Once, a man kept a flock of sheep. One morning he found a hole in the pen and a sheep was missing. His neighbor said: 'Patch the hole quickly!' The man replied: 'The sheep is already lost — patching won't help.'
The next day, he lost another sheep. Full of regret, he mended the pen at once. After that, he never lost another sheep.
'Wang yang bu lao' means: once a problem appears, it is never too late to fix it. You lost a sheep, but once the pen is repaired, no more will be lost. The same applies to study: spot the mistake, correct it right away, and you're doing great.
The story: a man kept a flock of sheep. One morning he found a hole in the pen - a wolf had slipped in overnight and taken a sheep. A neighbour urged him to mend the hole at once. He said: the sheep is lost; what is the use of mending it now? The next night the wolf came through the same hole and took another sheep. Only then did he regret it, hired people to repair the pen thoroughly, and never lost a sheep again.
The idiom literally means "mend the fold after losing the sheep". It describes fixing a problem after it occurs - it is still not too late, and you can stop the loss from growing.
The common form is "wáng yáng bǔ láo, wéi shí bù wǎn" - mending the fold after the loss is not yet too late. It encourages people not to give up after mistakes or losses, because acting now still matters. Example: failing this exam is fine; start working hard now - better late than never.
It comes from the Strategies of the Warring States, told to King Xiang of Chu to urge him to heed loyal advice and correct mistakes before the state declined. Its core is not regret but the value of acting immediately.
English "better late than never" matches it exactly. Explain to friends: it means fixing a problem after it happens - it is not too late to make things better. The sheep story makes it memorable.
In life: after losing a wallet, fix the habit of careless storage; after missing an opportunity, prepare for the next one. This idiom teaches loss-cutting and growth - turning every mistake into a starting point for improvement.
Finally, contrast this idiom with another mindset: after losing the sheep, some people brood over "I should have known" instead of mending the pen. Regret brings no sheep back, but a mended pen keeps the rest safe. The idiom teaches us to look forward: the mistake has happened; the best response is not self-blame but fixing the fold now.
In exam essays and daily chat it is one of the most useful idioms: "the month started roughly, but better late than never", or "a small problem appeared in the project - we will mend the fold at once". Compared with plainly saying "I will fix my mistake", this idiom paints a picture and shows real command of Chinese.
Once a man kept a flock of sheep. One morning he found a hole in the pen and a sheep lost overnight. A neighbour urged: "fix the pen and block the hole quickly."
He replied: "The sheep is already lost; what use is fixing the pen?" He ignored the advice. The next night, another sheep was lost.
Only then did he regret and quickly repair the pen, blocking the hole. From then on, no sheep was lost again. The story comes from Zhanguo Ce, among China most famous idiom tales.
"Wáng yáng bǔ láo" means: when a sheep is lost, mending the pen is not too late. It says: after a problem arises, fixing it in time prevents further loss.
The English sense: "mending the fold after losing a sheep" - although loss has happened, learning the lesson and fixing it in time is still not too late.
Today it encourages people: making mistakes is fine; what matters is correcting promptly - catch up on studies after falling behind; strengthen precautions after a theft.
The opposite attitude is "smashing the pot because it is cracked" - since sheep are lost, ignore it all. But the wise know: after losing one sheep, protect the rest even more.
For learners, this idiom is useful: when facing setbacks, do not give up; timely remedy always beats complaint.
