烽火戏诸侯

烽火戲諸侯

fēnghuǒ xì zhūhóu

idiom

Meanings

1 to fool the lords with beacon fires
2 to trifle with trust for amusement

Characters

Examples

HSK 5

你一次又一次拿假消息骗大家，这跟烽火戏诸侯有什么区别？

Nǐ yí cì yòu yí cì ná jiǎ xiāoxi piàn dàjiā, zhè gēn fēnghuǒ xì zhūhóu yǒu shénme qūbié?

You keep fooling everyone with false alarms. How is that any different from lighting the beacons to fool the lords?

HSK 7-9

周幽王烽火戏诸侯，最后丢了江山。

Zhōu Yōuwáng fēnghuǒ xì zhūhóu, zuìhòu diū le jiāngshān.

King You of Zhou fooled the lords with the beacon fires and in the end lost his kingdom.

Tips

history

周幽王 lit the war beacons again and again just to make his consort 褒姒 laugh at the lords rushing in with their armies. When enemies really attacked in 771 BC, nobody came, and the Western Zhou fell. The story is told in the 史记 and works like the boy who cried wolf (狼来了).

Stroke Order

烽 fēng

火 huǒ

戏 xì

诸 zhū

侯 hóu