Zhang Fei and Guan Yu
Qu Yuan
Qu Yuan was a famous patriotic poet of the Warring States Period (476 - 221 BC) in China. He was listed as a world cultural celebrity. His hometown was in Danyang, Chu States of the Warring States (present Zigui in Hubei Province).
Qu Yuan was born in a noble family of the Chu States during the Warring States Period. He was well educated when he was young and entered the palace of the Chu Kingdom when he was 18. At the age of 22, Qu Yuan began to participate in the political affairs of the state. He believed that the Chu State was qualified to unify the whole country, so he put forward the policy of uniting the Qi State to resist the Qin State. He also suggested weaken the priorities of the nobles and appoint people by abilities in the Chu State. As his view contradicted to the rights of nobles, he was slandered in front of the king, so was exiled for many times.
During his exile, he wrote the famous Suffering Throes (Li Sao), Asking the Heaven (Tian Wen), and Addressing the Soul of Dead (Zhao Hun). In 278 B.C., when Qu Yuan heard the news that the capital of Chu State was taken up by Qin army, desperately, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River. It is said the day was May 5th in Chinese lunar calendar, and that is how the Dragon Boat Festival comes. People also built a Quyuan Temple in his hometown to commemorate him.
Wang Zhaojun
Wang Zhaojun was born in a small village near the Fragrance Stream (present Zhaojun Village of Xingshan County in Yichang, Hubei Province) during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). She made great contribution to the communication between Han Dynasty and the Huns, and was listed as one of the four Chinese beauties in ancient times.
Zhaojun was the youngest kid in her family and born a beauty, so her parents and brothers loved her so much. Though girls in ancient times did not read and learned skills, smart as she was, Zhaojun’s parents allowed her to learn to play Chinese lute, read and write. At the age of 16, Zhaojun grew up as a beautiful girl, so was selected as one of the concubines to enter the Palace. At that time, the emperor would choose the ones he liked to be his wives by seeing the concubines’ portraits. Other girls bribed the painter and wished the emperor would pick them when seeing their beautiful faces on the portraits, but Zhaojun refused to bribe the painter as she was confident about her beauty. The painter was angry about Zhaojun, so he painted an ugly face on Zhaojun’s portrait. Three years later, Zhaojun was still not chosen by the emperor. In 33 B.C., the leader of Hun, Huhan Ye came to the Han Dynasty for alliance through marriage. Wang Zhaojun volunteered to marry Huhan Ye. When the Han emperor saw Zhaojun, he was so regretted that he never knew such a beautiful girl in his palace.
After Wang Zhaojun married the Hun’s leader, the fire between the Hun and the Han Dynasty had been ceased for 50 years, and the cultural and economic communication between the two nations was also strengthened.
Zhang Fei
Zhang Fei’s home town was in Hebei Province, but his head was buried in Yunyang, and the local people also built a Zhang Fei Temple to commemorate him.
Zhang Fei was a valiant general of the Shu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280). According to the famous Chinese novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhang Fei was a dark, burly, and bearded large man with the characteristics of boldness and rashness. He was once a butcher before he met Liu Bei and Guan Yu. However, in historical records, Zhang Fei was a well-educated rich man in Zhu County, Hebei Province, and a famous calligrapher and painter. Some relics excavated in Sichuan indicate that he also might be a handsome man.
Yangtze River and Other Chinese Celebrities
Ouyang Xiu, the famous poet of the Northern Song Dynasty (960 - 1127), had been a local official in Yiling (presently in Yichang, Hubei Province) for one and a half years and wrote over 140 pieces of poet and prose.
Lu You was a patriotic poet of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127 - 1279). In the year of 1170, he cruised along the Three Gorges areas, and wrote the first travel note about the Three Gorges, the Notes of Visiting Sichuan (Ru Shu Ji).
Li Bai, known as the God of Poetry in China, was a romanticism poet of the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). One of his famous poems, Leaving White Emperor Town at Dawn, describes the magnificent view in Three Gorges area:
We set sail at dawn from Baidi Town under a rosy sky,
On a thousand-li trip down to Jiangling and back the same day.
The noisy chatter of apes from the shores followed us all the way.
Lightly, our boat skipped past ten thousand green mountains high.
Bai Juyi was one of the famous poets of the Tang Dynasty. On a trip to Xiling Gorge with his brother and another friend, they visited cave near Nanjin Pass and left poems in the cave. The cave was hence named Sanyou Carven (three celebrities visiting the cavern) and became a hot destination.
