The Battle of Red Cliffs, also known as the Battle of Chibi, was a decisive naval battle in China that took place during the winter of AD 208–209. It was fought on the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

between the forces of warlords controlling different parts of the country during the

end of the Han dynasty The end of the (Eastern) Han dynasty was the period of History of China, Chinese history from 189 to 220 CE, roughly coinciding with the tumultuous reign of the Han dynasty's last ruler, Emperor Xian of Han, Emperor Xian. It was followed by the ...

. The allied forces of

Sun Quan Sun Quan (; 182 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumous name, posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of Eastern Wu, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime established by hi ...

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a China, Chinese warlord in the late Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding Emperor of China, emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of ...

, and Liu Qi based south of the Yangtze defeated the numerically superior forces of the northern warlord

Cao Cao Cao Cao (; ; ; 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde, was a Chinese statesman, warlord, and poet who rose to power during the end of the Han dynasty (), ultimately taking effective control of the Han central government. He laid the foundation f ...

. By doing so, Liu Bei and Sun Quan prevented Cao Cao from conquering any lands south of the Yangtze, frustrating Cao Cao's efforts to reunify the territories formerly held by the

Eastern Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

. The allied victory at Red Cliffs ensured the survival of Liu Bei and Sun Quan and left them in control of the Yangtze, establishing defensible frontiers that would later serve as the basis for the states of

Shu Han Han (; 221–263), known in historiography as Shu Han ( ) or Ji Han ( "Junior Han"), or often shortened to Shu ( zh, t=蜀, p=Shǔ; Sichuanese Pinyin: ''Su'' < Middle Chinese: *''źjowk'' < Eastern Han Chinese: *''dźok''), was a Dynasties in ...

and

Eastern Wu Wu (Chinese language, Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' < Eastern Han Chinese: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in historiography as Eastern Wu or Sun Wu, was a Dynasties of China, dynastic state of China and one of the three major sta ...

during the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...

period (220–280). Historians have arrived at different conclusions in their attempts to reconstruct the timeline of events at Red Cliffs. The location of the battlefield itself remains a subject of debate: most scholars consider either a location southwest of present-day

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

, or a location northeast of Baqiu in present-day Yueyang, Hunan as plausible candidate sites for the battle. The battle has been the subject of or influenced numerous poems, dramas, movies and games.

Background

By the early 3rd century AD, the Han dynasty, now nearly four centuries old, was crumbling. Emperor

Xian Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

, who acceded to the throne in 189 at age eight, was a political figurehead with no control over the regional warlords. Cao Cao was one of the most powerful warlords. He hosted the emperor in his capital at Ye, which gave him a measure of control over the emperor in addition to an air of legitimacy. In 200 he had defeated his main rival

Yuan Shao Yuan Shao (, ; died 28 June 202), courtesy name Benchu (), was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty. He occupied the northern territories of China during the civil wars that occurred tow ...

at Guandu, reunifying northern China and giving him control of the

North China Plain The North China Plain () is a large-scale downfaulted rift basin formed in the late Paleogene and Neogene and then modified by the deposits of the Yellow River. It is the largest alluvial plain of China. The plain is bordered to the north by th ...

. In the winter of 207 he secured his northern flank by defeating the

Wuhuan The Wuhuan (, < Eastern Han Chinese: *''ʔɑ-ɣuɑn'', <

Battle of White Wolf Mountain. Upon returning to Ye in 208, Cao Cao was appointed

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

upon his own recommendation, which effectively gave him control of the imperial government. Cao Cao's southern campaign started shortly after in the autumn of 208. The section of the Yangtze flowing through

Jing Province Jingzhou or Jing Province was one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China referenced in early Chinese texts such as the ''Yu Gong, Tribute of Yu'', ''Erya'', and ''Rites of Zhou''. Jingzhou became an administrative division during the reign of E ...

was the first target; capturing the naval base at Jiangling and securing naval control of the province's stretch of the Yangtze were necessary to secure access to the south. He was opposed by the warlords

Liu Biao Liu Biao () () ( 151 – September 208), courtesy name Jingsheng, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He is best known for serving as the governor of Jing Province (coveri ...

and

. Liu Biao, the governor of Jing, controlled the Yangtze west of the Han River's mouth, which roughly encompassed the territory around the city of Xiakou and to the south. Sun Quan controlled the Yangtze east of the Han and the southeastern territories abutting it.

, another warlord, was in

Fancheng Fancheng is a district of the city of Xiangyang, Hubei, People's Republic of China. History Fancheng, or Fan City, was an ancient city in Hubei, situated on the northern side of the Han River, opposite Xiangyang on the southern side of the r ...

