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53-447: Han Xin is best remembered as a brilliant military leader for the strategies and tactics he employed in warfare, some of which became the origins of certain Chinese idioms , he was undefeated in battle and for his accomplishments he was considered the "God of War". In recognition of Han Xin's contributions, Liu Bang conferred the titles of " King of Qi " on him in 203 BCE and " King of Chu " in

106-465: A chengyu as it comes from the Analects . The idiom is succinct in its original meaning and would likely be intelligible to anyone learned in formal written Chinese, though yán ( 言 ) is no longer commonly used as a verb. There are a few chengyu that are not four characters in length. An example is the seven-character 醉翁之意不在酒 'The Old Drunkard's attention is not directed towards his wine'. This

159-401: A classical allusion, known as a diǎngù ( 典故 ), elementary and secondary school students in greater China learn chengyu as part of the classical curriculum in order to study the context from which the chengyu was born. Often the four characters reflect the moral behind the story rather than the story itself. For example, the phrase " 破釜沉舟 " ( pò fǔ chén zhōu , lit: "break

212-537: A complex or multifaceted situation, scene, or concept, and used fittingly and elegantly, they also mark a speaker or writer's erudition. The meaning of a chengyu usually surpasses the sum of the meanings carried by the four characters, as chengyu are generally meant to convey the message or moral of the myth, story or historical event from which they were derived. Thus, even after translation into modern words and syntax, chengyu in isolation are often unintelligible without additional explanation. Since they often contain

265-517: A descendant of nobility and so I feed you. I did not do so expecting anything in return!" A youngster from a butcher's family in Huaiyin would humiliate Han Xin, making fun of him by saying that despite Han Xin being tall and carrying around a sword, Han Xin was actually a coward. He said in front of a crowd: "If you do not fear death; stab me. If you fear death; come crawl between my legs." Han Xin gave it some thought, and eventually decided to crawl between

318-507: A descendant of the Han Sect of the Han Kingdom , but he was incredibly poor. The people from his hometown say that when his mother died, he did not have enough money to give her a proper burial. Regardless, he still searched until he came across a high and raised plot of land, thinking that one day, he could settle ten thousand households here to live and guard over his mother's grave. Because he

371-604: A guide through Chinese culture. Chengyu teach about motifs that were previously common in Chinese literature and culture. For example, idioms with nature motifs – e.g., mountains, water, and the Moon ;– are numerous. Works considered masterpieces of Chinese literature – such as the Four Great Classical Novels – serve as the source for many idioms, which in turn condense and retell

424-658: A melon field, and don't tidy your hat under the plum trees' ( 瓜田 不 納 履 ， 李 下 不 整 冠 , guā tián bù nà lǚ, lǐ xià bù zhěng guān ), admonishing the reader to avoid situations where, however innocent, he might be suspected of doing wrong. The idiom is impossible to understand without the background knowledge of the origin of the phrase. Some idioms have had their literal meanings overtake their original ones. For example, 'wind from an empty cave' ( 空穴來風 , kōng xué lái fēng ), despite now being used to describe rumors without source, originally referred to rumors with actual, solid sources or reasons. Likewise, 'bare-faced facing

477-529: A poem titled "The Shrine of Han Xin", in which it states that it is unlikely for Han Xin to stay loyal when he held military power, yet rebel when he had not a single soldier. Some Chinese idioms and sayings originating from the events in Han Xin's life are listed as follows: While Han Xin was under house arrest, he did a mass organization of military books together with Zhang Liang . They put together one hundred and eighty-two books, removed certain parts and chose

530-616: A traditional expression to wish someone a long life that often appears on bowls and tableware, quotes the poem "Tian Bao" ( 天保 , poem #166) in the Lesser Court Hymns section of the Classic of Poetry . More commonly, however, chengyu are created by succinctly paraphrasing or summarizing the original text, usually by selecting the most salient characters from the passage in question and inserting any necessary classical grammatical particles. As such, chengyu are fossilized expressions that use

583-526: A trap. They pretended Gaozu had returned from suppressing the rebellion and that there would be a feast to commemorate the success. Xiao He managed to persuade Han Xin into coming to Changle Palace, where the Empress lived, and he was bound and executed as soon as he stepped through the doors. Han Xin's clan was exterminated on the Empress's orders as well. Upon return from his campaign, Gaozu expressed both relief and regret when he learnt of Han Xin's death. He asked

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636-481: Is a direct quote from Ouyang Xiu 's essay An Account of Old Drunkard's Pavilion ( 醉翁亭記 ), in which the author, as the Old Drunkard, expresses his true intention of enjoying the scenery of the mountains and rivers as he drinks. As an idiom, it expresses the situation where one does something with an ulterior though benign motive in mind. Some chengyu have English equivalents. For example, 言不由衷 'speak not from

