To learn the way they walk in [the city of] Hándān (邯郸)
To describe situations where someone, in blindly trying to mimic others, not only fails to succeed, but also forgets the skills and strengths that they originally had
Negative
我们在做任何事情的时候，都要有自己的主见，不要邯郸学步，否则绝不会办成事情！ | Wǒmen zài zuò rènhé shìqíng de shíhòu, dōu yào yǒu zìjǐ de zhǔjiàn, bùyào hándānxuébù, fǒuzé jué bù huì bàn chéng shìqíng!
Whenever we do anything, we must have our own opinions and cannot slavishly copy others. Otherwise, things will never be done!
[Source]
有一次，我在家里画画，画的是一架战斗机，弟弟也想画，就模仿我画的，结果只能是邯郸学步 | Yǒu yī cì, wǒ zài jiā lǐ huàhuà, huà de shì yī jià zhàndòujī, dìdì yě xiǎng huà, jiù mófǎng wǒ huà de, jiéguǒ zhǐ néng shì hándānxuébù
One time, I was drawing a fighter plane while at home. My brother also wanted to draw a fighter plane, and in the end he could only poorly mimic my work
[Source]
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学步邯郸 (xué bù hán dān)
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《庄子》(Zhuāng Zǐ), a work written by 庄子 (Zhuāng Zǐ, the same as in the title) during the Warring States Period (475 - 221 BC)
It used to be said that the people of Hándān (邯郸, the capital of the ancient state of 赵国 (Zhào Guó, 475 - 220 BC)), walked in a way that was especially elegant and attractive.
Once, a youth from a neighboring state heard of this way of walking in Hándān and grew terribly envious. He was the kind of person who always wanted to impress others, so he traveled all the way to the city in order to learn how to perform the walk for himself. Once he arrived, he spent long days standing on the street, trying to mimic the walk of every child, woman, and elderly person as they passed him by.
After about two weeks, he still hadn't been able to master the walk, and he simply gave up. At this point, though, he had a problem: he'd forgotten how to walk regularly and had spent all of his money, so he was forced to crawl home.