Interpretation Ji: refers to Yu Ji, the favorite concubine of Xiang Yu, the king of Western Chu. It describes the tragic scene of a hero at the end of his life. Now it is often used as a metaphor for the ultimate downfall of a man who is arbitrary and detached from the masses.
Origin: Xiang Yu, the king of Western Chu, was defeated in a war with Liu Bang, Gaozu of Han Dynasty, for the right to rule the feudal world. Knowing that the situation was over, Xiang Yu had to say goodbye to Yu Ji on the eve of his breakout.
Example Isn't there a play called "Farewell My Concubine"? If these comrades don't change their ways, it is inevitable that one day they will have to bid farewell to their concubines.
Usage As object and determiner; referring to forcing things.
Story:During the Chu-Han conflict, Xiang Yu, the king of Western Chu, fought with Liu Bang for more than ten years for the throne. In the end, Xiang Yu was defeated at Wujiang River, and knowing that the situation was over, on the eve of the breakout, he had to say goodbye to Yu Ji, and finally cut his own throat and died.
Historical allusion
There was a beauty named Yu, who was always honored to be with her; and a steed named Zhui, who was often ridden by her. The king of Xiang then sang an impassioned song and wrote a poem saying: "The force is strong and powerful, the time is unfavorable and the piebald horse does not pass away. What can be done about the piebald, what can be done about Yu, Yu, Yu, and what can be done about it?" He sang several songs, and the beauty and the song. The king of Xiang wept several times, and all the people around him sobbed, and they could not look up.
"There is a beauty named Yu", but did not call it by the name of "Yu Ji", which has been passed down in later generations; it was not until the Tang book "Bracket Zhi" that the name of "Yu Ji" appeared. Of course, "Ji" is just a pronoun, not Yu Ji's real name. Yu Ji its person has a surname without a name, the name has long been indecipherable in the black hole of the historical rupture, the Five Dynasties period of the word name is simply to "Yu Beauty" call. Ban Gu in the "Han Shu - Sima Qian biography" said: "Sima Qian according to the" Zuo Shi "," Guoyu ", take" Shiben "," Warring States Strategy ", the Chu Han Spring and Autumn ", after its events, the end of the day Han." Among them, "Chu Han Spring and Autumn Annals" is a book written by Lu Jia at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, which was lost in the Southern Song Dynasty. Undoubtedly, Sima Qian wrote "The Records of the Grand Historian" with reference to the "Spring and Autumn Annals of Chu and Han": "Sima Qian wrote "The Records of the Grand Historian" according to the "Spring and Autumn Annals of Chu and Han", and therefore, his words were especially detailed in the matter of the Qin and the Han." (Wang Liqi) However, the "beauty and the" song recorded in the "Spring and Autumn of Chu and Han" was not recorded in the "Records of the Grand Historian" by Sima Qian, who paid attention to both details and curiosity.
The song says: "The Han soldiers have already conquered the land, and the Chu song is sung in all directions; the king's spirit is exhausted, and the concubine has nothing to live for.
Some people have long suspected that this song is a later forgery, on the grounds that the Qin and Han dynasties did not have such a mature pentameter poem. However, Mrs. Qi's dirge recorded in the Book of Han - Biography of the Relatives is already a fairly mature pentameter poem: "The son is a king, the mother is a captive, and she spends her days pounding the thin curtains, and is often with the dead! When we are three thousand miles away from each other, who is going to tell the lady?" The Qin folk ballad recorded in Li Daoyuan's "Shui Jing Zhu - River Water" was also a mature poem in five lines: "Don't lift up a boy when he is born, and use a breast for a girl when she is born. I don't see the corpses strutting each other under the Great Wall." Therefore, the song recorded in the Spring and Autumn Annals of Chu and Han is not a forgery and should not be a problem.
The Spring and Autumn Annals of the Chu and Han Dynasties and the Records of the Grand Historian Xiang Yu (项羽本纪), are the earliest records of the story of Farewell to My Concubine. The two books did not involve the end of Yu Ji. To the degree of common sense, Yu Ji is unlikely to survive, otherwise there will be no folk oral tradition of Yu Ji cut her own throat, it will not be until the Tang Dynasty fashion "Xiang Yu Beauty Grave" of the location of the prestige bearings. Gaixia battle, four Chu song sound, drinking sword Chu tent can only be the only end of Yu Ji.
The general said that: "Farewell my concubine" story, reflecting the Yu Ji and Xiang Yu touching love; Chu king of heroes at the end of the road, Yu Ji cut her own throat and martyrdom. This sad moment, has been fixed in the Chinese literature between the lines, fixed in the Chinese opera stage, become the most classic Chinese classical love, the most stirring brilliant legend.