The Battle of Chibi (Red Cliffs) between Cao Cao and the coalition of Liu Bei and Sun Quan took place at Red Cliffs (present-day northeast of Jiayu, Hubei Province) in AD 208. Cao Cao whose courtesy name was Mengde was born in the Qiao County (present-day Bozhou, An- hui). His father, Cao Song who served in the court as the grand commander was the foster son of Cao Teng who in turn was one of the favorite eunuchs of Emperor Huan. At the age of twenty, Cao Cao was recommended for a promotion to northern district commander of Luoyang. When the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, Cao Cao was recalled to put down the rebels. He was successful in his military exploits and was promoted to dianjun xiaowei (a military position). Cao Cao, intelligent and courageous, was well versed in both polite correspondence and martial arts. He liked to enlist the service of capable people, and there were many brave and talented men working for him. Later, the warlords formed a coalition with Yuan Shao against Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao joined their cause. He was assigned to be the magistrate of Yanzhou Prefecture in AD 192. After defeating Yuan Shao at Guandu, Cao Cao conquered other warlords and united the north of China.
- Battle Of Chibi
- Battle Of The Red Cliff - The Finer Times
- Battle Of Red Cliff Movie
- Battle At The Red Cliffs
- Battle At Red Cliffs Movie
After uniting the north, Cao Cao prepared to march south to unify the country. The overlord of Jinzhou Prefecture, Liu Biao, had just died after a period of illness. Under pressure from Cao Cao's forces, Liu Cong, Liu Biao's younger son and successor, quickly surrendered. When Jingzhou fell, Liu Bei and Liu Biao's elder son Liu Qi immediately led about twenty thousand soldiers to Xiakou (present- day Hankou). Although Cao Cao claimed that he had eight hundred troops at his disposal, Zhou Yu estimated Cao Cao's actual troop numbers to be closer to two hundred and twenty thousand after conquering Jingzhou. Cao Cao's army was advancing from Jiangling down the Yangtze River toward Xiakou. Liu Bei's main advisor Zhuge Liang was sent to negotiate the formation of an alliance against Cao Cao with Sun Quan.
Sun Quan was from Fuchun in the Wu Prefecture (present-day Fuyang, Zhejiang Province) and called himself Zhongmou. His father, Sun Jian, and elder brother, Sun Ce, were famous generals. In the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Sun Ce acquired six prefectures southeast of the Yangtze River with the support of influential families. In AD 200, the eighteen-year-old Sun Quan inherited land from his brother. Sun Quan, under the tutelage of Zhou Yu, Zhang Zhao, and other able advisors, continued to build his power base along the Yangtze River. When Cao Cao led his army to pacify the south, Sun Quan was twenty-five years old. He was aware of the fact that his regime would be in danger if Cao Cao got a firm foothold in Jingzhou. In the end, Sun Quan decided to oppose Cao Cao. He sent generals Zhou Yu, Lu Su, and Cheng Pu with 30,000 soldiers to form a coalition with Liu Bei's troops, which numbered 20,000.
The supreme commander of the united forces was Zhou Yu, whose courtesy name was Gong Jin, a native of Shu County, Lujiang Prefecture (present-day Shucheng city, Anhui Province). He was the chief general of the Wu state. Zhou Yu was born into a bureaucratic family, and made close friends with Sun Ce at a young age. Zhou Yu later helped Sun Ce to conquer the six prefectures southeast of the Yangtze River and was promoted to jiangwei zhonglangjiang. Zhou Yu was called Zhou Lang (gentleman) by the local people, as he was young and handsome. Sun Ce died at a young age, and Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao were entrusted to assist Sun Quan. Zhou was appointed as qianbu Dadudu. Zhou Yu and Lu Su were boldly advocating war against Cao Cao. The combined Sun-Liu force sailed upstream to the Red Cliffs where they encountered Cao Cao's vanguard force. Cao Cao's men could not gain an advantage in the small skirmish which ensued, so Cao Cao retreated north of the Yangtze River and the allies pulled back to the south.
The Battle of Red Cliffs (also called the Battle of Chibi) took place in the winter of 208/9 CE and it was one of the largest naval battles in history. On one side there was the ambitious northern warlord Cao Cao, with his enormous army. On the other side, there were the southern warlords Sun Quan and Liu Bei, who joined forces but were still numerically inferior when compared to the forces of their enemy. The Battle of Red Cliffs unfolded in three stages: an initial skirmish at Red Cliffs followed by a retreat to the Wulin battlefields on the northwestern bank of the Yangtze, a decisive naval engagement, and Cao Cao's disastrous retreat along Huarong Road. Red Cliff is a four hour two-part epic film depicting the events leading up to the battle of Chi Bi, a pivotal event in the Three Kingdoms arc of China's history that's been made famous by the novel Romance of The Three Kingdoms, and more recently, the bastardized Dynasty Warriors series.
