The Poems of Yue Fei: Loyalty and Kindness (Part 4 of 6)

(Minghui.org) Yue Fei, a legendary character in Chinese history, is an exemplar of loyalty for generations of Chinese people. From driving off the invading Jurchens, to pulling off impossible feats on the battlefield, to defending the China’s heartland—his story has been repeatedly told in Chinese history books, dramas, novels, movies, and so on.

Chinese people often expressed their aspirations through poetry, and Yue was no exception. His poems in the Collection of Yue Wumu and Collection of Song Poems displayed his magnanimous character and lofty ideals.

(Continued from Part 3.)

Here is another poem that showed Yue Fei’s vision.

Visiting Cuiwei Pavilion in Chizhou

My robes are enveloped in countless years’ dust,As I climb up Cuiwei for a moment’s reprieve.Before I can savor the sight of fair lands,The thunder of hooves bid a moonlight retreat.

Yue Fei valued his time greatly and hardly wasted it on leisure. He once wrote a couplet that went: “No sun should set on a day idly lost / Endeavors noble are not found in sloth.”

In another poem, “Man Jiang Hong” he wrote: “Waste not our ages—for our heads, black in youth, / Will whiten / With barren regret when all’s done.”

General Wu Jie once spent two thousands strings of money to buy the daughter of a scholar—a girl famous for her beauty—and gave her to Yue Fei. Observing the proper etiquette between a man and an unfamiliar woman, Yue met her while he stood behind a screen.

He told her, “My family wears the clothes of commoners and eats the food of peasants. If you think you can share in joy and hardship with us, please stay. Otherwise, I dare not keep you.”

Hearing this, the girl started snickering under her breath. It was evident that she wanted no part of Yue Fei’s austere lifestyle. Yue thus asked that she be sent back. Some lower officials tried to dissuade him, saying that this might be seen as an offense to Wu. However, Yue Fei was unfazed.

“The offense against our nation is yet to be avenged,” he replied. “How could its generals think of pleasure?”

When Wu Jie heard his reply, his respect for Yue Fei only grew.

Someone once asked Yue when society would be at peace. He said, “When ministers have no love for money and generals no fear of death, then the world shall be at peace.”

Although this sentence is simple, the content is profound and much easier said than done. Only those who truly worry about the nation and hold fast to this original intention regardless of tribulations can hope to maintain such a lofty level of morality.

(To be continued-Part 5)