Yue Fei Temple, Zhuxian Town

Yue Fei's Temple in Zhuxian Town, Kaifeng, Henan Province, China

Yue Fei, born in the Tangyin County, is a national hero much admired in the history of China. Born in a farmer’s family, Yue Fei was a famous militarist, a great General in fightings against Jin invaders from the north of China. He was intelligent since young and was fond of reading. He also practiced Chinese martial art when young and joined the army when he was 20 years old. On his back was a tatoo that read “Loyal and Devoted to the Nation” made by his mother. Yue Fei made great victories in all his six battles against the Jin invaders. However, what Emperor Gaozong of the South Song Dynasty and his Prime Minister Qinhui wanted was the shameful compromise. They gave him 12 orders in succession to stop him by asking him to retreat his army and depriving him of his position. He was only 39 years old when he was executed later for being given a possible accusal. People of his native land greatly admired him while hating those treacherous officials such as Qinhui.

郾城之战 battle scene

yue fei ep 46

The Battle of Yancheng (simplified Chinese: 郾城之战; traditional Chinese: 郾城之戰) took place in 1140 near modern-day Luohe City in Henan Province, China between the main armies of the Song Dynasty general yue fei (1103-1142) and Jurchen or Jin invaders from the north who created puppet vassal states of Qi & Chu in central plains near river huai and yellow river.

In May 1140, the tenth year of Emperor Gaozong of Song's Shaoxing Era (紹興年号), Wanyan Zongbi (完颜宗弼) usually known as Wu Shu (兀术), fourth son of Emperor Taizu of Jin invaded the south at the head of the Jin army, threatening the Song on all sides. Yue Fei's West Army marched from Ezhou City in Hubei province towards the central plains to meet the threat.

The Jin attacked and surrounded Bo (亳) (near modern-day Bozhou City, Anhui Province) whereupon Liu Qi (刘锜) requested emergency assistance from the Imperial court. Yue Fei rushed to the area and sent Generals Zhang Xian (张宪) and Yao Zheng (姚政) to deal with the situation. The emperor issued an edict stating that 'the court was prepared and he was not far away'. Yue Fei then sent Wang Gui (王贵), Niu Gao (牛皋), Dong Xian (董先), Yang Zaixing (杨再兴), Meng Bangjie (孟邦杰) and Li Bao (李宝) amongst others to defend the western capital and the prefectures of Ru (汝), Zheng (郑), Yingchang (颍昌), Chen (陈), Cao (曹) Guang (光) and Cai (蔡). Next Yue Fei ordered Liang Xing (梁兴) to cross the Yellow River, assemble citizens loyal to the emperor and attack Beizhou County (北州县). Troops also moved eastwards to assist Liu Qi and arrived in the Central Plains.

Pullman Kaifeng

Theme 1: Pullman Kaifeng

Book Trailer: Our Lady of Kaifeng

Our Lady of Kaifeng is a novel by Aya Katz that will be serialized in two parts, with Part One appearing in 2012 and Part Two in 2013. Set in China during WWII, part one tells about the teachers of the Precious Blossoms Catholic Girls' School in Kaifeng. Order the book on Amazon:



The music for this trailer is called Idol Eyes and is performed by the Paul Biese trio. It is in the public domain and can be downloaded free of charge here: