We strive to offer you free Chinese learning resources. This series focuses on idioms and proverbs, which are rich in meaning and can be used in various situations. Today’s idiom is 「以夷攻夷」, and its meaning and usage are explained below.
The idiom being introduced now is 「以夷攻夷」. Below, you’ll find its meaning and usage examples.
Make the barbarians attack each other. It was originally a policy of national differentiation implemented by the feudal ruling class against ethnic minorities. In the late Qing Dynasty, it also referred to using Western science and technology to deal with the invasion of capitalist countries.
The Mandarin pronunciation of this idiom is :
yǐ yí gōng yí
while its Cantonese pinyin is :
yi5 yi4 gung1 yi4
Chinese idioms are incredibly numerous, each carrying a special meaning and usage. This variety is a great reason to study them, and we hope these tools make that easier for you.
