If you don't advance, you will retreat. It means sailing against the current. Metaphor means that if you don't work hard, you will retreat. It is also a metaphor for doing things with resistance and having to work hard. Source: Liang Qing Qichao's "Speech at the Welcome Meeting of Shanxi Ticket Merchants": "The old man can keep it, and he has gone! However, I think that in the world, it is like sailing against the current. If you don't advance, you will retreat. "