, having fled to Liu Biao from the northeast after a failed plot to assassinate Cao Cao and restore imperial power. Initially, Cao Cao achieved rapid success. Jing was in a poor state. Its armies were exhausted by conflict with Sun Quan to the south. Furthermore, there was political division as Liu Biao's sons, the elder Liu Qi and the younger Liu Cong, sought to succeed their father. Liu Cong prevailed, and Liu Qi was relegated to the

commandery In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...

of Jiangxia. Liu Biao died of illness only a few weeks later. Liu Cong surrendered to an advancing Cao Cao, giving him a sizeable fleet and Jiangling as a forward operating base. Cao Cao's advance forced Liu Bei into a disorganised southward retreat accompanied by refugees and pursued by Cao Cao's elite cavalry. Liu Bei was surrounded and decisively defeated at the

Battle of Changban The Battle of Changban was fought between the warlords Cao Cao and Liu Bei in October 208 in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. The battle took place at Changban (長坂; south of present-day Duodao District, Jingmen, Hubei). Background ...

but escaped eastward to Xiakou, where he liaised with Sun Quan's emissary Lu Su. Historical accounts are inconsistent: Lu Su may have successfully encouraged Liu Bei to move further east to Fankou (, near present-day

Ezhou Ezhou ( zh, s= ) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Hubei Province, China. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 1,079,353, of which 695,697 lived in the core Echeng District. The Ezhou - Huanggang built-up (''or metro'') area w ...

, Hubei). In any case, Liu Bei was later joined by Liu Qi and levies from Jiangxia. Liu Bei's main advisor,

Zhuge Liang Zhuge Liang () (181September or October 234), also commonly known by his courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman, strategist, and inventor who lived through the End of the Han dynasty, end of the Eastern Han dynasty ( 184–220) and t ...

, was sent to Chaisang , present-day Jiujiang, Jiangxi, to negotiate an alliance with Sun Quan against Cao Cao. Zhuge Liang told Sun Quan that Liu Bei and Liu Qi each had 10,000 men; these numbers may have been exaggerated, but however large a force the pair fielded was no match against Cao Cao's in an open battle. Sun Quan received a letter from Cao Cao prior to Zhuge Liang's arrival; in it, Cao Cao claimed to have an army of 800,000 and hinted that he wanted Sun Quan to surrender. Zhang Zhao, Sun Quan's chief clerk, supported surrendering based on the disparity in forces. Zhuge Liang was supported by Lu Su and

Zhou Yu Zhou Yu (, ) (175–210), courtesy name Gongjin (), was a Chinese military general and strategist serving under the warlord Sun Ce in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. After Sun Ce died in the year 200, he continued serving under Sun Qua ...

, Sun Quan's chief commander. Sun Quan agreed to the alliance; he chopped off a corner of his desk during an assembly and stated, "Anyone who still dares argue for surrender will be reatedthe same as this desk." Zhou Yu,

Cheng Pu Cheng Pu () (170-210), courtesy name Demou, was a Chinese military general and politician serving under the warlord Sun Quan during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He previously served under Sun Quan's predecessors: Sun Jian (Sun Quan's f ...

, and Lu Su were assigned 30,000 men and sent to aid Liu Bei. With Liu Bei's 20,000 soldiers, the alliance had approximately 50,000 marines who were trained and prepared for battle. Zhou Yu estimated Cao Cao's strength to be closer to 230,000. This included between 70 and 80 thousand men impressed from Ying, and whose morale and loyalty to Cao Cao were uncertain. Cao Cao's invasion force also included non-combatants: not only those who worked in supplies and communication, but also the wives and children of some of the soldiers.

Battle

The Battle of Red Cliffs opened with an attempt by Cao Cao's forces to establish a bridgehead across the Yangtze, which failed. Both sides then retreated to their established positions on either bank of the Yangtze. Following this, a naval engagement began on the river itself, accompanied by an allied land offensive. This sequence proved to be decisive, and Cao Cao's forces were routed. During the subsequent retreat, Cao Cao's men were bogged down in mud and suffered greatly from disease. Cao Cao ultimately managed to escape after reaching Huarong Pass. The combined Sun–Liu force sailed upstream from either Xiakou or Fankou to Red Cliffs, where they encountered Cao Cao's vanguard force. Plagued by disease and low morale because of the series of forced marches that they had undertaken on the prolonged southern campaign, Cao Cao's men could not gain an advantage in the small skirmish which ensued and so he retreated to Wulin, north of the river, and the allies pulled back to the south. Cao Cao had chained his ships from stem to stern, possibly with the aim of reducing seasickness in his navy, which was composed mostly of northerners who were not used to living on ships. Observing that, the divisional commander

