stick closely to the pattern given

stick closely to the pattern given

Chinese idiom, Pinyin y ī y à nghu à h ú Lu, refers to painting gourd according to real gourd, which means pure imitation without innovation.

explain

It is also called "painting gourd according to the book" and painting gourd according to the real gourd. The metaphor is simple imitation, no innovation.

allusion

original text

Song Wei Tai's "Dongxuan notes" Volume 1: it is quite popular to hear that the Imperial Academy was made of grass. They all picked up the old books of their predecessors and changed their words. This is the so-called diagnosis sample painting gourd ear. What is the power of propaganda?

translation

In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, there was an academician named Tao Gu, who was near Zhao Kuangyin, the Taizu of the Song Dynasty, and was responsible for drafting various proclamations. After a long time, he thought he had made a contribution, so he asked song Taizu for a senior official. However, song Taizu said, "the academician of Hanlin's drafting of the proclamation is nothing more than referring to the old version of his predecessors. There are only a few words in it. At best, it's just like painting gourds and ladles. There is no contribution." Tao Gu was deeply disappointed. In his anger, he wrote a poem to laugh at himself. There were two sentences: "I can laugh at the academician Tao, and draw gourds every year." From then on, "draw gourd according to the pattern" as a idiom, spread in people's oral pen. It is often used as a metaphor to imitate others without originality.