成语 (chéng yǔ)

One of the 成语 we've learned is 四面楚歌, where
四 = sì = four
面 = mìan = side
楚 = chǔ = country/area
歌 = gē = song

There's a story that goes along with it, which I believe Chunyan said comes from some historical occasion. There were these two regions at war and the army of one had fought its way into the region of the other, but had gone too deep too quickly. (I wouldn't be surprised if this is used as a Go proverb.) The invading army was surrounded and their opponents (if I have the story correct -- we were a bit confused about this) started singing a song from the homeland of the invaders to demoralize them.

The expression is used to mean that you're "facing hostility on all sides". I remember it by a misreading of the literal translation: there's country music on all sides.