"Song of Chu all around" (si-mian-Chu-ge) is an old Chinese saying that means "being besieged or deserted on all sides."

The story has it that the King of Chu holed up in a castle of Gaixai in the final round of the war with the Han. One night, in the midst of a difficult situation, he woke up and went to the window only to discover that all he was able to hear was a folk song of his country, Chu, which meant that all his countrymen outside the castle had joined the enemy camp.

The saying is used nowadays when a person has lost all his supporters and has been surrounded only by critics or enemies. It appears that the Japanese prime minister might have heard the "song of Chu all around." Many members of his party showed signs of revolt, while leaders of the business community, as well as the opposition parties, called for his resignation. Yet, Naoto Kan showed a remarkable resistance and stayed on as if he had not heard the song.