鱼游釜中 — “To be in a perilous situation with no way out”

鱼游釜中 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to be in a perilous situation with no way out”. Facing certain doom or destruction, like a fish swimming in a cooking pot. Literally, “Fish swimming in a cooking pot”.

Frequency

鱼游釜中 Pronunciation and Pinyin

鱼游釜中 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
鱼	yú	8	aquatic vertebrate with gills and fins
游	yóu	12	swim, travel, wander
釜	fǔ	10	ancient cooking pot
中	zhōng	4	middle, in, China, hit, win

Example Sentence with 鱼游釜中

在敌人的重重包围下，他们已是鱼游釜中，插翅难逃了。

Completely encircled by the enemy, they were like fish in a cooking pot, with no chance of escape.

Origin and Story of 鱼游釜中

During the reign of Emperor Shun in the Eastern Han Dynasty, a man named Zhang Ying gathered a group of followers and killed the cruel Governor of Guangling. His forces then campaigned across Yangzhou and Xuzhou, proving difficult for the imperial court to subdue.

General Liang Ji then appointed Zhang Gang as the new Governor of Guangling. Instead of using force, Zhang Gang adopted a conciliatory approach.

Zhang Ying, understanding the precariousness of their situation, voluntarily led his rebel army to surrender. He explained that they had only risen in revolt due to the unbearable oppression of the former governor, adding that their continued resistance would be like 'fish swimming in a cooking pot,' implying that they could not last much longer.