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In the late Qin Dynasty, Han Xin, a man from Huaiyin, was refined and gentle in his youth.
One day, a ruffian in the marketplace saw that Han Xin seemed weak and easily bullied. The ruffian gathered a group of people to confront him, demanding that Han Xin beg for mercy by crawling between his legs.
Seeing that he was outnumbered, Han Xin had no choice but to swallow his pride for the moment and crawled between the ruffian's legs.
Later, Han Xin became a brilliant strategist and played a crucial role in helping Liu Bang found the Han Dynasty and achieve great things.

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Open the tool →胯下之辱 (kuà xià zhī rǔ) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “Profound humiliation or ignominy, often endured for a greater purpose or out of necessity; a temporary disgrace suffered for future success”.
胯下之辱 is pronounced kuà xià zhī rǔ in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 胯下之辱 means “Humiliation of crawling between the legs”. It is used to mean “Profound humiliation or ignominy, often endured for a greater purpose or out of necessity; a temporary disgrace suffered for future success”.
胯下之辱 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to modern Chinese. The full story is on this page.
胯下:两条腿之间。从胯下爬过的耻辱。