What does China mean by carving a boat for a sword?

The story of carving a boat for a sword tells us that things in the world are always changing, and we can't do things subjectively. Looking at the changing and developing things with a static eye will inevitably lead to wrong judgments. Carving a boat for a sword generally refers to a person who sticks to dogma, sticks to the rules and is stubborn and inflexible.

This idiom has two meanings:

One is that people's ideological understanding does not conform to objective reality and will not succeed.

On the other hand, objective reality is constantly developing and changing. If we regard the old rules and regulations as a magic weapon to solve new problems, we should also make jokes.

The author's thoughts are simple materialism and dialectics.

Carving a boat for a sword is a fable described in Lu Chunqiu Cha Jin. It is said that a Chu man accidentally dropped his sword into the river while crossing the river by boat. Others advised him to jump into the river to salvage, but the Chu people smiled and shook their heads, saying that they had a strange method.

He carved a deep mark on the side of the boat where he dropped his sword with a knife, and then said to himself, this is where my sword fell. I will jump here to find it after landing for a while. When the boat stopped, he jumped into the river to look for it, but he couldn't find it anywhere.

The idiom that evolved after this story is "carving a boat for a sword", which generally means sticking to the rules, sticking to the rules, sticking to one's own opinions and not knowing how to change. This story is a wonderful irony for those who are rigid in thinking and stick to the rules and can't see the development and changes of things.