Huang Gai Huang Gai () ( 180s–210s), courtesy name Gongfu, was a military general who served under the warlord Sun Quan during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He previously served under Sun Quan's predecessors – Sun Jian (Sun Quan's father) and ...

sent Cao Cao a letter feigning surrender and prepared a squadron of

capital ship The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they are generally the larger ships when compared to other warships in their respective fleet. A capital ship is generally a leading or a primary ship in a naval fleet. Strategic i ...

s described as ''

mengchong The ''Mengchong'' () was a leather-covered assault warship used in China during the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. Its use famously played an important role in the pivotal Battle of Red Cliffs during the winter of 208–209, in which Zhou Yu, the com ...

doujian'' (). The ships had been converted into

fire ship A fire ship or fireship is a large wooden vessel set on fire to be used against enemy ships during a ramming attack or similar maneuver. Fireships were used to great effect against wooden ships throughout naval military history up until the ad ...

s by filling them with bundles of kindling, dry reeds, and fatty oil. As Huang Gai's "defecting" squadron approached the mid-point of the river, the sailors applied fire to the ships before they took to small boats. The unmanned fire ships, carried by the southeastern wind, sped towards Cao Cao's fleet and set it ablaze. Many men and horses either burned to death or drowned. Following the initial shock, Zhou Yu and the allies led a lightly armed force to capitalise on the assault. The northern army was thrown into confusion and utterly defeated. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Cao Cao then issued a general order of retreat and destroyed a number of his remaining ships before he withdrew. Cao Cao's army attempted a retreat along Huarong Road, including a long stretch passing through marshlands north of Dongting Lake. Heavy rains had made the road so treacherous that many of the sick soldiers had to carry bundles of grass on their backs and use them to fill the road to allow the horsemen to cross. Many of these soldiers drowned in the mud or were trampled to death in the effort. The allies, led by Zhou Yu and Liu Bei, gave chase over land and water until they reached Nan Commandery; the chase combined with famine and disease ravaged Cao Cao's remaining forces. Cao Cao then retreated north to his home base of Yecheng, leaving

Cao Ren Cao Ren () (168 – 6 May 223), courtesy name Zixiao, was a military general serving during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China under the warlord Cao Cao, who was also his older second cousin. He continued serving in the state of Cao Wei � ...

and Xu Huang to guard Jiangling, Yue Jin stationed in

Xiangyang Xiangyang is the second-largest prefecture-level city by population in northwestern Hubei province, China. It was known as Xiangfan from 1950 to 2010. The Han River (Hanshui), Han River runs through Xiangyang's centre and divides the city n ...

, and Man Chong in Dangyang. The allied counterattack might have vanquished Cao Cao and his forces entirely. However, the crossing of the Yangtze River had dissolved into chaos as the allied armies converged on the riverbank and fought over the limited number of ferries. To restore order, a detachment led by Sun Quan's general Gan Ning established a bridgehead in Yiling to the north, and only a staunch rearguard action by Cao Ren prevented a further catastrophe.

Analysis

A combination of Cao Cao's strategic errors and the effectiveness of Huang Gai's ruse had resulted in the allied victory at the Battle of Red Cliffs. Zhou Yu had observed that Cao Cao's generals and soldiers were mostly from the cavalry and infantry, and just a few had any experience in naval warfare. Cao Cao also had little support among the people of

and so lacked a secure forward base of operations. Despite the strategic acumen that Cao Cao had displayed in earlier campaigns and battles, he had simply assumed in this case that numerical superiority would eventually defeat the Sun and Liu navy. Cao's first tactical mistake was converting his massive army of infantry and cavalry into a marine corps and navy. With only a few days of drills before the battle, Cao Cao's troops were debilitated by sea-sickness and lack of experience on water. Tropical diseases to which the southerners were largely immune were also rampant in Cao Cao's camps. Although numerous, Cao Cao's men were already exhausted by the unfamiliar environment and the extended southern campaign, as Zhuge Liang observed: "Even a powerful arrow at the end of its flight cannot penetrate a silk cloth." Jia Xu, a key advisor to Cao Cao had recommended after the surrender of Liu Cong for the overtaxed armies to be given time to rest and replenish before they engaged the armies of Sun Quan and Liu Bei, but Cao Cao disregarded that advice. Cao Cao's own thoughts regarding his failure at Red Cliffs suggest that he held his own actions and misfortunes responsible for the defeat, rather than the strategies used by his enemy during the battle: "it was only because of the sickness that I burnt my ships and retreated. It is out of all reason for Zhou Yu to take the credit for himself."

