Break Woks, Sink Boats. (Burning One's Boat)
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Pronunciation:
po(4) fu(3) chen(2) zhou(1)
Explanation:
To describe one's strong decision to 'never
retreat'
Tone:
Neutral
The
Story: At the end of the Qin Dynasty,
many rebellions rose up, but Qin's General
Zhang Han was very brave. After he defeated
many rebels, he began to attack West Chu.
The
King of West Chu sent 2 of his generals, Song
Yi and Xiang Yu to defend the kingdom. Because
of Song Yi's fear for Qin's army, he kept
his soldiers stationed near the riverbank
for more than 40 days without making one move.
His comrade Xiang Yu hated his cowardly behavior,
so at last he killed Song Yi and commanded
the soldiers to cross the river. After crossing
the river, Xiang Yu ordered them to sink their
boats and break their woks after preparing
3 day's food. He told his men they would not
back unless they won the battle.
When
Xiang Yu's army arrive at the frontier, they
blocked the food-supply route of the Qin.
Then after 9 severe battles at Ju Lu Town,
Xiang Yu defeated Qin's army totally. From
then on, he became the hero of the anti-Qin
army.
Usage
Example (Pinyin): Wo (3) xiang(3) zhe(4)
ge(4) nu(3) hai(2) hui(4) shi(2) xian(4) ta(1)
de yuan(4) wang(4), yin(1) wei(4) ta(1) you(3)
po(4) fu(3) chen(2) zhou(1) de jue(2) xin(1)
Usage
Example (English translation): I think
the girl will fulfil her will as she is detemrined
to "break woks and sink boats".
Note:
The spoken Chinese Mandarin language has 4
spoken tones. We have attempted to re-create
those above where after each syllable we tell
you (1), (2), (3), or (4) as they correspond
to each of the 4 tones. We encourage you to
complement your Xianzai.com Chinese Idioms
newsletter with a good offline study program.
