







两贤相厄 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “Two capable individuals create difficulties or cause harm to each other, often due to rivalry or conflict”. Literally, “Two worthies mutually afflict/persecute”.
During the Chu-Han Contention, Ding Gong, who was the younger brother of Ji Bu (a general serving Liu Bang, the King of Han), was himself a general under Xiang Yu.
Ding Gong fought for Xiang Yu and launched an attack on the struggling Liu Bang, trapping him west of Pengcheng in close quarters.
In desperation, Liu Bang, accompanied by Ji Bu, met with Ding Gong, appealing to him not to let 'two capable individuals harm each other' (两贤相厄).
Ding Gong then withdrew his troops, allowing Liu Bang to escape the encirclement.

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Open the tool →两贤相厄 (liǎng xián xiàng è) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “Two capable individuals create difficulties or cause harm to each other, often due to rivalry or conflict”.
两贤相厄 is pronounced liǎng xián xiàng è in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 两贤相厄 means “Two worthies mutually afflict/persecute”. It is used to mean “Two capable individuals create difficulties or cause harm to each other, often due to rivalry or conflict”.
两贤相厄 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.
厄:迫害。指两个有才德的人相互迫害