Yue Fei is among the most celebrated generals in Chinese history, remembered for his loyalty and patriotism. His life unfolded during one of the most turbulent eras of the Southern Song dynasty, when northern China had fallen to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty, and the Chinese court struggled to defend what remained of its realm.
Yue Fei was born in 1103 in Tangyin County, Henan Province, during the final decades of the Northern Song dynasty. His childhood coincided with a period of cultural flourishing but political decline. The Song court, though rich in art and learning, had grown militarily weak. The empire’s northern neighbours, the Jurchen tribes of Manchuria, were on the rise, and by the early twelfth century they had established the powerful Jin dynasty.
Statue of Yue Fei at his mausoleum. Credit: Gary Todd
In 1125, the Jin armies invaded the Song realm. Within two years they captured the capital, Kaifeng, and seized the emperor Huizong, his successor Qinzong, and much of the royal family. This catastrophe—known as the Jingkang Incident—ended the Northern Song dynasty and divided China. The surviving members of the royal family fled south, where the younger son of Emperor Huizong established a new court in Lin’an (modern Hangzhou), founding what would be known as the Southern Song dynasty.
The fall of the north left millions displaced and humiliated. The new government, struggling to defend its legitimacy, faced a painful choice between resistance and accommodation. It was in this moment of despair and confusion that Yue Fei emerged as one of the few men determined to fight back.
Yue Fei’s father was a farmer, from whom Yue received most of his primary education. He studied the Confucian classics, but also trained rigorously in martial arts, archery, and strategy. He was deeply influenced by the military writings of Sun Tzu and Wu Qi, emphasizing discipline, morale, and justice in warfare. When the northern frontier began collapsing under Jurchen assault, he enlisted in the Song army around 1122.
From the beginning, Yue distinguished himself not just by bravery, but by a strict sense of moral conduct. Unlike many warlords who treated the chaos as an opportunity for personal gain, Yue Fei saw the war as a sacred duty to restore the nation’s honour. He had the words “serve the country with the utmost loyalty” tattooed across his back. According to legend, this tattooing was done by his mother to remind him of his duty. While this tale may be apocryphal, it captures the moral code that defined his life: loyalty to the nation above all else.
A depiction of Yue Fei's mother tattooing his back at the mausoleum of Yue Fei. Credit: Ines Yeh
By the 1130s, Yue Fei had become one of the Southern Song’s most capable generals. During the decades-long struggle between the Song and the Jin, Yue Fei proved one of the few commanders capable of repeatedly defeating the invaders. His campaigns in central China, particularly in Hubei and Henan, recovered vast tracts of territory lost to the Jin. He achieved stunning victories at Yingshan, Zhu Xian Town, and Yancheng, and his forces even threatened to retake Kaifeng.
His army, known as the Yue Family Army (Yuejia Jun), was admired for its discipline and morale. Yue forbade looting, demanded respect for civilians, and mercy to the defeated rank. The Yue Family Army had a famous slogan of "freezing to death without demolishing houses, starving to death without looting."
Over the years, Yue Fei engaged in a series of campaigns that gradually pushed back Jin forces in Hubei, Henan, and Anhui provinces. Just as he was threatening to attack and retake Kaifeng, Emperor Gaozong decided to recall Yue Fei to the capital. Yue Fei’s success became a subject of concern for the Southern Song court, particularly Emperor Gaozong and his chief minister Qin Hui. The Emperor feared that if Yue Fei defeated the Jurchen, they might be pressured into releasing the captured Emperor Qinzong, threatening his claim to the throne. Following the advice of officials and Qin Hui in particular, Emperor Gaozong sent 12 orders in the form of 12 gold plaques to Yue Fei, recalling him back to the capital.
Upon his return to the capital, Yue Fei was imprisoned on false charges of treason. Qin then subjected the general to two months of torture, but could not get Yue Fei to admit the charges pressed upon him. With no evidence against him, Qin Hui realised that he would eventually have to let him go. Qin Hui’s wife urged her husband to slip an execution notice inside the skin of an orange and send it to the examining judge. This way, the general and his companions would be put to death before the Emperor or Qin himself would have to rescind an open order of execution.
When asked by General Han Shizhong what crime Yue had committed, Qin Hui is said to have justified Yue’s execution with the infamous phrase: "Though it isn't sure whether there is something that he did to betray the dynasty, maybe there is.”
Yue Fei was executed in 1142, at the age of thirty-nine, along with his son Yue Yun.
Yue Fei’s death provoked outrage among soldiers and civilians alike. In the decades that followed, his name became a rallying point for those who lamented the Song’s weakness and moral decay. In 1162, Emperor Xiaozong, Gaozong’s successor, officially rehabilitated Yue Fei, restoring his titles and honours. His remains were moved to a proper tomb at Hangzhou’s West Lake, where a temple was built in his memory.
Inside the temple, topless statues of Qin Hui and his wife, and two of Qin's subordinates, Moqi Xie and Zhang Jun were placed kneeling before Yue Fei’s tomb, symbolically condemned to eternal shame. For centuries, visitors expressed their hatred by spitting on, cursing, and even urinating upon these effigies. The original bronze figures were eventually damaged and replaced with iron ones, which met the same fate over time.
Statues of Lady Wang and Qin Hui. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Statues of Moqi Xie (万俟卨) and Zhang Jun. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The tombs of Yue Fei and his son Yue Yun. Credit: Richard Yuan
In modern times, however, these statues are protected as cultural relics and befouling them is discouraged. On the gate surrounding them hangs a couplet that reads: “The green hill is fortunate to be the burial ground of a loyal general, the white iron was innocent to be cast into the statues of traitors”.
Over the centuries, Yue Fei’s life has been woven into countless plays, operas, poems, and novels. The Biography of Yue Fei (Yue Fei Zhuan), a Ming dynasty novel, elevated him to near-mythic stature, depicting him as a man of superhuman strength, while folk tales portray him as a warrior-saint, guided by divine purpose.
Although modern historians doubt the veracity of many of the tales attributed to him, Yue Fei remains one of the most revered figures in Chinese cultural memory, yet also a tragic victim of political cynicism. More than eight centuries after his death, his life continues to raise questions about duty, loyalty, and moral courage.
At times, however, Yue Fei’s status as a national hero has been re-evaluated. In 2002, new teaching guidelines reportedly advised history instructors to refrain from referring to him as a national hero. The rationale was that Yue Fei had fought against the Jurchen people, whose descendants—the Manchu—are now regarded as part of the broader Chinese nation. In the interest of promoting “national unity,” Yue Fei was seen as representing one ethnic subgroup rather than the entirety of China as defined today. Nevertheless, both the Chinese Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Defence have denied this interpretation and continue to officially recognize Yue Fei as a national hero.
Comments
Post a Comment