📖 Meaning
To split apart and disintegrate an opposing force or group. It refers to weakening an adversary by breaking their unity and causing internal collapse. Often used in political or military contexts to describe strategic efforts to make enemies surrender or disperse.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase appears in Qin Mu's essay '湘阴热浪记' (Notes on the Heat of Xiangyin), where he describes how for small bands of bandits who still harbored hesitation, officials used policy-based psychological warfare to divide and disintegrate them, ultimately forcing their surrender. The term combines 分化 (to cause divisions among) and 瓦解 (to collapse like tiles breaking apart). It reflects classical Chinese strategic thinking about defeating enemies not only through force but by eroding their cohesion from within.
💡 Example Usage
敌人内部矛盾重重，我们可以用政策攻心来分化瓦解他们。
The enemy is rife with internal conflicts; we can use psychological warfare to divide and disintegrate them.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 分化瓦解
- Pinyin: fēn huà wǎ jiě
- Literal Translation: divide, transform, tile, dissolve
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4