The Battle of The Red Cliff (The Three Kingdoms)

 

So, where exactly did the most famous battle in The Romance of The Three Kingdoms take place? Apparently, there has been varied views.

Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty believed that the Red Cliff was the Chibi Rock in Huang prefacture. He even composed the famous poems 'Before the Red Cliff Rhapsody', 'After the Red Cliff Rhapsody' and 'Battle of Red Cliff.'

However, it is believed that the site of the Red Cliff (Chibi) is on the Southern bank of Yangtze River in the city of Puqi, Hubei province. The site is made up of 3 mountains - Chibi, Nanping and Jinluan mountains.

Many artifacts were unearthed there. For instance, iron hoops, iron nails and a copper mirror of the Eastern Han Dynasty were uncovered one metre underground at Chibi mountain, while in a brick coffin chamber of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Jinluan mountain, a trigger mechanism of a crossbow designed by Zhuge Liang was discovered.

According to the 'Notes from Jingzhou' by Sheng Hong, during the reign of Yuanjia in the Liu Song Dynasty, the tomb of Eastern Wu's general, Lu Meng, who had participated in the Battle of The Red Cliff, was uncovered in the Chibi mountain.

- Compiled from The Three Kingdoms