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半壁江山

Mandarin · pinyin bàn bì jiāng shān

half of the country (esp. when half the country has fallen into enemy hands)
vast swathe of territory

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Characters in this entry

半: bàn · half
壁: bì · partition wall; walls of a house; 14th lunar mansion, determinative star γ Pegasi (Algenib)
江: jiāng · large river; the Yangzi; surname
山: shān · mountain, hill, peak

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–1 · ban4 bi4 jiang1 shan1

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bun3 bik1 gong1 saan1

Cantonese word readings for 半壁江山. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) half of the country (usually referring to the unoccupied part of an invaded country)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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