邯郸学步　(hán dān xué bù)

Learning to Walk

When a youngster tried to copy the particular way people moved on foot in a neighboring state, he never expected that he would end up having to crawl all the way home, but he did.

This is the story behind the commonly-cited Chinese expression Han Dan Xue Bu, meaning “learning the way people walk in Handan.”

The legend has it that in ancient times, the people living in a place called Handan in the State of Zhao had a unique and beautiful way of walking. On hearing about this, a youngster from the State of Yan decided to travel all the way to Handan to learn how to do it.

When he got there, the youngster spent several days in the streets observing the local folks and found their gaits to be extremely graceful. So he began to imitate their strides and the way they moved their legs and arms.

Despite his persistent efforts, though, he failed to get the hang of it.

He decided this must be caused by the fact that he had grown up initiating the way his parents walked and to effectively learn a new way he must start from the very beginning.

So starting the next day, he began to follow the steps of toddlers instead of grown-ups. Strolling down the street became a complicated piece of foot work for the youngster.

Before taking a step, he had to stop to think of how to put his foot, how long his stride should be, how he should move his head, his body and arms.

The situation went from bad to worse as he continued his efforts for a few more weeks, and the youngster found that not only he still could not walk the way the Handan people did, but he also forgot his original way of walking.

When he finally decided to give up, he found he didn’t know how to walk at all any more, so as a result, he ended up having to crawl all the way home.

Nowadays, the expression Han Dan Xue Bu is often used by Chinese speakers to describe anyone who imitates others in an irrational manner, losing his or her own originality.