Something about Red Cliff 1 (before I watch the second installment)
June 1, 2009
“It’s not hard to know a lot of stuff; what’s hard is to know what stuff to share.”
After three hours of wracking my mind what to share, here’s what I came up with.
To VZ:
This is not a film review. Well, as if you’ll think it is.
The movie Red Cliff is based on the Chinese classic novel Sān Guó Yǎnyì or Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义), written Luo Guanzhong and edited by Chen Shou which I am currently reading. Sān Guó is, roughly, the Chinese parallel of Tales of King Arthur, of Charlemagne and his paladinso r, still more relevant to the present world, of Richard Lionheart and his Crusaders. Sān Guó was set in the period of anarchy and civil war following the destruction of the Han Dynasty by 200 AD. Cao Cao, the apparent antagonist in the movie, because of his cruelty and craftiness, emerged the leader of China north of the Great River (Yangtze or Yangzi River). The apparent protagonists were Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang, men of the southern state of Shu-Han and the Kingdom of Wu under the House of Sun (leader was Sun Qian).
I am saying “apparent” because, when interpreted with a Confucian worldview, Cao Cao was the “right” man to lead and unify the Han people, which had fallen to disunity with the disintegration of the Han Dynasty. By another moral standard, however, the loyal Liu Bei, the brave Guan Yu and the brilliant Zhuge Liang, all of whom set the benchmark for virtuousness for the succeeding generations, have their rebellion and defiance of imperial authority justified. Because of Cao Cao’s failure to destroy his two great rivals in the south, disunity prevailed and eventually spelled disaster to his own unified order in the north when he died by 220 AD. Cao Cao is not really the antagonist he is portrayed in the movie when his historical imprint is examined. He gave the northern Han people a functioning government and peace – important requisites for the Mandate of Heaven. The government he found was authoritative (not delegating greater power to the great lineages or clans as was in the case of the Han) and was predicated on the individual merit rather than inheritance. This was strongly refused by the great families who stand to lose their power to lowly but highly-competent people. Liu Bei and Sun Qian were both classic representatives of the great houses which were once favored by the Han emperors, and their refusal of Cao Cao’s order is unsurprising. Cao Cao’s rivals appealed only to their power (aided by the natural defense given by the Yangtze and the richness of the land they held) and much powerful personalities. Thus, when Sun Qian of Wu died, the successors of northern China, the Jin Dynasty of the House of Sima, easily imposed their power on the southern kingdoms.
Cao Cao’s failure was the Battle at the Red Cliffs (near present-day Wuhan), a strategic point at the Great River. Before that time, the south was populated mostly by non-Han people (like the Yue or southern tribes) but developments under the Han Dynasty enabled the Han colonization of this region. Today, there’s but a feeble remnant of the original non-Han inhabitants of this region, in fact, southern China and the Sichuan Basin (roughly the domain of Shu-Han) are the most populous regions in China today. The face-off at the Red Cliffs not only envisaged the end of Cao Cao’s order but also strengthened the divide between Northern and Southern China. Broken was the stifling power that Confucianism commanded in the hearts and minds of lowly and aristocratic Chinese, Chinese indigenous philosophy (Daoism) flourished in the following periods. As portrayed in the movie (notably by Sun Qian’s sister), females briefly regained some power and participated in the affairs of the state.
I’m not yet finished with the book (I’m seeking an abridged version because the one I have has 120 chapters!) but the first few chapters are exciting and very informative. This is one of the most popular Chinese novels of all time; I need to at least acquaint myself with this if I want to achieve some degree of competence with Chinese affairs or be able to present myself intelligently to the Chinese.
I know that Liu Bei (You Yong) Zhou Yu (Tony Leung), Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and the handsome emperor of Wu, Sun Qian (Chang Chen) will prevail, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to get my copy of Red Cliff 2! The first one was awesome. I also want to know how Cao Cao’s (Zhang Fengyi) million warships would end.
It’s amazing how much new knowledge I absorbed from idling my summer vacation in front of a PC.
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