689-448: Is seen to have contributed greatly to the founding of the Han dynasty . When we look at how he rejected Kuai Che 's suggestion to declare independence, and how he received Gaozu at Chen (present-day Huaiyang , Henan ), how can we say he had the intention of rebelling? The reason for his rebellion was that he felt unhappy about losing his noble title. Lu Wan was merely Gaozu's neighbour, yet he

742-585: Is true when people say: The hunting dog becomes food as well after it is used to hunt game; a good bow is discarded when there are no birds left for shooting; an advisor dies after he helps his lord conquer a rival kingdom. Now that the empire is in place, I no longer serve any purpose!" Liu Bang's only response was: "Someone claimed you had rebelled", and proceeded to cuff Han Xin and bring him back to Luoyang . Although Gaozu pardoned Han Xin and released him later, he still demoted Han from "King of Chu" to "Marquis of Huaiyin". After his demotion, Han Xin knew that Gaozu

795-472: The Han dynasty would be comparable to those of the Duke of Zhou , Duke of Shao , and Jiang Ziya , and his descendants would be proud of him. However, Han Xin did not change himself for the better. Instead, when peace and stability had been restored in the empire (China), he plotted a rebellion and caused his clan to be implicated and exterminated . Is this not Heaven's will? In volume 12 of Zizhi Tongjian , after

848-749: The Qin dynasty . Han Xin continued serving Xiang Yu (Xiang Liang's nephew) after Xiang Liang was killed in action at the Battle of Dingtao. He was not placed in high regard and worked as a "langzhong" (郎中; sometimes translated as Captain of the Palace Guards). He constantly proposed strategies to Xiang Yu but was ignored. During this time, he became well acquainted with Zhongli Mo , one of Xiang Yu's top generals. In 206 BC, Han Xin deserted Xiang Yu's army and went to join Liu Bang . Initially, after joining Liu Bang's army, Han Xin

901-634: The Three Qins in Guanzhong . Han Xin ordered some soldiers to pretend to repair the gallery roads linking Guanzhong and Hanzhong, while sending another army to secretly pass through Chencang and make a surprise attack on Zhang Han . Zhang Han was caught off guard and the Han forces emerged victorious, proceeding to take over Sima Xin and Dong Yi 's kingdoms. The strategy employed by Han Xin, known as mingxiu zhandao, andu Chencang (明修棧道, 暗度陳倉; lit. "appearing to repair

954-569: The Empress for Han Xin's last words, which were, "I regret not listening to Kuai Che's advice, and now I have been deceived by such vile people. This is the heaven's will!" In another section of Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian , The Hereditary House of Chancellor Xiao, the events of the Chu-Han Contention are told from Xiao He's point of view, and puts a different narrative on the death of Han Xin. In this autobiography, Liu Bang

1007-414: The Han dynasty. Not long after, Chen Xi rebelled and Gaozu personally led an army to suppress the rebellion, while Han Xin claimed sickness and stayed behind. While Gaozu was away, one of Han Xin's household servants offended him, so Han Xin locked him up as punishment. The servant's young brother gave news of Han Xin's desire to rebel to Empress Lü Zhi , who then plotted with Xiao He to lure Han Xin into

1060-449: The Qi kingdom and did not turn back to support Gaozu because he saw more danger of losing more soldiers if he went for saving lives of people at Pengcheng. The appointment as acting King of Qi was proposed later after many months of war defeats for Liu Bang. Besides, during the Battle of Guling, Han Xin did not keep his promise to help Gaozu, and caused Gaozu to lose the battle. Since then, Gaozu had

1113-533: The West, such as "Burning one's boats", "burning one's bridges", " Point of no return " or " Crossing the Rubicon ". Another example is 瓜田李下 ( guātián lǐxià 'melon field, beneath the plums', whose meaning relates to the appearance of misconduct or impropriety. It is derived from an excerpt of a Han-era poem ( 樂府 詩 《 君子 行 》 , Yuèfǔ Shī " Jūnzǐ Xíng "). The poem includes the lines 'don't adjust your shoes in

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1166-568: The bosom' and 'to speak with one's tongue in one's cheek' share idiomatic meanings. The Chinese not having conducted maritime explorations of the North Atlantic during imperial times, the expression 冰山一角 'one corner of an ice mountain' is a rare example of a chengyu that emerged in the early 20th century after contact with the West as a translation of the expression "tip of the iceberg," thus sharing both their literal and idiomatic meanings. Another expression 火中取栗 'extracting chestnuts from

