围城 (wéichéng): besieged city

Meanings

1 besieged city
2 siege
3 (figurative) trapped situation, especially marriage

Characters

围

Examples

敌军围城三个月。

Díjūn wéichéng sān ge yuè.

The enemy laid siege to the city for three months.

婚姻就像围城，城外的人想进去，城里的人想出来。

Hūnyīn jiù xiàng wéichéng, chéng wài de rén xiǎng jìnqù, chéng lǐ de rén xiǎng chūlái.

Marriage is like a besieged city: those outside want to get in, those inside want to get out.

Tips

culture

Beyond its literal military sense, 围城 is the title of Qian Zhongshu's (钱钟书) 1947 novel — Fortress Besieged — one of modern China's most beloved satirical novels. Its central metaphor (marriage as a city you want to enter from outside, escape from inside) is so famous that 围城 alone now evokes the marital trap.