"Qie er bu she" (carving without letting go) comes from "Encouraging Learning" in the Xunzi: "If you carve and then abandon it, even rotten wood cannot be broken; if you carve without letting go, even metal and stone can be engraved." Qie means to carve; she means to give up. The whole sentence says: if carving is abandoned halfway, even rotten wood cannot be cut through; if one persists in carving without stopping, even metal and stone can be carved with patterns. This idiom is a metaphor for doing things with perseverance and determination, pressing on without letting up and never stopping until the goal is reached. It emphasizes a spirit of sustained effort and fearlessness in the face of hardship, and is often used to praise the resilient qualities shown in long-term struggles such as study, scientific research, and entrepreneurship. In terms of emotional coloring, it is a commendatory term with a strong sense of encouragement and praise. In cultural background, it reflects the Confucian attitude toward self-cultivation and scholarship of "persevering" and "accumulating little to make much," and is spiritually akin to idioms such as "dripping water wears through stone" and "the Foolish Old Man removes the mountains." It is used in a wide range of contexts, describing both an individual's persistent pursuit of ideals and a team's or a nation's tenacious will in the face of difficulties.
📝 Example
1. With his perseverance, he conducted repeated experiments over ten years and finally overcame this technical challenge. (锲而不舍: refers to persisting without giving up.)
2. Learning a foreign language requires persistent practice; working in fits and starts makes success very difficult. (锲而不舍: refers to sustained and continuous effort.)