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飛虎隊 is the full Chinese title of the “Flying Tigers Group.”
These were the American pilots that volunteered to go to China and fight the Japanese before the entry of the USA into World War Two. These fighter pilots were so esteemed in China that fallen American pilots could always find refuge in villages and safe passage and escape to areas of China that were not occupied by Japan at that time. Chinese villagers helped such fallen pilots with full knowledge that when the Japanese occupation forces found out, all the men, women, and children in the village would be massacred by Japanese troops (there are more than a few known cases of such massacres).
The Flying Tigers successfully kept supply lines to the Chinese resistance open and divided Japanese forces at a crucial time while America prepared to join WWII officially.
A wall scroll like this honors the men who risked or gave their lives as noble volunteers and is a reminder of the best moment in the history of Sino-American relations.
These three characters literally mean “flying tiger(s) group/team/squad.”
Note: Hanging these characters on your wall will not make you any friends with Japanese people who are aware or this history (most Japanese have no idea, as Japan’s involvement in WWII has all but been erased from school textbooks in Japan).
These four characters together relay the meaning that can be expressed in English as “When three people say there's a tiger running in the street, you believe it.”
Of course, there is an ancient story behind this idiom...
三人成虎 is actually a proverb that resulted from a conversation that occurred around 300 B.C.
The conversation was between the king of the Wei kingdom and one of the king's ministers named Pang Cong.
It was near the end of one of many wars, this time with the Zhao kingdom. Pang Cong was to be sent by the king to the Zhao kingdom with the king's son, who was to be held hostage. It was common at the time for a king to make his son a hostage to secure stable peace between warring kingdoms.
Before minister Pang Cong departed, he asked his king, “If one person told you a tiger was running in the street, would you believe it?.”
“No,” the king said.
The minister continued, “What if two people told you?”
The king replied, “Well, I would have my doubts but I might believe it.”
The minister continued, “So, what if three people told you that a tiger is running in the streets?”
The king replied, “Yes, I would believe it. It must be true if three people say it.”
The minister then reminded the king, “Your son and I are now traveling far away to live in the distant Zhao kingdom - much farther from your palace than the street. Rumors may fly about me in my absence, so I hope your majesty will weight such rumors appropriately.”
The king replied, “I have every trust in you, do not worry”
While the minister was gone, the king's enemies gossiped about minister Pang Cong on many occasions. At first, the king thought nothing of these comments and rumors. But slowly, as the rumors mounted, the king began to suspect ill of his minister.
Sometime later, when peace was well-established, the minister and prince were freed and returned to the kingdom of Wei. The king received his son BUT DID NOT EVEN SUMMON MINISTER PANG CONG TO THE PALACE!
Hopefully, this story will help you see how dangerous words can be when used to promote rumors or create ill will. And perhaps will inspire you not to believe everything you hear.
There is also a secondary suggestion in this idiom that gossip is as ferocious as a tiger. Some Chinese people who don't know the ancient story above may believe that this scroll means that rumors are as vicious as three tigers.
Note: This proverb appears in my Korean dictionary but is not well-known in Korea.
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Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your two tigers search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
飛虎隊 飞虎队 see styles |
fēi hǔ duì fei1 hu3 dui4 fei hu tui |
More info & calligraphy: Flying Tigers AVG |
両虎 see styles |
ryouko / ryoko りょうこ |
(idiom) two equal rivals; two tigers |
兩虎相爭 两虎相争 see styles |
liǎng hǔ xiāng zhēng liang3 hu3 xiang1 zheng1 liang hu hsiang cheng |
lit. two tigers fighting (idiom); fig. fierce contest between evenly matched adversaries |
兩虎相鬥 两虎相斗 see styles |
liǎng hǔ xiāng dòu liang3 hu3 xiang1 dou4 liang hu hsiang tou |
lit. two tigers fight (idiom); fig. a dispute between two powerful adversaries; a battle of the giants |
一山不容二虎 see styles |
yī shān bù róng èr hǔ yi1 shan1 bu4 rong2 er4 hu3 i shan pu jung erh hu |
lit. the mountain can't have two tigers (idiom); fig. this town ain't big enough for the two of us; (of two rivals) to be fiercely competitive |
二虎相鬥,必有一傷 二虎相斗,必有一伤 see styles |
èr hǔ xiāng dòu , bì yǒu yī shāng er4 hu3 xiang1 dou4 , bi4 you3 yi1 shang1 erh hu hsiang tou , pi yu i shang |
lit. when two tigers fight, one is sure to be wounded (idiom); fig. if it comes to a fight, someone will get hurt |
兩虎相爭,必有一傷 两虎相争,必有一伤 see styles |
liǎng hǔ xiāng zhēng , bì yǒu yī shāng liang3 hu3 xiang1 zheng1 , bi4 you3 yi1 shang1 liang hu hsiang cheng , pi yu i shang |
lit. if two tigers fight, one will get injured (idiom); fig. if you start a war, someone is bound to get hurt |
兩虎相鬥,必有一傷 两虎相斗,必有一伤 see styles |
liǎng hǔ xiāng dòu , bì yǒu yī shāng liang3 hu3 xiang1 dou4 , bi4 you3 yi1 shang1 liang hu hsiang tou , pi yu i shang |
lit. when two tigers fight, one will get injured (idiom); fig. if it comes to a fight, someone will get hurt |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Flying Tigers AVG | 飛虎隊 飞虎队 | fēi hǔ duì fei1 hu3 dui4 fei hu dui feihudui | fei hu tui feihutui |
|
Tiger Rumor | 三人成虎 | sān rén chéng hǔ san1 ren2 cheng2 hu3 san ren cheng hu sanrenchenghu | san jen ch`eng hu sanjenchenghu san jen cheng hu |
|
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese. |
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When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.
Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!
When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.
The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.
Some people may refer to this entry as Two Tigers Kanji, Two Tigers Characters, Two Tigers in Mandarin Chinese, Two Tigers Characters, Two Tigers in Chinese Writing, Two Tigers in Japanese Writing, Two Tigers in Asian Writing, Two Tigers Ideograms, Chinese Two Tigers symbols, Two Tigers Hieroglyphics, Two Tigers Glyphs, Two Tigers in Chinese Letters, Two Tigers Hanzi, Two Tigers in Japanese Kanji, Two Tigers Pictograms, Two Tigers in the Chinese Written-Language, or Two Tigers in the Japanese Written-Language.