拔苗助长 – Ba Miao Zhu Zhang – Trying Too Hard

Today we have a good old classic Chengyu:

Chengyu

拔苗助长 – bá miáo zhù zhǎng

Alternative with identical meaning: 揠苗助长 – yà miáo zhù zhǎng

Chinese Character Break Down

拔 – pull out
苗- shoots
助- help
长- grow

拔苗助长: Help the shoots grow by pulling them up.

Idiom Meaning

To spoil something by trying too hard, or having a  negative impact on a thing through excessive enthusiasm.

Chengyu Examples

那种填鸭式的教学方法无异于拔苗助长。
nàzhǒng tiányāshì de jiáoxue fāngfǎ wúyìyú bámiáozhùzhǎng.
That kind of stuff-the-duck education method is nothing but “spoiling by over-enthusiasm”.

学生词可别拔苗助长。
xué shēngcí kěbié bámiáozhùzhǎng.
When learning new vocabulary, don’t overdo yourself (learn too many words at once).

Chengyu Story and Background

There once was a farmer. He wanted his shoots to grow faster really badly but didn’t know how to make that happen. One day he had an idea: “I’ll just pull them all up a little. This way I will help them grow faster!” So he pulled up the shoots.

When he came home that day, he told his son and wife about his smart idea. “Listen to the good news”, he said, “I helped the shoots grow today!” His son got excited and ran over to the field to see for himself. But when he arrived there, he found all the shoots dead.

So now the Chinese say “pull the shoots up to help them grow” when someone is damaging something by applying too much pressure.

UPDATE: And here’s a video to this Chengyu story! Am I only one who thinks the video is ridiculously funny?