The River Runs Red (Man Jiang Hong)

My wrath bristles through my helmet, the rain stops as I stand by the rail;

I look up towards the sky and let loose a passionate roar;

At age thirty my deeds are nothing but dust, my journey has taken me over eight thousand li1

So do not sit by idly, for young men will grow old in regret.


The shame of Jing Kang2 still lingers,

When will the pain of his subjects ever end?

Let us ride our chariots through the Helan Pass,

There we shall feast and drink barbarian flesh and blood.

Let us begin again to recover our stolen lands3, before paying tribute to the Heavens.


1: a li (ancient Chinese measurement of distance) is about a 1/3 of a mile.
2: this is in reference to the shame of the capture of Kaifeng and Emperor Qinzong.
3: In 1141 the Song signed the humiliating Treaty of Shaoxing that forced the Song Dynasty to renounce all claims to all lands north of the Huai river, along with Yue Fei's execution. In other words, the Chinese were humiliated into becoming a tributary of the Jurchens.

This lyric was written by Yue Fei to the tone "Man Jiang Hong". Yue Fei was a famous general of Southern Song. The valiancy expressed in the poem and the writer's tragic life have struck a responsive cord in readers' hearts all through the years.

In 1103, Yue Fei was born into a farmer's family in Tangyin County, Henan Province. Yue Fei read widely as a boy. Hardworking and exceptionally strong, he excelled in the skill of archery and spears.

In the winter of 1126, the Jin troops occupied Kaifeng, capital of Northern Song. The following spring, they captured Emperor Hui Zong and his son Qin Zong. Kaifeng was rooted and Northern Song was defeated.

When the country was faced with crisis, Yue Fei left his family behind and went to the front to repel the Jin troops.

Yue Fei was a national hero of China and an outstanding statesman and strategist. The many battles he won against the Jin troops made him one of the high£­ranking generals that the Southern Song Dynasty relied on. His troops, known as "Yue Fei army", followed strict discipline and were valiant fighters.

From 1134 to 1140, Yue Fei won decisive battles and recovered many cities, dealing heavy blows at the Jin. The Jin troops cried: "It is easier to move a mountain than to defeat a Yue Fei army."

In 1140 Yue Fei recovered Luoyang. In one battle, his army defeated more than 15,000 Jin troops and won an unprecedented victory. With final victory within sight, Yue Fei received orders from court to withdraw and return. He realized that the court didn't really want to triumph over the Jin troops. Sad and infuriated, Yue Fei sighed: "My ten years' hard work was destroyed in one day."

Since then, Emperor Gao Zong of Song and Qin Hui, who commanded the military powers, started to relieve the generals of their command. Qin Hui was a capitulator. He hated Yue Fei for having opposed him in carrying out peaceful negotiations. He instigated his follower to trump up a charge against Yue Fei's subordinate Zhang Xian, and his son Yue Yun for plotting treason. With hearsay evidences and unwarranted charges, he had Yue Fei thrown into prison.

In 1142, Yue Fei died in prison at the age of 39. The wrong he suffered was only redressed 20 years later and Yue Fei was not reinstated until then. Later men built four iron statues of Qin Hui and other traitors kneeling before Yue Fei's tomb so that they would forever be condemned by history.

Yue Fei has been highly respected for his loyalty to his country, his patriotism and love for the people. His heroism will live on forever.