Legend has it that in the Warring States Period (475 BC - 221 BC) a young man from the State of Yan in North China heard that in Handan, the capital of Zhao State, the people’s walking posture was especially nice. He was in envy of them and wanted to learn their style of walking.
Then one day he made the long journey and traveled to Handan.
When he arrived in Handan, he stayed on the streets all day, watching how the Handan people walked. He looked at and pondered the characteristics of their walking. Then he started following the people who he thought walked particularly gracefully and imitated them. He mimicked the way they lifted their legs, how they placed their feet and swung their arms. He spent a long time doing this and made great efforts to imitate them correctly.
He learned to how to take several steps from a person today, and from another person tomorrow, but still did not walk like the Handan people. He always felt that his own walking posture was not as graceful as theirs.
He thought, “Maybe I am too used to walking in my own way and this makes it impossible to truly walk as the Handan people do.”
Then he tried to forget his own way of walking and begin again from scratch.
Every step he took, he concentrated on how to raise his legs and swing his waist and arms. He wanted to blend the movements together in one fluent action.
When he walked, he forgot to ponder, while when pondering, he forgot to walk. As a result, he lost his head only succeeded in walking like a puppet.
Several months passed. He not only failed to learn the Handan posture, but also forgot his original walking style. By this time, he had spent all the money he had brought. He was so hungry he could hardly stand, never mind learning to walk like other people.
So he had to return home. But he couldn’t recall his original walking posture. In the end, the young man had no choice but to crawl on his hands and knees all the way back to Yan.
This story comes from ChuangTze: AutumnWater. Later people used it to describe those who do not have their own personality and creativity, but only mechanically copy others. They not only fail to learn from others, but also forget their own knowledge.
