左袒

From a story recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian:

太尉將之入軍門，行令軍中曰：「為呂氏右袒，為劉氏左袒。」軍中皆左袒為劉氏。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]

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太尉将之入军门，行令军中曰：「为吕氏右袒，为刘氏左袒。」军中皆左袒为刘氏。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

Tàiwèi jiāng zhī rù jūnmén, xínglìng jūn zhōng yuē: “Wèi Lǚ shì yòu tǎn, wèi Liú shì zuǒ tǎn.” Jūn zhōng jiē zuǒ tǎn wèi Liú shì. [Pinyin]

The Grand Marshal carried it and entered the entrance to the army camp, and issued an order to the army, saying, "Those in support of the Lü show their right shoulder, and those in support of the Liu show their left shoulder." The whole army showed their left shoulder in support of the Liu.

左袒

1. (literary) to side with (someone); to take sides; to discriminate in favor of; to show prejudice (to a particular party)

• 偏袒 (piāntǎn)