Battle Of Chibi
Battle Of The Red Cliff - The Finer Times
Cao Cao had moored his ships stem to stern, possibly aiming to reduce seasickness in his naval troops, who were mostly northerners and were not used to living on ships. Observing this, Zhou Yu's divisional commander Huang Gai feigned surrender and prepared a squadron of capital ships. The ships had been converted into fire ships by filling them with bundles of dry reeds and oil. As Huang Gai's 'defecting' squadron approached the midpoint of the river, the sailors set fire to the ships before escaping in small boats. The unmanned fire ships, driven by the southeastern wind, sped toward Cao Cao's fleet and set it ablaze. As all the ships were moored together, it was impossible for the ships to sail away. Within a short time, smoke and flames stretched across the sky and Cao Cao's fleet turned into a sea of fire. Soon, the raging flames extended to the camps on the bank. Many men and horses were either burned to death or drowned. Unfortunately for Cao Cao's army, the allies, led by Zhou Yu and Liu Bei, gave chase over land and water. Due to famine, disease, and skirmishes along the way, many of Cao Cao's remaining forces perished. Cao Cao then retreated northward and was not able to dispatch military expedition to the south. In AD 220, Cao Cao died of illness. His son Cao Pi deposed Emperor Xian of Han and proclaimed himself emperor of Wei, making Luoyang his capital. With Zhuge Liang's assistance, Liu Bei occupied most of the Jingzhou Prefecture. Shortly after that, he expanded his territory westward and seized Liu Zhang's Yizhou Prefecture. The year after Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor, Liu Bei declared himself emperor of Han, which was historically known as the Kingdom of Shu or Shu Han, and made Chengdu its capital. Sun Quan had further strengthened his force in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. In AD 229, Sun Quan named himself emperor of Wu and made Jianye (now Nanjing) the capital. This was the start of three kingdoms: Wei, Shu, and Wu.
- August 30, 2012
- Posted by: essay
- Category: Free essays
Nearly at 200 A. D. in the chaos of Yellow Turban Rebellion, were formed three central forces. That is why this historical period is called '˜three kingdoms'. These were 1. Wei Kingdom, actually ruled by Cao Cao, talented and resolute military leader, who actually controlled the emperor. He controlled central part of China. This part was the most destructed. The Army of Cao Cao was the biggest, but the same time it was not a reliable one, as armies of invaded areas were actually included into it. 2. Kingdom Wu ruled by Sun Quan. His lands were lying behind the Yangtze River and were the most serene part of China. Yellow Turban Rebellion and the following chaos did not actually touch them. The Army was not exhausted by endless civil war, but actually did not have any military conflict experience. Every enemy before trying to invade these lands, should firstly try to overcome the Yangtze River. It won't be surprising that for such a case, the kingdom had a fleet, ruled by Zhou Yu, talented military official. 3. Shu kingdom was noticed for military leader Liu Bei, who promoted himself during military conflict with '˜Yellow Turbans'. He also claimed to be relative to the emperor that is why he sometimes was called '˜emperor's uncle'.
But it is a well known fact that Liu Bei was from poor family and in his youth devoted himself to basketry. His army is not very big, but it's major part were professionals, who had long lasting experience in military conflicts. By the time of the Red Cliff battle Liu Bei did not have permanent base. It provided mobility for his army but the same time, the problem of subsistence and rest for his army was quite acute.
According to the historical chronicles Liu Bei was considered to be charismatic leader. This quality made him a huge advantage in attracting to military service outstanding people. Among the most noticeable figures are his blood Brothers: Zhang Fei (a man of gigantic physical power) and Guan Yu (invincible warrior, after his death and till now, Guan Yu is honored in China as Mars in Ancient Rome). Also the noticeable figure who played significant role in this story are Zhao Jung '' desperate braveheart, who was simple peasant by his origin, but became one of the military leaders of Liu Bei. Another noticeable figure is Taoist Zhuge Liang '' outstanding politician and genius strategist, healer, magus and scientist.
