九死一生

Origin and story

The Lisao, traditionally attributed to Qu Yuan, declares that even repeated deaths would not make the speaker regret what he holds right. Its 'nine deaths' expresses extremity, not a literal count. A later commentary by Liu Liang explains the line in terms of dying many times without a single chance of life; the Ministry of Education dictionary cautiously connects this language with the later idiom.

The exact four-character expression is attested in Wang Zhongwen's Yuan play Jiu xiaozi, in a description of fighting through deadly danger. In established use it emphasizes survival against terrible odds, although it can also describe someone still near death. The numbers are rhetorical, not a survival statistic.