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漢賊不兩立

简汉贼不两立 · 繁漢賊不兩立

Mandarin · pinyin Hàn zéi bù liǎng lì

lit. Shu Han 蜀漢 Shǔ Hàn and Cao Wei 曹魏 Cáo Wèi cannot coexist (idiom)
fig. two enemies cannot live under the same sky
(former KMT slogan against CCP) "gentlemen and thieves cannot coexist"

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Characters in this entry

漢: Look up this written character
賊: Look up this written character
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
兩: liǎng · two, both, pair, couple; ounce
立: lì · stand; let stand; establish, set
汉: hàn · Chinese people; Chinese language
贼: zéi · thief, traitor; kill
两: liǎng · two, both, pair, couple; ounce

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–3–4 · Han4 zei2 bu4 liang3 li4

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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.

漢賊不兩立 · find source passages ↗ · 汉贼不两立 · find source passages ↗

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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

(of two people or groups) to be absolutely irreconcilable; to be enemies and not be able to coexist
(of two people or groups) to be absolutely irreconcilable; to be enemies and not be able to coexist — (Taiwan) the policy of treating the Chinese Communist Party as an illegitimate regime during Chiang Kai-shek's rule

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

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