''Man Jiang Hong'' () is the title of a set of Chinese lyrical poems (''ci'') sharing the same pattern. If unspecified, it most often refers to the one attributed to the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

general

Yue Fei Yue Fei (; March 24, 1103 – January 28, 1142), courtesy name Pengju (), was a Chinese military general of the Song dynasty and is remembered as a patriotic folk hero, national hero, known for leading its forces in Jin–Song Wars, the wars ...

Poem and meaning

Authorship controversy

The common belief is that

wrote the poem in 1133 at the age of 30 during the Jin–Song Wars. In 1127, the Song emperors Qinzong and Huizong were captured by forces of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty (this incident is known as the " Humiliation of Jingkang", as mentioned in the poem). Emperor Gaozong retreated to present-day

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

in 1127 and established the

Southern Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...

. However, James T. C. Liu, a history professor from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, states that Yue Fei's version was actually written by a different person in the early 16th century. The poem was not included in the collected works of Yue Fei compiled by Yue's grandson, Yue Ke (岳柯; 1183–post 1234), and neither was it mentioned in any major works written before the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

. The section that states the author's wish "to stamp down Helan Pass" is what led scholars to this conclusion. Helan Pass was in

Western Xia The Western Xia or the Xi Xia ( zh, c=, w=Hsi1 Hsia4, p=Xī Xià), officially the Great Xia ( zh, c=大夏, w=Ta4 Hsia4, p=Dà Xià, labels=no), also known as the Tangut Empire, and known as Stein (1972), pp. 70–71. to the Tanguts ...

, which was not one of Yue Fei's military targets. Liu suggests the "real author of the poem was probably Zhao Kuan who engraved it on a tablet at Yue Fei's tomb in 1502, in order to express the patriotic sentiments which were running high at that time, about four years after General Wang Yue scored a victory over the

Oirats Oirats (; ) or Oirds ( ; ), formerly known as Eluts and Eleuths ( or ; zh, 厄魯特, ''Èlǔtè'') are the westernmost group of Mongols, whose ancestral home is in the Altai Mountains, Altai region of Siberia, Xinjiang and western Mongolia. ...

near the Helan Pass in

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

." James T.C. Liu. "Yueh Fei (1103-41) and China's Heritage of Loyalty." ''The Journal of Asian Studies''. Vol. 31, No. 2 (Feb., 1972), pp. 291-297

Music

The poem has been set to music various times, including a Mandarin song from the 1930s performed by operatic baritone Yi-Kwei Sze in the 1950s. Other singers such as Shi Hong'e, Yang Hongji and Zhang Mingmin have also performed this rendition. Hong Kong singer Roman Tam sang a Cantonese song "Moon Kong Hung" ("Man Jiang Hong" in Mandarin), composed by

Joseph Koo Joseph Koo Kar-Fai (; 25 February 1931 – 3 January 2023) was a Hong Kong composer. He used the pen name Moran (莫然) for Mandarin songs early in his career. According to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Koo was one of the most ...

, for the 1983 television series ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes''. Another Cantonese song of the same title was composed by Kwan Shing-yau and performed by Deric Wan for the 1984 Hong Kong television series ''By Royal Decree''.

Notes

References

External links