Chinese idioms from the Dao De Jing
哀兵必胜 (āi bīng bì shèng)
Reworked from chapter 69
哀兵必胜 (āi bīng bì shèng), “the grieving army is sure to win”, reworks chapter 69 of the Dao De Jing, “when armies meet, the side that grieves will win”; today it is said of underdogs fighting back.
Character by character
| 哀 | āi | grief, mourning |
|---|---|---|
| 兵 | bīng | arms, troops |
| 必 | bì | surely, inevitably |
| 胜 | shèng | to overcome; victory |
| 哀兵必胜 | The side that has been wronged or pushed to the wall, and fights with grief and resolve, will win. | |
Where it comes from
The idiom is not in the text as such: it reworks the line 抗兵相加，哀者胜矣.
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故抗兵相加，哀者胜矣。
So when armies meet, the side that grieves will win.
How the meaning moved
The four characters 哀兵必胜 are not in the Dao De Jing. Chapter 69 ends: “So when armies meet, the side that grieves will win” (故抗兵相加，哀者胜矣). The idiom keeps 哀 “grief”, 兵 “army” and 胜 “win”, and adds 必, “surely”. The chapter is a soldier's counsel of restraint: “I dare not be the host but rather the guest; I dare not advance an inch but rather retreat a foot.” Its warning is against pride: “No disaster is greater than underrating the enemy.”
The grief in the chapter is that of a side that does not want the war. Chapter 31 says the same of victory: “When many people are killed, weep for them in grief and sorrow.” The idiom has moved toward anger: 哀兵 today is an army, a team or a person who has been humiliated or beaten and fights back with all they have. It is common in sports reporting, and its opposite is 骄兵必败, “the proud army is sure to lose”, which says in four characters what the chapter says about underrating the enemy.
Using it today
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这支球队上一场惨败，这次憋着一股劲，哀兵必胜，最后拿下了冠军。
zhè zhī qiú duì shàng yī chǎng cǎn bài, zhè cì biē zhe yī gǔ jìn, āi bīng bì shèng, zuì hòu ná xià le guàn jūn.
The team had been crushed in the last match; this time they were burning to make up for it, and the wounded side won: they took the title.
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大家都不看好他们，可哀兵必胜，他们反而发挥得更好。
dà jiā dōu bù kàn hǎo tā men, kě āi bīng bì shèng, tā men fǎn ér fā huī de gèng hǎo.
Nobody gave them a chance, but the side with something to prove wins, and they played all the better for it.