Day THIRT33N - 16 March 2013

Today started early as well! And I am so excited for today which is the Red Cliff Tour! We wake up early to take the bus ride for two to three hours. It was of course fewer hours than the Wudang Mountain bus ride. However most of us were too tired and fell asleep in the bus. We also had a new staff joining us although I do not know her name but she was nice to us. J We finally reach the Red Cliff.

It was drizzling that we went under shelter for a while. We were then brought to our hotel for checking in. this time we stayed in a 4-star hotel! It was grand at the lobby that has a statue of GuanYu (关羽) and posters related to the Red Cliff Battle.

We check in and went to our room. It was grand and one of the better ones of hotel that I have seen since I was in Wuhan.

Also, another thing I realize that is the appearance of the hotel or any building there have flags at the roof that look like the building from the Three Kingdoms Period.

Straight after we went in to explore. Kenneth and I know more about the story of Red Cliff Battle and Three Kingdoms that we were talking all about it as we tour around. First we are at the main gate.

Benjamin being a photo bomber!

As we walked along, we did not see a lot of other tourist maybe because of the rainy weather which lucky for me that I bought my dad’s waterproof windbreaker along with me. I was being dry for the whole tour. Also we found a lot of picture curving on the wall of the buildings.

We also saw a lot of small shops and restaurants that named after famous people in the Three Kingdom Period for example one of the beauty who is ZhouYu’s (周瑜) wife, XiaoQiao (小乔). Another example is the shop naming after ZhuGe Liang’s (诸葛亮) hometown, WoLong (卧龙); also a shop naming after PangTong (庞统), who is also as smart as Zhuge Liang.

These small shops sell things that are used by the people during the Three Kingdom Period like sword and crossbows.

There are also a lot of sign boards that explain some of the famous happening in that period like the seven step poem (七步诗) made by one of the CaoCao’s (曹操) son, CaoZhi (曹植); the becoming of three sworn brothers (桃园三结义), LiuBei (刘备), GuanYu (关羽), ZhangFei (张飞) and the drinking and talking of heroes (煮酒论英雄).

There are shops with the older Chinese characters names like the followings

We saw this big metal with spikes in front of a gate and spikes on the gate. These spikes are to be used to block enemy in case of a surprised attack from the enemy.

They are called the Jin City which is one of the strongest fighting formations.

There is this famous story of Zhuge Liang borrowing arrows using straw men in a boat. It is said that ZhouYu need arrows for the battle but there was not enough in their supply hence he make things difficult for Zhuge Liang that to ask him to borrow arrows in three days where Zhuge Liang have no resources. Zhuge Liang came up with this idea of getting the arrows from their enemy CaoCao. Zhuge Liang got straw men to be put on the side of the boat. At a misty day, Zhuge Liang set off with the straw men on the boats. CaoCao saw the boat coming and thought that Zhuge Liang will attack them and hence used arrows to attack back. As the arrows fly over, it got on the straw men. As one side of the straw men got full Zhuge Liang had the boats to turn over and continue collecting the arrows from CaoCao. Therefore in three days, Zhuge Liang got the arrows that ZhouYu wanted. This become a famous story for all of us being Zhuge Liang’s one of the smart strategies. (草船借箭)

Opposite the Jin City, there is this pagoda. This pagoda is said to be the Control Centre of the battle where the information of enemy and the ways of defeating the enemy. It is called the ChiBi Tower (赤壁塔).

We continue walking and went to this restaurant for lunch. The set was exquisite.

After lunch we continued walking and come to the museum. There is this map that was divided to three parts which one belongs to CaoCao (曹操), 魏国, one to LiuBei (刘备), 蜀汉, and the last part to SunQuan (孙权), 东吴.

As we walked further in there were boat and ship models that was used by the different country.

We also see the tomb of a general called ChenWenHe (陈文和)

There is also a very big picture of the Battle of ChiBi (赤壁之战), where CaoCao’s boats were burned in the fire.

After which we came to a room where there is statues of the people in the Three Kingdoms Period. They are like LuiBei, SunQuan, CaoCao, Zhuge Liang, ZhouYu and PangTong

ZhouYu-

 

 CaoCao -

LuiBei -

 

Zhuge Liang -

 

SunQuan -

 

PangTong -

 

We continue walking and see a very big ZhouYu statue. It was said that the statue was built that ZhouYu was the planned the Battle of ChiBi, the battle that they won even CaoCao have two times as many as soldiers compared to them. Also after the battle, ZhouYu had curved the two words Red Cliff (赤壁) on the wall to symbolize the winning of the battle.

We climbed up the slope and come across a pavilion (望江楼). This pavilion is used as a watch tower where soldier see the enemy actions.

We also went to the place (拜风台) where Zhuge Liang prayed for the wind during the battle of ChiBi. In the place there were picture of Zhuge Liang and statue of him with LuiBei, GuanYu and ZhangFei.

We come to the garden where there are many statues of the people in the different times in the Three Kingdom Period (三国塑料圆). One example is the drinking and talking about heroes. Another one is the statue of XiaoQiao and DaQiao where XiaoQiao is getting married. Also, there are the statues of the becoming of three sworn brothers.

There were many poems carvings on the scroll that is displayed.

We came to the JinLuan Mountain. It is said that PangTong when he died he turned into a phoenix and habited in the West Mountain and hence the mountain was name as Golden Phoenix Mountain. The mountain was also a place he lived in before proposing the Interconnected ploy (连环计) to CaoCao and following LuiBei to fight for the kingdom.

In front of the place where he lived, there were many unique trees like the couple tree where two tree come from the same root.

We then came to PangTong’s house. He died at a young age of 36. However when he was alive, he had been a great help for LuiBei and was conferred to the title of Marquis of Jing.

 

The last thing I see in the Red Cliff was the signboards that says the 36ways (三十六计) used in the period. There were used until now where it is useful in everywhere we go.

It marks the end of the Red Cliff Tour. We went back to our hotel to rest and bath. We meet the rest again for dinner at the same restaurant for lunch. After dinner, we were free to go anywhere and we went for shopping for a little while after which we went back hotel to watch television.