Idiom Explanation:
It is a metaphor for clinging to danger and obstacles and stubbornly resisting.
Pronunciation:
负隅顽抗
fù yú wán kàng
Origin:
战国·孟子《孟子·尽心下》：“有众逐虎。虎负嵎，莫之敢撄。”
Story:
During the Warring States period, there was a famine in Qi one year, and many people died of hunger. When Mencius’ disciple Chen Zhen heard the news, he hurriedly came to his teacher and said with a heavy heart, “Teacher, have you heard? There was a famine in Qi, and people were dying of hunger. People think that you will persuade the king of Qi again to open the barns in Tangdi to help the people. I don’t think we can do that again.”
Mencius replied, “If I do so again, I will become a Feng woman.” Then Mencius told Chen Zhen the story about Feng Woman: Feng Woman was a hunter in the state of Jin who was good at fighting tigers. Later he became a good man and stopped fighting tigers, and his name was almost forgotten by people. One year, a fierce tiger appeared in a certain mountain and often hurt pedestrians.
Several young hunters joined together to fight the tiger. They chased the tiger deep into the mountain, where the tiger was facing the crowd with its back against a curved and dangerous part of the mountain. The tiger was facing the crowd with its back to a curved and dangerous place. It roared with its eyes rounded, and no one dared to go up to catch it (Mencius – “The Heart”). The tiger was in a snail’s pace, and no one dared to cherry-pick it.”) At that moment, Feng woman passed by in her car. When the hunters saw him, they all stepped forward to greet him and asked him to help them fight the tiger. Feng got out of her car, rolled up her sleeves and fought with the tiger, and after a struggle, she finally killed the tiger, eliminating the evil for the people. The young hunters thanked him happily, but some readers ridiculed him.
The people of Dongou called “fire” as “tiger”. There is no difference in the pronunciation of “fire” and “tiger”. In their country, there was no brick and tile, but thatched roofs, so there were often fires, and people in the country suffered from this. A merchant who lived by the sea went to Jin and heard that there was a Feng woman in Jin who was good at fighting tigers and her place made the region free of tiger infestation. The merchant came back and told this to the king of Dongou. When he heard this, the king of Dongou was very happy, so he took out ten horses, two pairs of white jade and ten pieces of brocade and ordered the merchant to be the messenger to hire Feng woman in Jin. When Feng woman arrived, the ruler of Dongou State ordered to drive, vacated his left seat, greeted him outside the state gate, returned with the car, stayed in a hotel, and treated him as a top guest. The next day, a fire broke out in the marketplace, and people from the state came running to tell Feng woman. Feng woman stretched her sleeves and arms and followed the state people out of the hotel, and searched for half a day for the tiger, but did not see it. When the fire spread and approached the palace and the stores, the people of the state flocked to Feng woman and ran to the fire, and Feng woman was burnt to death. So the merchant was condemned for deceiving the king, and the Feng woman did not realize what was going on until her death.
