Learn Chinese Term - What is the meaning of 成王败寇?

At the very beginning, this term is used to describe the ancient war - The winner will become the kind and the loser will be considered as the robber. No matter who is legal, he will be the offender if he lose the war. On the contrary, if he rises in rebellion and succeed in winning the war, he will be the emperor. In Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di was the uncle of the emperor and he leaded his army to defeat royal armies. As the consequence, Zhu Di became the new emperor of Ming Dynasty and the officials who dare to fight against him were all killed.

 

Although the later generations can tell who is the righteous and who is the illegal, the winners are always the ones who are admired by the people in their generations. In Chinese opinion, the winner should not be blamed. Do you want to say that some winners are illegal? Well, you should be aware of that the legislative power is mastered by the winners. On the contrary, the losers have no right to express their opinions. When the rulers control the country, they can change the history and with no doubt in mind, the losers will be derogated.

 

Learn Chinese word with opposite meaning:虽败犹荣

This term is used to express an opposite meaning as compared to the former one. It is used to describe a glorious defeat. Sometimes, although someone loses in the war or in the competition, they are still respected by the public and even their opponents extend their heartfelt respects. In history, although China is powerful, it is always robbed and invaded by the foreign countries. To defeat the invaders, there are numerous soldiers and generals who sacrifice their lives. Some Chinese generals are captured by the enemies and they prefer to die rather than surrender. The invaders kill these honorable generals, however, they respect them at the same time. On the contrary, the invaders take advantage of the traitors, but they never believe in the traitors.

 

When you learn Chinese terms, you can learn a lot of stories behind the terms. Some of the stories are parts of Chinese history while some stories are created from legend. No matter what the origin of the story is, it is part of Chinese culture and you can learn be more familiar with Chinese language.