📖 Meaning
To design schemes and plan strategies with meticulous care, like a tailor carefully guiding every stitch. It describes someone who calculates every move in advance, leaving nothing to chance.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom draws its imagery from the ancient craft of sewing and embroidery, where a seamstress must carefully move the needle and arrange the thread to create an intricate pattern. The metaphor was extended to describe strategic planning, comparing the precision of needlework to the careful design of schemes and tactics. No specific classical text is recorded as its definitive source, but the idiom reflects the deep cultural appreciation for craftsmanship and foresight in traditional Chinese thought.
💡 Example Usage
他做事行针步线，每一步都算计得清清楚楚。
He handles everything with meticulous planning, calculating every single step clearly.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 行针步线
- Pinyin: xíng zhēn bù xiàn
- Literal Translation: move needle, arrange thread
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4