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四面楚歌

miàn Chǔ

Meanings

CC-CEDICT

miàn Chǔ
  1. 1.lit. on all sides, the songs of Chu (idiom)
  2. 2.fig. surrounded by enemies, isolated and without help

CC-CEDICT · CC BY-SA

Wiktionary

  1. 1.facing hostility, difficulty, or frustration on all sides

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Etymology

In reference to the Battle of Gaixia: : During the Chu–Han Contention, Xiang Yu (項羽) found himself besieged in the city of Gaixia (垓下), by the coalition force of Han and the other kings. Jiujiang fell to Ying Bu and Liu Jia the preceding month, and most of the Kingdom of Chu was occupied by the Han army. When he heard the besieging troops singing songs in the Chu accent, Xiang Yu knew his kingdom had fallen. The situation was also mentioned in Consort Yu's poem to her husband Xiang Yu after his suicide

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Stroke order

Components

Components from cjk-decomp · MIT

Characters

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