1219-619: The early classical literature, the lyrical imagery from the Classic of Poetry , and the detailed stories recorded in the Zuo Zhuan and the Records of the Grand Historian serve as particularly rich source materials for chengyu. Since the Shijing poems consist of four-character lines, some chengyu are direct quotes from the Classic of Poetry . For example, 萬夀無疆 'ten-thousand year lifespan without bound',

1272-424: The emperor' ( 素面朝天 ) is now used to describe beauty that does not require make-up, e.g., when entering court, while its original meaning was "to be confident in one's true look". However, not all chengyu have stories to draw morals from. An example is 言而無信 'speaking, yet without trust', referring to one who cannot be trusted despite what he says, an essentially deceitful person. It is generally acknowledged as

1325-509: The entry on Han Xin's death, Sima Guang commented on Han as follows: Many people would think that Han Xin was the first person to propose the grand plan for unifying China: he started his plan together with (Emperor) Gaozu in Hanzhong, conquered the Three Qins , led a northern campaign to attack the kingdoms of Wei , Dai, Zhao , Yan and Qi , moved south to destroy Chu in Gaixia . As such, he

1378-483: The fire', originating from a La Fontaine fable, means "to be duped into taking risks for someone else," used in much the same way as the expression "cat's paw" in English is another example of an "international" chengyu . Though they are recent in origin, they are constructed using the vocabulary and syntax of Literary Chinese and fits within the four-character scheme, making them chengyu . Chinese idioms can also serve as

1431-469: The first idiom is the same as the first character of the second idiom, and so forth. The following three examples show that the meaning of the idiom can be totally different by only changing one character. Yojijukugo is the similar format in Japanese . The term yojijukugo ( 四 字 熟語 , four character idiom) is autological . Many of these idioms were adopted from their Chinese counterparts and have

1484-452: The following year. However, Liu Bang feared Han Xin's growing influence and gradually reduced his authority, demoting him to "Marquis of Huaiyin" in late 202 BCE. In early 196 BCE, Han Xin was accused of participating in a rebellion, lured into a trap and executed on Empress Lü Zhi's orders. Han Xin was born in Huaiyin (modern-day Jiangsu Province ), which was an area of Chu during the warring states . According to legend, he may have been

1537-561: The gallery roads while making secret advances through Chencang"), became one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems . When Xiang Yu died in 202 BCE, Zhongli Mo (one of Xiang Yu's generals) came to Han Xin and requested refuge. On account of their past friendship, Han Xin protected Zhongli Mo and let him stay with him. When Emperor Gaozu heard that Zhongli Mo was hiding in Han Xin's territory, he ordered Han to arrest Zhongli Mo, but Han Xin refused. A year later, Gaozu heard rumours that Han Xin

1590-520: The highest rank in the army, the Commander-in-Chief (大將軍). Xiao He also chided Liu Bang's usual ill-mannered behaviour, demanding that Liu Bang hold a formal ceremony for the event. Liu Bang relented and held a special ceremony for Han Xin's appointment. After the ceremony, Han Xin analysed the situation for Liu Bang and devised a plan to conquer Xiang Yu's Western Chu kingdom. In late 206 BCE, Liu Bang's forces left Hanzhong and prepared to attack

1643-465: The hooligan and appointed the hooligan as a zhongwei (中尉; equivalent to a present-day lieutenant). He to his subordinates: "This man is a hero. Do you think I could not have killed him when he humiliated me? I would not become famous even if I killed him then. Hence, I endured the humiliation to preserve my life to achieve great things in the future." In 209 BC, Han Xin joined Xiang Liang 's rebel army when rebellions erupted throughout China to overthrow

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1696-525: The hooligan's legs. Because of this, he was mocked by all the town for his cowardice. Several years later, after becoming the King of Chu , Han Xin returned to his hometown. He found the woman who fed him and rewarded her with 1,000 taels of gold. He found the Chief of Nanchang Pavilion and gave him a hundred coins, saying, "You are not a good person. You do good things but your generosity is limited." Han Xin also found

1749-680: The intention of killing Han Xin but did not do so as he was not yet powerful enough. When Gaozu's empire came into place, Han Xin no longer served any purpose. [REDACTED] Quotations related to Han Xin at Wikiquote Chengyu Chengyu ( traditional Chinese : 成語 ; simplified Chinese : 成语 ; pinyin : chéngyǔ ; trans. "set phrase") are a type of traditional Chinese idiomatic expressions, most of which consist of four Chinese characters . Chengyu were widely used in Literary Chinese and are still common in written vernacular Chinese writing and in