Aftermath

By the end of 209, the post that Cao Cao had established at Jiangling fell to Zhou Yu. The borders of the land under Cao Cao's control contracted about , to the area around

. For the victors of the battle, however, the question arose on how to share the spoils. Initially, Liu Bei and Liu Qi both expected rewards, having participated in the success at Red Cliffs, and both had also become entrenched in Jing Province. Liu Qi was appointed Inspector of Jing Province, but his rule in the region, centred at

Jiangxia Commandery Jiangxia Commandery ( zh, 江夏郡) was a Chinese commandery that existed from Han dynasty to Tang dynasty. Its territories were located in present-day eastern Hubei province. History Jiangxia Commandery was established during the reign of Emper ...

, was short-lived. A few months after the Battle of Red Cliffs, he died of sickness. His lands were mostly absorbed by Sun Quan. However, with Liu Qi dead, Liu Bei laid claim to the title of Inspector of Jing Province and began to occupy much of it. He gained control of four commanderies south of the Yangtze in Wuling,

Changsha Changsha is the capital of Hunan, China. It is the 15th most populous city in China with a population of 10,513,100, the Central China#Cities with urban area over one million in population, third-most populous city in Central China, and the ...

, Lingling, and

Guiyang Guiyang; Mandarin pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, alternatively as Kweiyang is the capital of Guizhou, Guizhou province in China. It is centrally located within the province, on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, eastern part of the Yun ...

. Sun Quan's troops had suffered far greater casualties than Liu Bei's in the extended conflict against Cao Ren following the Battle of Red Cliffs, and the death of Zhou Yu in 210 resulted in a drastic weakening of Sun Quan's strength in Jing Province. As Liu Bei occupied Jing Province, which Cao Cao had recently lost, he gained a strategic and naturally-fortified area on the Yangtze River that Sun Quan still wanted for himself. The control of Jing Province provided Liu Bei with virtually-unlimited access to the passage into

Yi Province Yizhou (益州), Yi Province or Yi Prefecture, was a ''Zhou (country subdivision), zhou'' (province) of ancient China. Its capital city was Chengdu.de Crespigny, p. 256. During the Han dynasty, it included the commanderies Hanzhong Commandery, Han ...

and important waterways into Wu (southeastern China) as well as dominion of the southern Yangtze River. Never again would Cao Cao command so large a fleet as he did at Jiangling, and he never had another similar opportunity to destroy his southern rivals. The Battle of Red Cliffs and the capture of Jing Province by Liu Bei confirmed the separation of southern China from the northern heartland of the

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

valley and foreshadowed a north–south axis of hostility that would continue for centuries.

Location

The precise location of the Red Cliffs battlefield has never been conclusively established, and has long been the subject of both popular and academic debate. Scholars have contested the subject for at least 1350 years, with numerous sites having arguments put forward in their favour. There are clear grounds for rejecting some of these proposals; broadly speaking, four locations are still advocated for. According to Zhang, many of the current debates stem from the fact that the course and length of the Yangtze between Wuli and Wuhan has changed since the Sui and Tang dynasties. The modern debate is also complicated by the fact that the names of some of the key locations have changed over the following centuries. For example, modern Huarong County is located in

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

, south of the Yangtze, but in the 3rd century, the city of that name was due east of Jiangling, considerably north of the Yangtze. Puqi (), one of the candidate sites, was renamed " Chibi City" in 1998, in an attempt to spur local tourism. Historical records state that Cao Cao's forces retreated north across the Yangtze after the initial engagement at Red Cliffs, which unequivocally places the battle site on the southern bank of the Yangtze. For this reason, a number of sites on the northern bank have been discounted by historians and geographers. Historical accounts also establish eastern and western boundaries for a stretch of the Yangtze that encompasses all of the possible sites for the battlefield. The allied forces travelled upstream from either Fankou or Xiakou. Since the Yangtze flows roughly eastward towards the ocean with northeast and southeast

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...

