Our phrase of the week is: “more haste, less speed” (欲速则不达 yù sù zé bù dá)
Context
One of China’s top car review platforms, Dongchedi (懂车帝), is at the centre of an ongoing media controversy. It began on the 8 October, when the platform published a 100–0 km/h stopping distance test for the new Maextro V800 (尊界V800).
The Maextro is a ultra-luxury automotive brand launched jointly by Huawei and JAC (江淮汽车) in May this year. The V800 is the flagship car of the brand, launched in August.
The video published by Dongchedi showed that all three V800 cars tested failed because the brake pedal bracket snapped on each one when braking, in almost exactly the same place. The testers had to use the Park gear to bring the cars to a halt which meant the stopping distance went from a normal 38 metres to 140.
The V800 follows a popular “asset-light” (轻资产) model of producing cars. Huawei brings its superior design and technology capabilities, and JAC builds the cars. This means new vehicles can be brought to market much faster.
The story has drawn attention to the dangers of this kind of rushed vehicle development, known as “rapid-production cars” (速成车). These are models which are designed and brought to market quickly by relying heavily on computer simulations instead of real-world testing.
As one writer concluded, by deploying a very old idiom:
“Fundamentally, this isn’t an engineering issue.
It’s a risk management decision that reflects a carmaker’s priorities.
More haste, less speed.”
这本质上是个风险控制的问题，无关车企的造车能力，只取决于车企们造车的态度。“欲速则不达。”
And with that, we have our Sinica Phrase of the Week.
What it means
“More haste, less speed” is the English translation of a classical Chinese idiom. The individual characters mean “to want” (欲 yù), “speed” (速 sù), “then” (则 zé), “not” (不 bù), “to reach” (达 dá). Literally, it means “want speed, and you won’t get there.”
The idiom comes from the Analects (论语), the collected sayings of Confucius (孔子). Confucius lived from 551 to 479 BCE and is China’s most influential philosopher. He is the founder of the school of thought that has shaped Chinese society for more than two thousand years. The Analects was compiled by his disciples after his death.
In the chapter, Zilu (子路), one of Confucius’s students, Zixia (子夏), is appointed to govern a place called Jufu (莒父). Zixia was among Confucius’s “seventy-two favoured disciples”. He came from a poor family, but was known for his learning and integrity.
Before he set off to take up his new post in Jufu, Zixia asked his teacher for advice on how to govern, to which Confucius responded:
“Do not be in a hurry. Do not chase small gains.
If you seek haste, you will not reach your goal.
If you chase small gains, great things will not be achieved.”
“无欲速，无见小利。欲速，则不达，见小利，则大事不成。”
Confucius’s point was to not push for quick results, and not let small advantages distract from the bigger picture.
The idiom appears often in later writing. Sima Guang (司马光), the Song dynasty statesman and historian best known for the Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government (资治通鉴), used it in a letter to a friend:
“More haste, less speed.
How can an illness of half a year be cured in a single morning?”
夫欲速则不达，半岁之病岂一朝可愈？
Millenia later, Mao Zedong (毛泽东) used the idiom in a speech on cultural work:
“‘More haste, less speed’ does not mean we should not be fast.
It means we must not act blindly, because blind action is bound to fail.”
“欲速则不达”，这不是说不要速，而是说不要犯盲动主义，盲动主义是必然要失败的。
In modern Chinese, “more haste, less speed” is a warning against impatience and cutting corners. It’s also used in a shorter four-character form (欲速不达). In English, it can also be translated as “haste makes waste”. But we prefer the British “more haste, less speed”, which keeps the idea of speed as in the original Chinese expression.
Today, China’s carmakers are competing against each other to get new models on the road as quickly as possible. The “asset light” model of the V800 means the new vehicle has got to market faster, but without the usual rigorous real-world testing.
Which is a warning to other car makers that it’s not just about how fast you can design and launch new products to market.
Andrew Methven is the author of RealTime Mandarin, a resource which helps you bridge the gap to real-world fluency in Mandarin, stay informed about China, and communicate with confidence—all through weekly immersion in real news. Subscribe for free here.
