What does the Chinese idiom 拔苗助长 mean?

拔苗助长 (bá miáo zhù zhǎng) means “pull up the sprouts to help them grow.” It describes being too impatient to let something develop at its own pace, and ruining it by trying to hurry it.

What is the moral of Pulling Up the Sprouts to Help Them Grow?

Some things simply take time, like plants growing. Pushing too hard and too fast doesn’t help; it can make things worse. In our story the plants’ roots came loose from the soil, they couldn’t drink, and they all dried up.

Where does 拔苗助长 come from?

It comes from the Mencius, chapter “Gongsun Chou, Part One.” Mencius told it to his student Gongsun Chou to explain that you should keep working at your inner growth but never try to force it.

Is it 拔苗助长 or 揠苗助长?

Both are correct and mean the same thing. The original text in the Mencius uses 揠 (yà), an old word for pulling something upward, so the idiom is also written 揠苗助长. 拔 (bá) is the more common, easier word, and 拔苗助长 is the form most people use today.

How do you pronounce 拔苗助长?

bá miáo zhù zhǎng. The last character, 长, is read zhǎng (to grow) here, not cháng (long).

Pulling Up the Sprouts to Help Them Grow (拔苗助长)

Ages 4–8
English audio 2 min
Mandarin audio 4 min

Pulling Up the Sprouts to Help Them Grow is a classic story from Chinese Idiom Stories for Kids, for children aged 4–8. This page has the English story with a native English narration (about 2 min), plus the Chinese version with Mandarin narration (about 4 min). Free to read and listen, no sign-up.

An impatient farmer pulls each of his young plants up a little to make them taller, and by the next day they have all dried up. The idiom story 拔苗助长 in English and Chinese, with narration.

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Read Pulling Up the Sprouts to Help Them Grow

Long ago, in the land of Song, there lived a farmer. One spring, he planted a field of little green plants. They stood in neat rows, like tiny soldiers.

Every morning, the farmer ran to his field. He measured the plants with his finger. "Hmm. The same as yesterday," he said. The next day, he measured them again. "Still the same!"

Day after day, the plants did not seem to grow. The farmer could not eat. He could not sleep. "My plants are too slow," he thought. "I must help them."

Then he had an idea. "I will pull them up a little. Then they will be taller!"

Early the next morning, he went to the field. He held a plant and pulled it up a little. It looked taller! He pulled the next plant, and the next, and the next. He worked all day, until the moon came up.

He walked home slowly. "Oh, my back hurts!" he told his family. "But I helped our plants grow. Now they are tall!"

His son was worried. He took a lamp and ran to the field. The plants were bending over. Their leaves were soft and weak. The next day the sun came out, and all the plants dried up.

Their roots were loose and out of the soil. They could not drink any water. The farmer sat by his field. He was very sad.

The next spring, the farmer planted again. This time, he did not pull. He gave the plants water, took out the weeds and waited. Slowly, slowly, the plants grew tall. In autumn, his field was full of grain.

The Chinese version: 拔苗助长

从前，宋国有一个农夫。春天到了，他在田里种下了一大片禾苗。小小的禾苗绿油油的，一行一行排得整整齐齐，像一队刚刚站好的小兵。

农夫天天盼着禾苗快快长大。每天早上，他头一件事就是跑到田边，蹲下来，伸出手指头，给禾苗量一量个子。“嗯，跟昨天差不多。”第二天再量一量：“咦，好像还是这么高。”

一连好多天，禾苗看起来总是那么矮。农夫急得吃饭不香，睡觉也不踏实。夜里，他躺在床上翻来覆去：“禾苗呀禾苗，你们怎么长得这么慢呢？我得帮帮你们才行。”

想着想着，他一拍大腿：“有了！你们自己长得慢，我就把你们往上提一提，不就一下子高了吗？”

天刚蒙蒙亮，他就来到田里，弯下腰，捏住一棵禾苗，轻轻往上一提。嘿，这棵禾苗果然比旁边的高出了一点点！他乐得眉开眼笑，捏住第二棵，提一提；捏住第三棵，提一提……一棵接着一棵，一行接着一行。等最后一棵也提完，月亮都已经爬上来了。

农夫拖着酸酸的两条腿回到家，一进门就嚷起来：“哎哟，我的腰都快直不起来了！不过呀，我帮咱家的禾苗长高啦！”

他的儿子一听，心里咯噔一下：禾苗哪能帮着长呢？他提起灯笼，一路小跑到了田边。灯光一照，禾苗一棵棵都歪着脑袋，叶子软软地耷拉着。第二天太阳一晒，整片田的禾苗全都蔫了，变得又黄又干。

原来，禾苗的根被拔松了，离开了泥土，喝不到水，也吃不到土里的养分。农夫蹲在田边，看着一地蔫掉的禾苗，难过得说不出话来。

第二年春天，农夫又种下了禾苗。这一回，他再也不去拔它们了。他天天给禾苗浇浇水，拔拔草，然后耐心地等。太阳一天天地晒，春雨一场场地下，禾苗一点一点地长高。到了秋天，田里结满了沉甸甸的谷穗。

Pulling Up the Sprouts to Help Them Grow (拔苗助长): the moral of the story

Plants grow slowly, and so do skills. Rushing something that needs time doesn’t speed it up; it can spoil it.

