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到中流击水

到中流擊水
dàozhōngliújīshuǐ
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 to swim out and strike the water midstream
  2. 2 to plunge into the current and brave the tide
  3. 3 figurative call for bold action at a decisive moment

Examples

年轻时要敢于到中流击水，不怕风浪。
Niánqīng shí yào gǎnyú dào zhōngliú jī shuǐ, bù pà fēnglàng.
When you are young you should dare to swim out into the current, unafraid of the waves.
改革进入深水区，正需要到中流击水的勇气。
Gǎigé jìnrù shēnshuǐqū, zhèng xūyào dào zhōngliú jī shuǐ de yǒngqì.
With reform now in deep water, it takes the courage to swim out midstream.

Tips

history
From Mao Zedong's 1925 poem 《沁园春·长沙》 (Qìnyuán Chūn: Chángshā): 曾记否，到中流击水，浪遏飞舟 — 'Do you still remember how we swam out into midstream, the waves stopping the flying boats?' Written of his student days swimming in the Xiang River; the line is now stock rhetoric for boldness in the face of generational challenges.
usage
击水 here means 'to beat the water' in the sense of swimming, not striking it. 中流 is the midstream — the deepest, fastest part of the river — and the phrase is almost always used metaphorically for taking on the hardest part of a task.

Stroke Order

到 dào
中 zhōng
流 liú
击 jī
水 shuǐ