Desparate Straits （四面楚歌）

四面楚歌

(sìmiànchǔgē)

 

Introduction

 

Ordinary men placed in extraordinary circumstances can accomplish great deeds. Great strategists of old understood this fact, and took care to place their men in these situations to bring the best out of them, and likewise took care to deprive their enemies of this situational advantage whenever they could. At no time is this more important when one is about to vanquish one’s enemy; a job 9/10ths done is not done, and a slight mishap toward the end could undo all of one’s past victories and successes. Such was the case during the endgame stages of the struggle between 汉 （hàn） and 楚（chǔ） around 202 BC.

汉 armies had all but secured victory over 楚, trapping 项羽，Chu’s leader, and what was left of his army at 垓下（gāixià). A lesser strategist may have been content with simply awaiting the eventual last charge that 楚 would make to attempt to break out of its entrapment. However, 张良，Han’s strategist, knew that 项羽 was a fierce warrior, a beast of a man whose battlefield prowess was such that mere mention of his name struck fear into the hearts of men [link to 破釜沉舟].

张良 knew that 项羽’s troops, cornered and hungry, could be stirred by their leader’s charisma and determination for one last fight, while his own troops, slightly complacent with victory in plain sight, would be vulnerable in this last battle. Victory for Han was far from certain in 张良’s mind, and he devised a plan to weaken the wills of 楚’s soldiers.

 

Story

 

As 楚 troops were preparing for their charge, they heard a strange sound: their own folksongs, ringing off the mountains on all four sides. 张良 had ordered his own troops to sing 楚’s songs in an effort to stir up nostalgia among 项羽’s troops and weaken their will to fight. 项羽 himself, hearing the songs in his palace, realized that his time was running short.

 

Conclusion

 

四面楚歌 now is a chengyu used to describe desperate straits, a pending doom, an end.

 

This article is related to 东山再起, 破釜沉舟