精忠岳飞 - The Patriot Yue Fei

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It's interesting how my family can be so diverse, having members coming from all parts of Vietnam, Lao, the States, and China. China and Vietnam have a very tough past, and somehow they're still fighting each other; yet I'm extremely interested in Chinese history and art. Their lifestyle of respect and education had fostered many great minds, including Cao Cao, Bao Zheng, Shi Huang Di, Confucius, etc.

It has been over a year staying away from home, and sometimes the nostalgia is just too much to bear. My sister-in-law, who is a Chinese descendant, loves Chinese drama. Seeing me sad and all, she has come up with an idea that we should have a Chinese-drama marathon - an ordinary activity that I have done so many times with my family back in Viet Nam. After weeks of school work and activities, I eventually had time to carry out the plan with her last Friday. I was searching for a decent Chinese drama and ran through this one called "The Patriot Yue Fei", which is about a Chinese general during the Song dynasty. The trailer featured him as a mighty historical figure with a massive army that managed to defeat their enemies countless times. It was pretty interesting, but I wasn't into all that warfare and bloodshed, so I just went ahead and searched for another drama. The thing was, the internet just shut down, leaving me dumbfounded with the lagged trailer on YouTube. It kept lagging and playing that scene of the general holding up something while riding his horse over and over again - despite I've tried to stop it several times (for some reason it wouldn't let me shut down the page, too) I was so annoyed I slammed the laptop shut, closed my eyes and took a deep breath, opened both to see if it was back to normal, and realized that my feet hurt badly. I looked down to see that my feet were wearing some strange shoes that were extremely too small for my size. I was too shocked and tried to take a minute or so to take things in; once I regained my conscious, I called for my sister-in-law to see what was going on. However, she was nowhere to be found but instead next to me was a strange woman - whom I later found out that I was supposed to call mother. I immediately felt dizzy and nauseous, and it got worse when I raised my head to a scene of a strange man saying, "Oh well, if that's the price I must settle on, let's say it a yes for this concubine! After all her feet have spoken for her standard”, then he finished off with a row of despicable laughter. I dropped my jaw and widened my eyes, thinking "What the heck just happened?" Was I just sold to this stranger in front of me, or was I just hallucinating??? Nevertheless, I was too speechless to make any statement. I just recalled that after that someone dragged me to a room and dolled me up in a red traditional gown for a ceremony I did NOT anticipate. I honestly wanted my mom. Just then, I heard a piercing voice cracking outside my room, and then came a servant who informed that "my wedding" was canceled because something outrageous just happened. I tried to get out of the room as fast as possible to get away from this happening, but my feet hurt so bad I couldn't even stand. I therefore took off my shoes, just to see that my feet were distorted in a form that was too gross for me to even look at

However, I managed to run out to the street, and I realized that people were heading to see something. I asked a woman who was in her fifties next to me and was told that Yue Fei was going to be executed at Fengbo Pavilion. I had no idea where the pavilion was, so I just followed the crowd until it stopped and I realized that we were in front of a place where we weren't allowed to enter. I was so confused but was conscious enough to pick up a conversation behind my back, "Qin Hui is such a liar! He accused our general as a rebel though all he did as fought for our freedom!" Then some man in the crowd started to recite a poem in which I found out was called "The River Runs Red" - which was written by Yue Fei during one of his battles to spirit up his troops. It went like this,

In anger my hair hurls my hat from my head;

as I lean over the rail,

the rain’s fine mist ceases.

I raise my eyes to Heaven

and unleash a long cry;

how fierceness fills my breast!

Thirty years of work and fame – like dust and dirt;

eight thousand miles of road – like clouds and moon.

But I won’t wait in idleness

for white to take my youthful head,

for empty sorrow!

Jing Kang’s shame

is not yet washed away;

this minister’s hate –

when will it be quenched?

I’ll drive a war chariot and smash apart

the Helan mountain pass!

Then with a strong spirit,

I’ll feast on the flesh of Hu prisoners;

talking and laughing,

I’ll swig barbarian blood.

Count on me – I’ll make a new beginning,

gather up our ancient mountains and rivers

and present them to the Emperor, at the palace gate.

Even though I was not accustomed to what was going on, I could still feel the disappointment and the pain the people around me were in before the news that Yue Fei was to be executed. I didn't have a clear image of who he was, until someone around me spoke up and introduced himself as a soldier from Yue Fei's army, who had gone home after their troops were ordered to return to the capital. He said that just when General Yue Fei was threatening to attack and retake Kaifeng City - which was taken by the Jurchen invaders and consequently came under the rule of the Jin Dynasty, he was ordered by Emperor Gaozong to retreat so that a peace truce could be carried out with the Jurchens. Even though Yue Fei hesitated, he decided to go along with the emperor’s will due to his loyalty. However once he arrived home, he was immediately taken away by the guards and was later accused for rebelling against the empire…

Out of the blue, I heard my sister-in-law called for me and I tried to make my way out of the crowd toward her voice. I kept walking and walking until I tripped over a rock and lost my consciousness. Similarly to my last trip back to Gao, this time I also heard the Twilight Zone theme song playing in the background, while images of another strange man kept popping up around me. He looked like he was very upset with something, and very confused. One image of him popped up, saying that, "I shouldn't have done that. Who would understand for me? Murdering him wasn't my choice." Another image of him and another man popped up, saying, "You must stick to our original agreement, and that means Yue Fei is to be killed before any deal can be carried out!" I now had a sense of what was going on just when the last image of him popped up, this time with no sayings, yet it showed that the guy kept biting his tongue until he lost too much blood and died. By this time, I'm pretty sure he was Qin Hui - the one everyone was upset about because he had accused Yue Fei for being a rebel in order to carry out the peace truce with the empire’s long term enemy – the Jurchens.

References:

http://www.chinatownsfbay.com/2012/06/yue-feis-tragic-death/

http://rainybluedawn.com/translations/chinese/manjianghong.htm

http://mlncn.com/lib/knowl/history/china/song/south.html
http://images.chinahighlights.com/chinamap/ancient/southern-song-map1.gif