Comparing of Historical Events and the Film
John Woo has took as a primary source for his film a book called '˜Three Kingdoms' written by Luo Guanzhong, he took the period known in the Chinese history as Chi Bi Battle of a battle of the Red Cliffs. It takes nearly 70 pages of the 900 page book. Liu Bei troop was retreating under the pressure of great Army of Cao Cao. The inhabitants of this area left their homes and followed the troop of Liu Bei. It is unexampled case in Chinese medieval war descriptions. The farmers in such wars were not taking an active part as military troops want to eat anyway, and rice, wheat and barly should be grown up by someone. And Cao Cao Army was actually met with a breath of relief as he was the on who could stop this chaos. It is supposed that charismatic traits and famousness of Liu Bei played a significant role in this case. Liu Bei protected peasant and this seriously influenced advance of his troops. He had to protect the farmers or his reputation of national hero among them will be lost. In the fuss of advance younger wife of Liu Bei was killed in the film (in the book she saved herself) and mother of his son killed herself. The troops of Liu Bei needed a respite and reliable ally. He actually suggested alliance to the Sun Quan and he agreed with one term, he got to persuade Zhou Yu, his military leader. Taoist Zhuge Liang was the one who achieved success with Sun Quan and was sent to persuade Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu did not wanted to take part in the military conflict, but Zhuge Liang found an argument (he told that Cao Cao wanted 2 Qiao sister to become a part of his harem, pretending that he does not know that Xiao Qiao is the wife of Zhou Yu, suggested to send them tyo Cao Cao as the guaranty of peace and friendship). Zhou Yu decided to take part in the war but according to the book he actually disliked Zhuge Liang and there was no friendship between them as it was shown in film. He even gave him impossible tasks to have a ground to kill Zhuge Liang. Cao Cao troops based near the Red Cliff itself, and according to historic data Cao Cao did not have fleet, but he '˜owed' it from invaded rulers. Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu did everything they could to compromise fleet leaders and it is essential that they had scouts in Cao Cao military camp, but Sun Quan Sister could not be such a spy. In the end coalition of Shu and Wu supported by genius of Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, defeated numerous troops of Wei kingdom.
'Red Cliff'� by John Woo
John Woo, a well known Chinese director took the subject line from the 'Three Kingdoms'� for his film 'Red Cliff'� based on historical events of medieval China. He masterfully combined some episodes from the book(which were not included in the description of Red Cliffs Battle) as using of Liu Bei troops reflecting shields to dazzle Cao Cao troops or dimensioned formation of United troops of Liu Bei And Sun Quan in the form of Turtle before the following battle. But episodes created specially for the fils, especially to realize female images seem to be less successful and overextended. First should be mentioned Sun Quan's sister and her friend from the opponents Army. But the idea of Zhou Yu's wife arriving to Cao Cao military camp seems to be very successful, in the combination of musical battle between Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, But everything connected with her saving seems to be unnecessary. But all these are details, if we take the whole picture, it captivates the attention of viewer
Directing historical movie for the first time, John Woo masterfully showed battlefield scenes and separate combats. Jade the magician. He masterfully showed the battlefield scene on the river, with floating Chinese lamps in the sky and burning fire-ships floating along the river. Slo-mo effect, parallel development of some moments, friendship and rivalry of the main heroes and even white doves also produces unforgettable impression on the viewer. Casino payback percentages.
Battle Of Red Cliff Movie
John Wu also paid great attention to the actor casting. Cao Cao in the book and in the film is actually negative character. But according to the Chinese history he is rather positive character than negative, as he had a strong will to unite China, under the rule of one emperor. That is why the invitation for such an important figure Japanese actor caused displeasure among the Chinese audience and he was changed on Zhang Fengyi. The director took incredible efforts and finally got expected success.
Conclusion
Battle At The Red Cliffs
Slotomania piggy bank. I think that despite some historical variance, the film directed by John Woo is successful. The director masterfully showed the atmosphere prevailed in medieval China in the period of fragmentation. He paid attention to all important moment. The manipulation undertaken by Cao Cao according to the emperor, even he had a strong wish to unite the country. One of the significant parts of Chinese history is masterfully depicted transferring the viewer in the Medieval China. I think that the main contribution of John Woo in the development of Chinese cinematography is popularization Chinese culture and history within the western audience. It is very important aspect as western and eastern histories in the medieval times were developing separately from each other. John Woo took into consideration the wishes and preferences European and American audience, certainly he took into consideration the preferences of Chinese audience and finally did not lost.
Battle At Red Cliffs Movie
