Wáng yáng bŭ láo - It's never too late

The Chinese saying wáng yáng bŭ láo (亡羊补牢), “even if you have lost some sheep, it’s never too late to mend the fence," is a reminder that when we meet misfortune, we should not despair, instead, we should do our best to ensure the same mischance will not occur again.

Wáng means to forget, to lose, yáng is sheep, and bŭ is a verb meaning to fix or mend. Láo refers to a paddock or an animal shed. So, at first you lose your sheep, wáng yáng, and then you mend the fence, bŭ láo.

This saying originating from the Warring States Period (475-221 BCE) was turned into timeless folk wisdom by Zhuang Xin, an officer from the court of Chu king Xiang.

King Xiang had put four cunning and futile men, who were very allergic to work, in charge of state affairs. Somehow, this foursome had managed to win the trust of the king, who was happily unaware of their plotting and let them go about their work, or more precisely, let them continue their lazy existence of not running state affairs as they should have.

One day, the honest and diligent Zhuang Xin decided that enough was enough. He went to see the king and told him not to trust the wrong people, who would only bring about destruction.

The king, however, thought that Zhuang was just jealous of the favorable position of his colleagues and ignored his warnings. From this, Zhuang deducted that he himself had been judged untrustworthy by his king, resigned and moved far away from the setting of his former life.

A few months later, troops from the neighboring Qin state attacked Chu, and since the leadership had not been kept up to date of the doings of their foes, their enemy quickly got the upper hand and invaded the capital, and soon the entire state was conquered.

At his point, king Xiang felt quite regretful of the way he had treated Zhuang. The king then decided to seek out Zhuang Xin in order to ask for his advice on handling the situation and rectifying things.

Zhuang Xin replied: It is never too late to let the hounds loose, even if the rabbit has already been spotted, and it is not too late to mend the fence even if the sheep are already lost. As long as a king trusts the right individuals and brings together his people, he has the power to reclaim what was once his and repel the enemy.

The king decided to heed Zhuang Xin's advice and take action. He got rid of the no good slackers and replaced them with skillful and trustworthy men, and managed to eventually banish the enemy from his land.

Wáng yáng bŭ láo, “even if you have lost some sheep, it’s never too late to mend the fence.” This saying reminds us that it is never too late to try to do something to mend things, even if the damage has already been done. Instead of crying over our lost sheep, even at a time of misfortune, we should think about what we can do to ensure a better future – to mend the fence in order to prevent the same mischance from occurring again.