s, Red Cliffs must at least be west of Fankou, which is farther downstream. The westernmost boundary is also clear since Cao Cao's eastern advance from Jiangling included passing Baqiu, near present-day Yueyang, Hunan, on the shore of Dongting Lake. The battle must also have been downstream (that is, northeast) of that place. One popular candidate for the battle site is Chibi Hill in Huangzhou, sometimes referred to as " Su Dongpo's Red Cliffs" or the "Literary Red Cliffs" (). This conjecture arises largely from the famous 11th-century poem " First Ode on the Red Cliffs", which presents the Huangzhou hill as the location where the battle took place. The cliff's name is "Chibi", though written with different second character (). The contemporaneous pronunciation of the two names were also different, which is reflected by their distinct pronunciations in many non-Mandarin dialects. Consequently, virtually all scholars have dismissed the connection. The site is also on the north bank of the Yangtze and is directly across from Fankou, rather than upstream from it. If the allied Sun-Liu forces left from Xiakou rather than Fankou, as the oldest historical sources suggest, the hill in Huangzhou would have been downstream from the point of departure, a possibility that cannot be reconciled with historical sources. Chibi City, formerly named Puqi, is possibly the most widely accepted candidate. To differentiate from Su's site, the site is also referred to as the "Military Red Cliffs" (). It is directly across the Yangtze from Wulin. This argument was first proposed in the early Tang dynasty. There are also characters engraved in the cliffs which suggested that was the site of the battle. The origin of the engraving can be dated to between the Tang and

Song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

dynasties, which makes it at least 1,000 years old. Some sources mention the southern banks of the Yangtze in Jiayu County () in the

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province of China, province and above a Counties of the People's Republic of China, county in China's ...

of Xianning in

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

as a possible location. This would place the battlefield downstream from Chibi City, a view that is supported by scholars of

Chinese history The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...

who follow the '' Shui Jing Zhu'', such as

Rafe de Crespigny Richard Rafe Champion de Crespigny (born 1936), also known by his Chinese name Zhang Leifu (), is an Australian sinologist and historian. He is an adjunct professor in the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. ...

and . Another candidate is

, which straddles the Yangtze at its confluence with the Han River. It is east of both Wulin and Jiayu, as well as Chibi City on the opposite bank. The metropolis was incorporated by joining the three cities of

Wuchang Wuchang is one of 13 urban District (China), districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province, China. It is the oldest of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, and stood on the right (southea ...

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers w ...

, and Hanyang. There is a local belief in Wuhan that the battle was fought at the junction of the rivers, southwest of the former Wuchang city, now part of Wuhan. Zhang asserts that the Chibi battlefield was amongst a set of hills in Wuchang levelled in the 1930s so that their stone could be used as raw material. The local topography narrows the width of the Yangtze by a substantial margin, and the Wuhan area was strategically important. Citing several historical-geographical studies, Zhang shows that earlier accounts place the battlefield in Wuchang. In particular, the 5th-century provincial history ''Jingzhou ji'' () by places the battlefield ( ) downstream from Wulin, but since the Paizhou and Lukou meanders grew at some point during the Sui and Tang dynasties, the length of the Yangtze between Wuli and Wuchang increased by ( ); later works do not regard Wuchang as a plausible site.

Cultural impact

Some of the most well-known works by the

-era poet Su Dongpo depict the battle and its surrounding environment. While exiled to Huangzhou (; now Huanggang, Hubei), he composed three widely anthologised pieces on the Red Cliff motif: two '' fu'' rhapsodies and one '' ci'' lyric. In 2010, a memorial museum dedicated to Su was established in Huanggan. Many video games set in the Three Kingdoms period — including Koei's ''

Dynasty Warriors is a series of Japanese hack and slash action video games created by Omega Force and Koei (now Koei Tecmo). The series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series, based upon the Chinese novel of ...

'' series, '' Sangokushi Koumeiden'', the ''

Warriors Orochi is a hack and slash video game for PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox se ...

'' series, '' Destiny of an Emperor'', '' Kessen II'', and '' Total War: Three Kingdoms'' — have playable scenarios featuring the battle. The 2008 film '' Red Cliff'', directed by Hong Kong filmmaker

John Woo John Woo Yu-sen ( zh, t= ; born 22 September 1946) is a Hongkongers, Hong Kong film director known as a highly influential figure in the action film genre. The recipient of various accolades, including a Hong Kong Film Awards, Hong Kong Film Award ...

, is an adaption of the folk history surrounding the battle. Upon its release in China, ''Red Cliff'' set a new box office record for a domestically produced film.

Notes

References

Sources

* * Annotated translation of chapters 58–68 of the ''

Zizhi Tongjian The ''Zizhi Tongjian'' (1084) is a chronicle published during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) that provides a record of Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynasties and spanning almost 1400 years. The main text is ...

''. * Annotated translation of chapters 59–63 of the ''

''. * * * * * ** * * * * * * *