*Mencius*, a Confucian classic, records the political activities, doctrines, and philosophical-ethical educational thoughts of the famous Warring States thinker Meng Ke. One story in this book is particularly well-known:
A farmer in the Song state, worried his seedlings weren't growing fast enough, went to check on them every day. But day after day, they seemed to stay the same height. Frustrated, he thought, "I need to help them grow!" So he spent a whole day pulling each seedling up by an inch. Exhausted but proud, he returned home and told his family, "I've been helping the seedlings grow all day!" His son rushed to the field, only to find every single plant withered and dead.
But day after day, the seedlings didn't seem to grow at all. Pacing anxiously by the field, he muttered to himself, "I need to find a way to help them grow."
One day, he finally hit upon a solution—rushing to the field, he began pulling up each seedling one by one, working from dawn until sunset until he was utterly exhausted.
He returned home, utterly exhausted, and gasped, "I'm worn out today! But my efforts weren't wasted—I've helped the seedlings grow a whole lot taller."
When his son heard this, he rushed to the field to check, only to find that all the seedlings had withered and died.
Later, the idiom "Pulling Up Seedlings to Help Them Grow" came to be used as a metaphor for ignoring the natural laws of development, forcing rapid growth, and in the end making things worse.
Source: *Mencius*, Chapter "Gongsun Chou I"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "拔苗助长" came to describe ignoring the natural laws of development, forcing rapid growth, and in the end making things worse.