








防人之口,甚于防川 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “it is harder to suppress public opinion or criticism than to block a mighty river; attempts to silence dissent are futile and often counterproductive”. Literally, “To guard against people's mouths is more difficult than to guard against a river”.

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Open the tool →防人之口,甚于防川 (fáng rén zhī kǒu , shén yú fáng chuān) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “it is harder to suppress public opinion or criticism than to block a mighty river; attempts to silence dissent are futile and often counterproductive”.
防人之口,甚于防川 is pronounced fáng rén zhī kǒu , shén yú fáng chuān in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 防人之口,甚于防川 means “to guard against people's mouths is more difficult than to guard against a river”. It is used to mean “it is harder to suppress public opinion or criticism than to block a mighty river; attempts to silence dissent are futile and often counterproductive”.
防:阻止;甚:超过;川:河流。想堵住人民的嘴,比堵塞河川还难。指不让人民说话,是不明智的