Like / as if (如…般)

Structure 如 + image + 般 / 一般 + （+ verb/adjective）

如…般 (rú… bān) and its variant 如…一般 form a literary simile: "like…", "as…". The image sits between 如 and 般: 时光如流水般逝去 = "time slips away like flowing water". It is the cultured counterpart of …似的 (HSK 5): same "seems like / as if" sense, but 如…般 belongs to poetic prose, literary description and lyrics, whereas 似的 is colloquial. 般 (bān, "manner, kind") closes the comparison and may be followed by a verb or adjective expressing the shared trait.

Examples

时shí光guāng如rú流liú水shuǐ般bān逝shì去qù。
Time slips away like flowing water.
她tā的de歌gē声shēng如rú清qīng泉quán一yī般bān，沁qìn人rén心xīn脾pí。
Her singing, like a clear spring, soothes the heart.
消xiāo息xī如rú惊jīng雷léi般bān传chuán遍biàn全quán城chéng。
The news spread across the whole city like a thunderclap.
往wǎng事shì如rú烟yān一yī般bān，渐jiàn渐jiàn模mó糊hú。
The past, like smoke, grows hazier little by little.

Levels are indicative: they follow the standard Chinese Grammar Wiki (AllSet Learning) progression, not an official HSK 3.0 mapping. We never assign levels by eye.

This point and the other 370, with audio on every example, inside Wanyu.