📖 Meaning
To uncritically extol the past while disparaging the present. It describes a reactionary attitude that idealizes antiquity and rejects contemporary progress. The term was famously used to critique those who invoked ancient precedents to undermine current governance or reform.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the 'Annals of Qin Shi Huang' in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), compiled during the Western Han dynasty. After unifying China in 221 BCE, the First Emperor of Qin ordered the burning of books; the edict declared that anyone daring to discuss the Book of Odes or Book of Documents in private would be executed, and anyone who used antiquity to criticize the present would be put to death along with their entire clan. The phrase thus originally referred to the Qin court's suppression of scholars who invoked ancient models to challenge new policies. Over time it came to denote the broader attitude of blindly glorifying the past to denigrate the present.
💡 Example Usage
那种颂古非今的态度，不利于文化的创新发展。
Such an attitude of extolling the past and disparaging the present is detrimental to cultural innovation and development.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 颂古非今
- Pinyin: sòng gǔ fēi jīn
- Literal Translation: praise, ancient, negate, present
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4