







如出一辙 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to be exactly alike”. To be cast in the same mold; to follow the same pattern. Literally, “as if from the same rut/track”.
During the Song Dynasty, the scholar Hong Mai pointed out in his book 'Rong Zhai Sui Bi' that some famous generals in history, who had achieved great renown and made outstanding contributions, ultimately ended in failure due to their arrogance and underestimation of the enemy, stemming from their overreliance on past achievements.
The mistakes made by four such generals – Guan Yu of the Han Dynasty, Wang Sizheng of the Western Wei, Murong Shaozong of the Northern Qi, and Wu Mingche of the Southern Dynasties – were exactly alike.