血流成河 Xuè liú chéng hé blood flowed into rivers

Explanation

形容被杀的人极多，战争极其残酷的景象。

Describes the scene of a war where a large number of people were killed, extremely cruel.

Origin Story

话说东汉末年，天下大乱，群雄逐鹿。曹操率大军南下，与刘备在赤壁展开决战。曹操水军不敌周瑜火攻，全军覆没，无数士兵葬身江底。一时间，长江水被染红，宛如一条血河，漂浮着无数的尸体，惨不忍睹。这场赤壁之战，血流成河，成为历史上一场极其残酷的战争，也成为了“血流成河”这个成语的由来。赤壁之战后，曹操兵败北还，势力大减，再也没有能力统一全国了。这场战争的惨烈景象，让后人记忆深刻，警示着人们和平的可贵。

huà shuō dōng hàn mò nián, tiān xià dà luàn, qún xióng zhú lù. cáo cāo shuài dà jūn nán xià, yǔ liú bèi zài chì bí zhǎnkāi jué zhàn. cáo cāo shuǐ jūn bù dí zhōu yú huǒ gōng, quán jūn fù mò, wú shù bīngshì zàng shēn jiāng dǐ. yī shí jiān, cháng jiāng shuǐ bèi rǎn hóng, wǎn rú yī tiáo xuè hé, piāo fú zhe wú shù de shītǐ, cǎn bù rěn dǔ. zhè chǎng chì bí zhī zhàn, xuè liú chéng hé, chéng wéi lìshǐ shàng yī chǎng jí qí cán kù de zhànzhēng, yě chéng wéi le “xuè liú chéng hé” zhège chéngyǔ de yóulái. chì bí zhī zhàn hòu, cáo cāo bīng bài běi hái, shì lì dà jiǎn, zài yě méiyǒu néng lì tǒng yī quán guó le. zhè chǎng zhànzhēng de cǎnliè jǐng xiàng, ràng hòu rén jìyì shēn kè, jǐngshì zhe rénmen hépíng de kěguì.

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and various warlords were vying for supremacy. Cao Cao led a large army south and engaged in a decisive battle with Liu Bei at Red Cliffs. Cao Cao's navy was no match for Zhou Yu's fire attack and was completely annihilated. Countless soldiers were drowned in the river. For a while, the Yangtze River was dyed red, like a river of blood, with countless corpses floating on it, a sight too horrible to behold. This Battle of Red Cliffs, where blood flowed into rivers, became an extremely cruel war in history and the origin of the idiom "blood flowed into rivers". After the Battle of Red Cliffs, Cao Cao retreated north in defeat, his power greatly reduced, and he no longer had the ability to unify the country. The terrible sight of this war was deeply remembered by later generations, serving as a warning to people of the preciousness of peace.

Usage

主要用于描写战争或灾难中死伤惨重的情景。

zhǔyào yòng yú miáoxiě zhànzhēng huò zāinàn zhōng sǐshāng cǎnzhòng de qíngjǐng

Mainly used to describe the heavy casualties in war or disaster.

Examples

• 战争场面惨烈，血流成河。

  zhànzhēng chǎngmiàn cǎnliè, xuè liú chéng hé

  The scene of war was terrible, blood flowed into rivers.

• 那场战争，血流成河，尸横遍野。

  nà chǎng zhànzhēng, xuè liú chéng hé, shīhéng biànyě

  In that war, blood flowed into rivers, corpses lay everywhere.

Related Idioms

• 血流成渠

• 尸横遍野

• 寸草不生

Opposite Idioms

• 兵不血刃

• 安居乐业