同舟共济
- Literal
- to cross the river together in the same boat
- Figurative
- To get through the same trouble together, differences parked for as long as the crossing lasts: they need not like each other, only be in the same boat.
Where does 同舟共济 come from?
The image comes from Sunzi. In the chapter "九地" he explains how to make an army act as one body, and illustrates it with two hostile peoples: the men of Wu and the men of Yue loathe each other, he says, yet if they cross a river in the same boat and a gale hits them, they help one another the way the left hand and the right do. Shared danger outweighs old enmity. Hence the phrase today for teams, companies, or neighbors who have to get through a rough stretch together.
Source (出处): 《孙子·九地》
How is 同舟共济 used? Two examples
- 现在情况不好，大家更要同舟共济。
Now that things are going badly, we all need to pull together more than ever.
- 灾区的邻居们同舟共济，一起把房子重新盖了起来。
Neighbors in the disaster area stuck together and rebuilt their houses from the ground up.
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