雪耻复仇

Origin and story

The History of Song uses this expression when contrasting two officials' policies toward the Jin: Zhang Jun sought to avenge humiliation, while Tang Situi favored negotiations and defended his position in terms of preserving territory and resting the people. The historian criticizes Tang's policy and character, so the contrast should be read as an evaluative historical account, not as neutral proof that every proposed revenge was wise. The expression also occurs in the popular Five Dynasties historical narrative. Its two halves combine removing disgrace with avenging a wrong; modern sports reporting sometimes borrows that strong language for reversing an earlier defeat.