- 船到江心补漏迟 chuándàojiāngxīnbǔlòuchí too late to mend(proverb) Literally "to start mending a leak only when the boat is in the middle of the river"; to delay taking action until it is too late to save a situation.
- 不到乌江心不死 bùdàowūjiāngxīnbùsǐ to refuse to give up until there is no hopeto not give up until one reaches the end of the road, or to not stop until one reaches the Wu River where the historical Xiang Yu was defeated
- 江心补漏 jiāngxīnbǔlòu to repair the leak in midstream(idiom) to try to fix a problem when it is already too late; to wait until disaster strikes before taking action; literally meaning to wait until a boat is in the middle of the river to fix a leak
- 船到江心，补漏迟 chuándàojiāngxīnbǔlòuchí it is too late to plug the leak once the ship is in midstreamIt is too late to take precautions once the trouble has already happened; waiting until the last minute to act is useless.
