- Pinyin: shùn shuǐ xíng zhōu
- Literal Translation: following, water, travel, boat
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4