Live To Fight Another Day

The Tragic Story Of The Legendary Warrior Xiang Yu And What It Teaches Us About Failure

Chinese proverb “Return in a swirl of dust” — by J Won using Canva

Failure can feel permanent, but how we react and what we do next can shape our ultimate outcome. The tragic story of Xiang Yu from the ancient story of the Chu-Han contention offers valuable lessons on responding to failure.

Historical Context

The Chu-Han contention was a critical period in Chinese ancient history. The first unified empire, the Qin had crumbled and this was a long drawn out conflict between former allies fighting over the future of China.

This conflict has been immortalised in Chinese and East asian folklore as an epic tale of two contrasting great individuals, Liu Bang of Han and Xiang Yu of Chu. Liu Bang went on to win this war and became the first emperor of the long lasting Han Dynasty and the progenitor of the Han people.

Xiang Yu’s Superiority and Downfall

Xiang Yu should have won this war. In almost all aspects Xiang Yu was Liu Bang’s superior. He was brave, intelligent, disciplined and charismatic. He led the armies of Chu, the most powerful kingdom and he had lorded over China as the hegemon after architecting the demise of the Qin dynasty. He was arguably one of the…