1802-404: The knowledge of Liu Bang, because Han Xin's reputation amongst the military was too high, and combined with his talents, became a threat to the throne. Although historians have always looked to Sima Qian's records for facts, some believe it is possible that as a citizen of the Han dynasty, he could not go against the government acknowledged version of events. A Tang dynasty poet, Xu Hun , once wrote

1855-631: The land. When Han Xin heard that Gaozu was heading towards the land of Chu, his first instinct was to rebel, but he decided he had committed no crime and stayed put. At this time, someone told Han Xin that if he were to present Zhongli Mo's head to Gaozu, than he would be happy and spare him. Han Xin then met Zhongli Mo to decide their next course of action, and brought up this idea. Zhongli Mo then promptly slit his own throat, but not before claiming Han Xin would follow soon after. Han Xin brought Zhongli Mo's severed head to Gaozu and explained his innocence, but Gaozu ordered Han to be arrested. Han Xin exclaimed, "It

1908-464: The language, but there exists native counterparts to the Classical Chinese idioms. There are also many idioms that are Vietnamese in origin. Vietnamese idioms can be classified into Sino-Vietnamese idioms ( Vietnamese : thành ngữ Hán Việt, chữ Hán Nôm : 成語漢越) and native Vietnamese idioms ( Vietnamese : thành ngữ thuần Việt, chữ Hán Nôm : 成語純越) that were once written in chữ Nôm , are now written in

1961-434: The only idioms in Chinese, and not always four characters long, they are often referred to as Chinese idioms or four-character idioms . Chengyu are mostly derived from ancient literature , including the pre-Qin classics, poetry from all periods of Chinese history, and late imperial vernacular novels and short stories. A small number were constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries from Western source materials. Among

2014-445: The pots and sink the ships") is based on a historical account where the general Xiang Yu ordered his troops to destroy all cooking utensils and boats after crossing a river into the enemy's territory. He won the battle because of this "no-retreat" strategy. Thus, the idiom is used as a verb phrase with the meaning "to make an all-out effort to achieve success by the deliberate removal of recourse or backup." Similar phrases are known in

2067-481: The reliable bits, and came out with thirty-five books. Han Xin himself also wrote three essays regarding military strategy. His descendants are said to have fled to the area of modern Guangdong and Guangxi and changed their name to Wéi (韋) . At the end of Han Xin's biography in Shiji , Sima Qian commented on Han as follows: I've been to Huaiyin (present-day Huai'an , Jiangsu ), and the locals told me that when Han Xin

2120-957: The same or similar meaning as in Chinese. The term koji seigo ( 故事 成語 , historical idiom) refers to an idiom that comes from a specific text as the source. As such, the overwhelming majority of koji seigo comes from accounts of history written in classical Chinese. Although a great many of the Japanese four-character idioms are derived from the Chinese, many others are purely Japanese in origin. Some examples: The Korean equivalent are Sajaseong-eo ( Korean :  사자성어 ; Hanja :  四字成語 ). They have similar categorization to Japanese ones, such as Gosaseong-eo ( 고사성어 ; 故事成語 ) for historical idioms. Four word idioms or any idiom in Vietnamese are known as thành ngữ ( chữ Hán : 成語, literally "set phrase/speech"). A large amount of idioms originating from Classical Chinese have been borrowed into

2173-648: The saying, "Xiao He chases Han Xin under the moonlight" ( 蕭何月下追韓信 ). In the meantime, Liu Bang had a nervous breakdown after hearing that Xiao He had left him. When Xiao He returned after a few days, while Liu Bang was relieved, he was also furious. He angrily asked Xiao He, "Why did you run away?" Xiao He explained, "I did not run away; I was chasing down Han Xin." Liu Bang got angry again, saying, "There were dozens of deserters, yet you did not chase after them. When you say that you chased after Han Xin, you must be lying to me." Xiao He then explained Han Xin's talent and forcibly insisted that Liu Bang immediately promote Han Xin to

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2226-685: The spoken language today. According to the most stringent definition, there are about 5,000 chengyu in the Chinese language , though some dictionaries list over 20,000. Chengyu are considered the collected wisdom of the Chinese culture , and contain the experiences, moral concepts, and admonishments from previous generations of Chinese speakers. Chengyu still play an important role in Chinese conversation and education. Chinese idioms are one of four types of formulaic expressions ( 熟语 ; 熟語 ; shúyǔ ), which also include collocations ( 惯用语 ; 慣用語 ; guànyòngyǔ ), two-part allegorical sayings called xiehouyu , and proverbs ( 谚语 ; 諺語 ; yànyǔ ). While not

