Origin Of Hong Men Banquet

What is Hong Men Banquet?

Hong Men Yan (鸿门宴; hóng mén yàn), also known as Feast at Swan Goose Gate or Hongmen Banquet is a banquet that took place in 206 BC. The banquet is known as the story of Xiang Yu wanting to kill Liu Bang.

Liu Bang had conquered Xianyang, and the last Qin Emperor, Ziying (子婴), had surrendered to him. Hearing that Liu Bang was planning to declare himself King of Guanzhong, Xiang's adviser Fan Zeng urged Xiang Yu to kill Liu Bang, After entering Xianyang, Liu Bang's behavior changed somewhat, which shows that his ambition is not small and ambitious, if we let him develop and grow, it will be too late to regret in the future.

So Xiang Yu decided to host a banquet to entertain Liu Bang and kill him. Xiang Bo was Xiang Yu's uncle and was good friends with Zhang Liang. He sneaked into Liu Bang's army to inform Zhang Liang to escape for refuge. Zhang Liang introduced Xiang Bo to Liu Bang. Liu Bang made a marriage contract with Xiang Bo in order to draw him in.

The next morning, Liu Bang came to Hong Men with more than 100 soldiers to meet Xiang Yu. Liu Bang respectfully said to Xiang Yu, "I never had any intention to reign as king; I am only here to fight for the general before the war." When Xiang Yu saw Liu Bang say this, he began to hesitate whether to kill him or not.

Xiang Yu was hesitant in his plot to kill Liu, but his followers took the initiative themselves by hiring sword dancers to kill Liu Bang during his performance. But Uncle Xiang Bo (项伯), who was closely related to Liu Bang, leaked the trap and blocked every sword attack attempt during the dancer's performance.

Liu Bang was finally able to escape. And Xiang Yu paid the price for not killing Liu Bang. Four years later, Liu Bang's army crushed Xiang Yu's army at the Battle of Gaixia. Xiang Yu committed suicide, and Liu Bang founded the Han Dynasty.

The "Hong Men Banquet" was a banquet with many crises, but Liu Bang finally got out of the danger and returned, which showed Liu Bang's excellent ability and cleverly defused the crisis to buy time for his future victory. This allusion also reflects the role played by the character of leaders at important junctures in historical development. It stems both from his correct perception and judgment of objective situations, as well as crises and risks, and from his skill in exploiting the character weaknesses of his opponents.

Western Han Dynasty mural depicting the Hong Men Banquet, discovered in Northwest 61st Tomb now in the Luoyang Ancient Tombs Museum. One of the earliest excavated depictions of the event.

Hong Men Yan 鸿门宴 As An Idiom

Hong Men Yan is also an idiom in Chinese, which means an invitation to a banquet with bad intentions, and is a metaphor for a banquet where one wishes to harm the one invited.

It is originating from historical allusions, originating from Sima Qian's “Historical Records of Xiang Yu Benji” in the Western Han dynasty.

The idiom “Hong Men Yan 鸿门宴” is still widely used today to refer to invitations with impure motives.

This idiom is often used to refer to traps or situations that appear to be exhilarating but are dangerous.

The use of this idiom is rather formal and can be used as an object in a sentence.

If a rival or someone we don't like or trust invites us, we can joke, "Is this Hong Men Yan?"