What does Pulling Up the Sprouts to Help Them Grow mean?: Literally “pull up the sprouts to help them grow”: 拔 (bá) pull up, 苗 (miáo) young plant, 助 (zhù) help, 长 (zhǎng) grow. It describes hurrying something that needs time and spoiling it through impatience. Note that 长 here is read zhǎng, “to grow,” not cháng, “long.” The idiom is also written 揠苗助长 (yà miáo zhù zhǎng), as in the original.
Example sentence: Our baby is just learning to walk. When Grandpa tried to get her running, Grandma said, “Don’t 拔苗助长 (bá miáo zhù zhǎng). One step at a time.”

The original Chinese text of Pulling Up the Sprouts to Help Them Grow

宋人有闵其苗之不长而揠之者，芒芒然归，谓其人曰：“今日病矣！予助苗长矣！”其子趋而往视之，苗则槁矣。天下之不助苗长者寡矣。以为无益而舍之者，不耘苗者也；助之长者，揠苗者也。非徒无益，而又害之。

— 《孟子·公孙丑上》

Our translation

There was a man of Song who was worried that his young grain was not growing, so he pulled the plants upward. He came home worn out and said to his family, “I’m exhausted today! I’ve been helping the grain grow.” His son hurried out to look, and the plants had withered. There are few people in the world who do not try to help their grain grow. Those who think it does no good and leave it alone are the ones who do not weed their grain. Those who try to help it grow are the ones who pull it up. Not only does this do no good; it does harm.

— Mencius, “Gongsun Chou, Part One” (Warring States period)

Chinese words in Pulling Up the Sprouts to Help Them Grow

Play the Chinese narration and listen for these words. The pinyin shows the tones.

拔苗助长bá miáo zhù zhǎng
pull up the sprouts to help them grow
禾苗hé miáo
young grain plants, sprouts
长高zhǎng gāo
grow taller
儿子ér zi
son
灯笼dēng long
lantern
根gēn
root
浇水jiāo shuǐ
water (plants)
秋天qiū tiān
autumn

Bedtime storytelling tips

When the farmer measures his plants, measure your child’s arm with your finger: “Have you grown since yesterday?”
Read the pulling part faster and faster, giving your child’s hand a gentle tug each time. When the son takes his lamp out to the field, slow right down and go quiet.
The next day, soak a dried bean in a cup of water together, and look at it and measure it each night before bed, so your child can see for themselves how slowly plants grow.

Things to talk about afterwards

Why did the farmer pull his plants up?
Why did the plants dry up after they were pulled?
Have you ever been in a hurry to learn something? How did you learn it in the end?

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Pulling Up the Sprouts to Help Them Grow (拔苗助长): common questions

What does the Chinese idiom 拔苗助长 mean?: 拔苗助长 (bá miáo zhù zhǎng) means “pull up the sprouts to help them grow.” It describes being too impatient to let something develop at its own pace, and ruining it by trying to hurry it.
What is the moral of Pulling Up the Sprouts to Help Them Grow?: Some things simply take time, like plants growing. Pushing too hard and too fast doesn’t help; it can make things worse. In our story the plants’ roots came loose from the soil, they couldn’t drink, and they all dried up.
Where does 拔苗助长 come from?: It comes from the Mencius, chapter “Gongsun Chou, Part One.” Mencius told it to his student Gongsun Chou to explain that you should keep working at your inner growth but never try to force it.
Is it 拔苗助长 or 揠苗助长?: Both are correct and mean the same thing. The original text in the Mencius uses 揠 (yà), an old word for pulling something upward, so the idiom is also written 揠苗助长. 拔 (bá) is the more common, easier word, and 拔苗助长 is the form most people use today.
How do you pronounce 拔苗助长?: bá miáo zhù zhǎng. The last character, 长, is read zhǎng (to grow) here, not cháng (long).

Source and how we retold it

From the Mencius, chapter “Gongsun Chou, Part One,” the record of the sayings and doings of the philosopher Mencius; the original is in the public domain. Mencius tells the story while talking with his student Gongsun Chou about how to nurture one’s inner strength (浩然之气, “flood-like qi”): keep at it all the time, but don’t try to force it. We expanded the original into a story for children. The farmer measuring the plants with his finger and his son going out with a lantern are our details. The original ends when the plants wither; the ending where the farmer plants again the next year, waits patiently and has a good harvest in autumn is also ours.

The narration on this page is AI-generated: the English is read by 英伦绅士 and the Chinese by 温柔妈妈. The audio files are labeled as AI-generated.

If you liked Pulling Up the Sprouts to Help Them Grow (拔苗助长), there are more stories in Chinese Idiom Stories for Kids. You can also read this one to your child in your own voice.