2279-418: The story. All Chinese people know idioms, though the total number known by any one individual will depend on their background. Idioms are such an important part of Chinese popular culture that there is a game called 成語接龍 'connect the chengyu' that involves someone calling out an idiom, with someone else then being supposed to think of another idiom to link up with the first one, so that the last character of

2332-488: The vocabulary and follow the syntactic rules of Literary Chinese . Consequently, they convey information more compactly than normal vernacular speech or writing. They may contain subject and predicate and act as an independent clause (or even twin two-character independent clauses in parallel), or they may play the role of any part of speech in a sentence, acting syntactically as an adjective, adverb, verb, or noun phrase. In both speech and writing, they serve to succinctly convey

2385-459: Was appointed King of Yan, while Han Xin only received the title of a marquis and could only have audiences with Gaozu. Is this not an example of how Gaozu treated Han Xin unfairly? I think that Gaozu did treat Han Xin unfairly when he lured Han into a trap and captured him, but Han was also at fault, which led to his downfall. When Gaozu was at war with Xiang Yu in Xingyang , Han Xin had just conquered

2438-416: Was beginning to distrust him and had become wary of his talent. Hence, Han Xin claimed to be ill and stayed at home most of the time to reduce Gaozu's suspicions. Around 197 BCE, Chen Xi (Marquis of Yangxia) met Han Xin before leaving for Julu, where Han Xin promptly pulled him aside, dismissing all nearby servants. He promised to aid Chen Xi from inside the capital if Chen Xi were to start an uprising against

2491-850: Was greatly delighted and recommended Han Xin to Liu Bang. Liu Bang was not overly impressed but made Han Xin the Captain of Rations (治粟都尉) to be in charge of food supplies. During this time, Han Xin often met up with Xiao He (Liu Bang's Chancellor), who was greatly impressed by him. In April of that year, Liu Bang faced a mass desertion of soldiers. Han Xin figured that despite both Xiahou Ying and Xiao He having recommended him to Liu Bang, Liu Bang did not use him, so he saw no reason to stay and also deserted. When Xiao He heard that Han Xin had left, he immediately rushed to personally find Han Xin and bring him back, and did not manage to inform Liu Bang in time. Xiao He eventually caught up with Han Xin and managed to persuade Han Xin to go back with him. This event gave rise to

2544-470: Was immediately notified of Han Xin's rebellion and execution, rather than waiting until after his return. Throughout history, historians and scholars alike have debated over the plausibility of Han Xin's rebellion. Although the Records of the Grand Historian have it written in black and white, many believe that Han Xin was loyal until his death. They believe that Lü Zhi and Xiao He framed Han Xin of treason, under

2597-464: Was no more food. Han Xin understood that he was no longer welcome and never visited them again. Once, when he was suffering from hunger, he met an old woman washing clothes by the river who provided him food. She did so for all the dozen days that she had laundry to do. Han Xin was incredibly delighted and promised to heavily repay her for her kindness. She, however, scolded him, saying: "A young man such as you cannot feed himself. I take pity that you are

2650-425: Was not given any important roles. Once, he violated military law and was due to be punished by execution. When it was his turn to be beheaded, Han Xin saw Xiahou Ying (one of Liu Bang's trusted generals) and said, "I thought the King wanted to rule an empire. Why, then, is he killing valiant men?" Xiahou Ying was surprised by his words and his looks, and spared Han Xin's life. After conversing with Han Xin, Xiahou Ying

2703-564: Was plotting a rebellion. By this time, Zhang Liang had already retreated from political affairs, so Chen Ping was Gaozu's most trusted advisor. After discussion, they came to the conclusion that Gaozu could not best Han Xin in battle, so it would be most ideal to strike Han Xin when he was unprepared. Chen Ping proposed to lure Han Xin into meeting, on a pretext of Liu Bang touring the Yunmeng Marshes (present-day Jianghan Plains , Hubei Province ). He sent this message out to all warlords across

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2756-547: Was still a commoner, his ambition was very different from ordinary people's. When his mother died, he was too poor to give her a proper funeral. However, he found a scenic area, on high and flat ground and capable of housing thousands, and buried her there. I've personally been to his mother's grave and it was exactly like what the locals described to me. If Han Xin was more modest and unassuming, did not boast about his achievements, and not been so egoistic, he would have attained fame, glory and wealth. In that case, his contributions to

2809-416: Was unable to obtain a government post nor become a merchant, he lived a life of destitution and was despised by those around him, as he often relied on others for his meals. He especially often went to the 亭長 (Chief) of Nanchang Pavilion for food, and as months passed the Chief's wife increasing began to hate Han Xin. At one point, she cooked and ate very early in the morning, so that when Han Xin arrived, there

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