Yue Fei’s Temple and Tomb
Unlike Buddhist temple, the Yue Fei’s temple is a memorial one, dedicated to a national hero by the name of Yue Fei. He fought against the invaders from the north and recovered much of the lost territory. Unfortunately, a traitor named Qin Hui, who was the Prime Minister then, murdered him. The story took place in the Southern Song Dynasty over 800 years ago, during that time Hangzhou was the capital.
Yue Fei grew up in a turbulent period of time. In the north of China, there lived a nomadic tribe named Nuzhen. At the beginning of the 12th century, the Nuzhen Nationality established a kingdom named Jin. The Great Jin became very strong and started massive attacks against the Northern Song. On the other hand, the Northern Song Dynasty, which had been in existence for over 150 years, became corrupt and the armies were not as good as fighting at all.
Very soon, the capital fell into the invaders’ hand and to make things worse, the last two emperors were captured, resulting in the fall of the North Song Dynasty. The ninth son of th
e last but one emperor Zhao Gou fled to the south and established the Southern Song Dynasty with Hangzhou as its capital.
Yue Fei came from a peasant family in Henan Province. Beginning his career as a petty officer, he repeatedly distinguished himself by his valor and wisdom on the battlefield. Finally, he became an outstanding general. But the capitulationists, headed by Emperor Gao Zong and his Prime Minister Qin Hui, tried hard to put a spoke to the wheel of Yue’s peace expedition. They feared that victory would be disadvantageous of them personally and the anti-Jin volunteers, once becoming powerful, would threaten their position as rulers. The moment when the final victory was near at hand, Gao Zong ordered Yue to withdraw his army. Back in Hangzhou, Yue was thrown into jail on a fabricated charge and killed with poison soon after, when he was not yet 39.
Twenty-one years after his death, Yue Fei was cleared of the false accusation. A shrine and a tomb were built in Hangzhou in his memory-a permanent institution that has a special appeal to the Chinese at home and overseas.
Yue’s temple and Tomb are situated at the southern foot of Qixia Hill. Surrounded by the imposing red walls, the temple and tomb face Yue Lake, a part of West Lake. On March13, 1961, the State Council of the People’s Republic of china declared Yue Fei’s Tomb a major historic relic under the State protection. Yue Fei’s Temple was first built in 1221. The last time it got rebuilt was 1923.
Over the double-tiered entrance gate hangs a vertical board decorated with the dragon and the phoenix, the ancient symbols of power as well as auspiciousness, which announces in gold print on a black background: “King Yue’s Temple”. Gmiss a feioing through the entrance gate, the visitor walks up a flag- stone path with tall and age-old camphor trees on either side to approach the multi-eaved gate of the hip-roofed temple itself. In 1980, Ye Jianying, one of China’s ten marshals, inscribed “The Loyalty Is As Bright As Sunlight” for the plaque, which now hangs outside the temple’s main hall. At the center of the main hall, with two rows of 12 red-lacquered pillars at either side, is a new 4.54-meter(15-foot) –high statue of Yue Fei, cast in plaster by the staff of the Sculpture Department of China Academy of Fine Arts and based on the traditional style of Chinese colored clay sculpture.
The previous Buddha-like statue has been replaced by the new one which, according to Song Dynasty records, makes the portrayal of the general as authentic as possible. He weras a red-tasseled commander’s helmet, a war robe with gold designs of pythons and military boots. Holding a sword in his left hand and clenching his right fist, he appears to be both a brave general and a scholar- general. Right above the statue hands a plaque inscribes in Yue’s calligraphy, “Rover our lost Territories”. Signifying Yue Fei’s integrity are over 370 white flying cranes in different posed painted on the ceiling. Along the walls towards the back of the main hall are eight mural paintings done in 1981 by the staff of the Chinese Painting Department of China Academy of Fine Arts. These paintings, presented in a form Chinese visitors will find easy to appreciate, outline the true story of Yue’s life, representing different aspects of his career.
Painting 1: Learning diligently
Yue was eager to learn since boyhood. He loved to read famous books like Sun Zi’s Art of War and enjoyed listening to stories of historical heroes. As strong as a horse, he could bend an over- 150- kilogram bow in his early teens. He learned how to do Kungfu from Master Chen Guang and how to shoot an arrow from the crack archer Zhou Tong. You can see in this painting that Yue is practicing shooting. The old man beside him is Zhou Tong.
Painting 2: Mother tattooing Yue’s back
Yue lost his father young and his mother brought him up. In 1126, the Jinkang Incident took place. The Jin invaders took the capital of Kaifeng and captured two emperors. Fired by a strong desire to defend the motherland, Yue’s mother send her 20-year-old son to the army. Before he left, she tattooed on his back four characters---“Be loyal to the motherland”. This patriotic story has been dear to the hearts of the Chinese for many generations.
Painting 3: Recapturing Jiankang
Jiankang (the present – day Nanjing) was a prefecture of strategic importance. In winter 1129, the Jin troops mounted a large-scale offensive against the South. In the year 1130AD, Yue Fei, with the help of the army led by Han Shizhong, another famous general, defeated the invaders occupying the city and took it back. In this victory the chief director of the invaders was almost captured. Since then, the invaders became very afraid of Yue Fei’s troops. Among the invaders, there was a saying, which goes like this: it’s easi
er to move a mountain than to beat Yue’s army. Yue Fei was promoted repeatedly ever after.
Painting 4: uniting with anti- Jin forces
To defeat the Jin invaders, Yue laid down the policy to unite with anti- Jin loyal militiamen who lived to the north of the Yellow River. Later, these militiamen became the main force of Yue’s army, playing an important role in fighting back the Jin invaders.