| 未遂 | wèi suì | to fail to accomplish / unsuccessful (attempt) / abortive (coup d'état) / attempted (murder, suicide) / unfulfilled (wish) |   |
| 鸿门宴 | Hóng mén Yàn | Hongmen feast / (fig.) banquet set up with the aim of murdering a guest / refers to a famous episode in 206 BC when future Han emperor Liu Bang 劉邦|刘邦[Liu2 Bang1] escaped attempted murder by his rival Xiang Yu 項羽|项羽[Xiang4 Yu3] | |
| 张勋 | zhāng xūn | Zhang Xun (1854-1923), Qing loyalist general who attempted to restore the abdicated emperor Puyi 溥儀|溥仪[Pu3 yi2] to the throne in the Manchu Restoration of 1917 張勳復辟|张勋复辟[Zhang1 Xun1 Fu4 bi4] | |
| 义和团运动 | Yì hé tuán Yùn dòng | Boxer Rebellion (1900-1901), a peasant uprising that attempted to expel all foreigners from China, eventually suppressed by an international coalition | |
| 燕太子丹 | Yān Tài zǐ Dān | Prince Dan of Yan (-226 BC), commissioned the attempted assassination of King Ying Zheng of Qin 秦嬴政[Qin2 Ying2 Zheng4] (later the First Emperor 秦始皇[Qin2 Shi3 huang2]) by Jing Ke 荊軻|荆轲[Jing1 Ke1] in 227 BC | |
| 太子丹 | Tài zǐ Dān | Prince Dan of Yan (-226 BC), commissioned the attempted assassination of King Ying Zheng of Qin 秦嬴政 / (later the First Emperor 秦始皇[Qin2 Shi3 huang2]) by Jing Ke 荊軻|荆轲[Jing1 Ke1] in 227 BC | |
| 巫蛊之祸 | wū gǔ zhī huò | 91 BC attempted coup d'etat against Emperor Wu of Han 漢武帝|汉武帝, beginning with accusations of witchcraft | |
| 杀人未遂 | shā rén wèi suì | attempted murder | |
| 事不过三 | shì bù guò sān | (idiom) a thing should not be attempted more than three times / don't repeat the same mistake again and again / (idiom) bad things don't happen more than three times | |
| 图穷匕见 | tú qióng bǐ xiàn | lit. the assassin's dagger, concealed in a map scroll, is suddenly revealed when the map is unrolled (referring to the attempted assassination of Ying Zheng 嬴政[Ying2 Zheng4] by Jing Ke 荊軻|荆轲[Jing1 Ke1] in 227 BC) (idiom) / fig. malicious intent suddenly becomes apparent | |
