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 One day in February 1983, late Chinese leader Deng
Xiaoping visited Hangzhou, the most beautiful lake
city in China, and paid his respects at the memorial temple
for General Yue Fei (岳坟), the most esteemed national hero
in Chinese history. Deng went to a tablet corridor (北碑廊)
where Yue Fei's celebrated poem "Full
River Red" (满江红) is in display, and recalled how
he learned to sing this verse when he was a little body.
And he sang, quietly, to his daughter and grandson and
granddaughter who accompanied him on the tour:
怒发冲冠，凭阑处、潇潇雨歇。
抬望眼，仰天长啸，壮怀激烈。
三十功名尘与土，八千里路云和月。
莫等闲白了少年头，空悲切...
Leaning against the railing,
Watching the rushing rain easing,
My heart is raging.
Tossing my head towards the heaven,
Letting out an anguished wailing,
My blood is boiling.
Thirty years of exploit,
To me, just a pile of dust;
Eight thousand miles of expedition,
I lived rough under clouds and moonlight
With all these, I have no regrets,
For I didn't waste my youth
By doing something meaningless...
Deng Xiaoping then walked to the other side of the temple
and paused to ponder before a pair of cast iron figurines
that have their hands tied behind their back and their head
bowed low and their bodies fallen upon their knees. These
are the images of Prime
Minister Qin Kuai (秦侩) and his wife, a most hated couple
in Chinese history who driven by personal and family ambition
committed high treason by secretly forging a traitorous deal
with enemy force, the Manchu Tartars (女真).
General Yue Fei was recalled to Hangzhou (杭州, by then it
was called Linan 临安), the capital of Southern Song (南宋, 1127
- 1279), when he was engaged in the fierce battle defending
the Middle
Kingdom against Tartar's military invasion. Upon arrival
in the capital, he was immediately arrested and tried with
his hand cuffed and feet in the fetters for the "Unspecified
Crime" (“莫须有罪”) by a corrupted high court loyal to
the scheming and powerful PM, and later executed with poisoned
wine, which became a tragic turning point that eventually
led to the demise of Song Dynasty and the decline of Chinese
civilisation.
Deng pointed at the spiteful figures and said to his daughter
and grandson and granddaughter, "Heroes will be forever
remembered by the nation, while evil people can never rest
in peace." He then directed their sight to a couplet
on a gate which read "What an honour for the blue hill
to have the hero buried here; What a sham for innocent iron
to be cast into the devils (‘青山有幸埋忠骨，白铁无辜铸佞臣)". He
reminded his daughter, his grandson and his granddaughter,
earnestly, "You should live like Yue Fei and prepare
to sacrifice for our nation."
A good lesson from Deng Xiaoping. But if his spirit is still
around watching this land, and especially the farmland, he
might find in his dismay, disappointment and despair that
some people on some key positions not only 闲白了少年头 (Having
wasted their lives by devoting energies to accumulating material
assets and building false reputations) but have made
deals with contemporary Tartars that result 民众无辜成白鼠
(What a sham for innocent Chinese people to be turned into guinea
pigs).
And, it could be particularly sad for Deng, that a particular
descendant is particularly living a life exactly opposite
to what he aspired on that particular day and trying to sacrifice
the whole nation for the particular personal and family ambition.
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East Is Red
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River Red
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