赔了夫人又折兵 (péi le fū rén yòu zhé bīng)

Basic Information

Chinese Idiom: 赔了夫人又折兵
Pinyin: péi le fū rén yòu zhé bīng
Literal Meaning: Losing the lady‑wife and also suffering troop losses.
Figurative definition: To suffer a double‑sided loss. One attempts to gain an advantage or pull off a trick, yet gets nothing beneficial, and incurs extra losses on top of the original failure.

Cultural & historical background

This is one of the most famous episodes from the classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi, 《三国演义》), written by Luo Guanzhong (c. 14th century).

Sun Quan, ruler of Eastern Wu, wanted to take back Jingzhou from Liu Bei of Shu‑Han. His general Zhou Yu devised a trick: offer Sun Quan’s younger sister in marriage to Liu Bei. The real goal was to lure Liu Bei to Wu, hold him hostage, and force the return of Jingzhou.

Following Zhuge Liang’s clever strategies, Liu Bei safely married the noble lady and escaped back to Shu with her. When Zhou Yu led soldiers to chase them, his army was ambushed and badly defeated. The scheme backfired completely.

The drama Fight Across the River from the Yuan Dynasty recorded the famous line mocking Zhou Yu:

“Zhou Yu, do not boast of your brilliant schemes; you end up losing the lady and your troops.”

Key Lesson

Don’t be greedy or overconfident when making a plan. If you try to take advantage of someone without having a solid backup, you might end up losing far more than you ever hoped to gain. Zhou Yu’s plan was clever on paper, but he underestimated his opponents – and paid the ultimate price in both reputation and military strength.

Cultural Note

This is one of the most famous catchphrases from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and almost every Chinese person knows it. It is usually used humorously or mockingly to describe someone who suffers an epic, embarrassing failure after trying to be too clever. It also reinforces the novel’s theme that overconfidence and scheming without wisdom always leads to disaster.

Similar English Expressions

• To go for wool and come home shorn;
• Throw good money after bad;
• A double whammy;
• Lose the bait and the fish;
• Hoist with one’s own petard;
• Backfire spectacularly.