Chinese Idiom Stories for Software Professionals: #31 Carrying Firewood to Put Out a Fire 抱薪救火
Save a situation and end up by making it worse.
This article is one of the “Chinese Idiom Stories for Software Professionals” series.
The Story
During the Warring States period (475–221BC), the powerful State of Qin attacked and defected the State of Wei repeatedly. At every defeat, the State of Wei either lost land or ceded land to the State of Qin to exchange for a temporary truce.
In 273 BC, the Qin army launched another vigorous attack upon the State of Wei and approached the capital city. King of the State of Wei summoned his officials. Most of the officials still suggested King give away the large area of land to the State of Qin to seek peace.
However, Su Dai, a counsellor, did not agree. He said: “The invaders are insatiable, but our land is limited. You will never get peace by ceding the land because Qin will never stop assaulting us until our land is totally given away.”
Su Dai continued: “This is like holding firewood to put out the fire. You throw the firewood into the fire one by one, but how can the fire be put out? As long as there is still the firewood, the fire will not be extinguished.”
