1. Yue Fei, courtesy name Pengju, was a Chinese military general of the Song dynasty and is remembered as a patriotic national hero, known for leading its forces in the wars in the 12th century between Southern Song and the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in northern China.
Yue Fei is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu by Jin Guliang.
Yue Fei was granted the posthumous name Wumu by Emperor Xiaozong in 1169, and later granted the noble title King of E posthumously by the Emperor Ningzong in 1211.
Yue Fei's biography is found in the 365th chapter of the book and is numbered biography 124 in volume 365.
Several sources state that Yue Fei was born into a poor tenant farmer's family in Tangyin County, Anyang prefecture, Henan province.
Yue Fei's father used his family's plot of land for humanitarian efforts, but after it was destroyed in the flood, the young Yue Fei was forced to help his father toil in the fields to survive.
Yue Fei received most of his primary education from his father.
In 1122 Yue Fei joined the army, but had to return home later that year after the death of his father.
For instance, Yue Fei would have had to mourn his father's death for three years, but in all actually only 27 months.
Shuo Yue Fei Quanzhuan gives a very detailed fictional account of Yue Fei's early life.
The young Yue Fei later becomes the adopted son and student of the Wang family's teacher, Zhou Tong, a famous master of military skills.
Yue Fei eventually marries and later participates in the imperial military examination in the Song capital of Kaifeng.
Yue Fei learned everything and could shoot with his left and right hands.
The Biography of Yue Fei says after Qin Hui sent agents to arrest Yue and his son, he was taken before the court and charged with treason, but.
Yue Fei ripped his jacket to reveal the four tattooed characters of "serve the country with the utmost loyalty" on his back.
For instance, one of his earliest Ming era novels titled The Story of King Yue Fei Who Restored the Song dynasty states that after the Jurchen armies invaded China, young heroes in Yue Fei's village suggest that they join the bandits in the mountains.
The common legend of Yue Fei receiving the tattoo from his mother first appeared in Shuo Yue Fei Quanzhuan, a historical novel.
In chapter 21 titled "By a pretext Wang Zuo swore brotherhood, by tattoos Lady Yue Fei instructed her son", Yue Fei denounces the pirate chief Yang Yao and passes on a chance to become a general in his army.
Documentation before the Qing dynasty record that Yue Fei had hired a tattoo artist to tattoo the four characters on his back.
Such documentations appeared in Wumu Jingzhong Zhuan, a novel published in the Ming dynasty, while Shuo Yue Quanzhuan was published in the Qing dynasty.
Apart from studying literature under his father Yue He, Yue Fei loved to read military classics.
Yue Fei favored the Zuo Zhuan commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals and the strategies of Sun Tzu and Wu Qi.
Yue Fei allowed them to come and tell stories and deeds of past heroes to bolster the resolve of his men.
Yue Fei hoped that one of these scholars would record his own deeds so he would become a peer amongst his idols.
Yue Fei is recorded in saying that he wished to be considered the equal of Guan Yu and other such famous men from the Three Kingdoms period.
Yue Fei succeeded in this endeavor since later "official mythology" placed him on the same level as Guan Yu.
Yue Fei was careful to conduct himself as the ideal Confucian gentleman at all times for fear that any misconduct would be recorded and criticized by people of later dynasties.
Yue Fei had a problem with alcohol during the early part of his military career.
Yue Fei drank in great excess because he believed it fitted the image of heroes of old.
Yue Fei married the daughter of Magistrate Li in 1119 when he was 16 years old.
Yue Fei later took a second wife and even discussed "affairs" pertaining to his military career with her.
Yue Fei truly loved her, but his affection for her was second to his desire to rid China of the Jurchen invaders.
Yue Fei forbade his sons from having concubines, although he almost took one himself.
Yue Fei later served in the army under his brother and died in battle in 1132.
The son of an impoverished farmer from northern China, Yue Fei joined the Song military in 1122.
Yue Fei briefly left the army when his father died in 1123, but returned in 1126.
Yue Fei participated in defending Kaifeng during the second siege of the city by the Jin in 1127.
Yue Fei's rising reputation as a military leader attracted the attention of the Song court.
Yue Fei continued to advance in rank, and to increase the size of his army as he repeatedly led successful offensives into northern China.
In 1126, several years before Yue Fei became a general, the Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty invaded northern China, forcing the Song dynasty out of its capital Kaifeng and capturing Emperor Qinzong of Song, who was sent into captivity in Huining Prefecture.
Yue Fei fought a long campaign against the invading Jurchen in an effort to retake northern China.
At the time Lord Yue Fei was 39 years of age and the young lord Yue Fei Yun 23.
When Yue Fei arrived, Qin's men ambushed and murdered him.
Qin was worried because after nearly two months of torture, he could not get Yue Fei to admit to treason and would eventually have to let him go.
Yue Fei told Qin to slip an execution notice inside the skin of an orange and send it to the judge presiding over Yue's case.
Decades later, his grandson, Yue Fei Ke, had retrieved documentary evidence of his grandfather's achievements, and published an adulatory biography of him.
One book states Yue Fei created Eagle Claw for his enlisted soldiers and xingyiquan for his officers.
Legend has it that Yue Fei studied in the Shaolin Monastery with a monk named Zhou Tong and learned the "elephant" style of boxing, a set of hand techniques with great emphasis on qinna.
Yue Fei eventually expanded elephant style to create the Yibai Lingba Qinna of the Ying Sao or Ying Kuen.
Later, a monk named Li Quan combined this style with fanziquan, another style attributed to Yue Fei, to create the modern day form of Northern Ying Jow Pai boxing.
Yue Fei used the spear to create methods for the fist.
Yue Fei was reading a book and looked up to see two roosters fighting, which inspired him to imitate the fighting styles of animals.
Several other martial arts have been attributed to Yue Fei, including Yuejiaquan, Fanziquan, and Chuojiao quan, among others.
One Chuojiao legend states Zhou Tong learned the style from its creator, a wandering Taoist named Deng Liang, and later passed it onto Yue Fei, who is considered to be the progenitor of the style.
Besides martial arts, Yue Fei is said to have studied traditional Chinese medicine.
Yue Fei understood the essence of Hua Tuo's Wu Qin Xi and created his own form of "medical qigong" known as the Ba Duan Jin.
Yue Fei taught this qigong to his soldiers to help keep their bodies strong and well-prepared for battle.
One legend states that Zhou Tong took young Yue Fei to meet a Buddhist hermit who taught him Emei Dapeng Qigong.
One legend states Zhou learned Chuojiao boxing from its originator Deng Liang and then passed it onto Yue Fei, who is sometimes considered the progenitor of the style.
Yue Fei says Lu Junyi taught Yan Qing the same martial arts as he learned from Zhou Tong.
At the age of 30, Yue Fei supposedly wrote his most celebrated poem, "Man Jiang Hong" with a subtitle of "Xie Huai".
James T C Liu, believe certain phrasing in the poem dates its creation to the early 16th century, meaning Yue did not write it.
The allegations that Qin Hui conspired with the Jin to execute Yue Fei are popular in Chinese literature, but have never been proven.
The real Yue Fei differed from the later myths that grew from his exploits.
Contrary to traditional legends, Yue Fei was not the sole Chinese general engaged in the offensive against the Jurchens.
Yue Fei was one of many generals that fought against the Jin in northern China, and unlike Yue Fei, some of his peers were genuine members of the scholarly elite.
Temples and shrines devoted to Yue Fei were constructed in the Ming dynasty.
Yue Fei sometimes appears as a door god in partnership with the deity Wen Taibao.
At certain points in time, Yue Fei ceased to be a national hero, such as in 2002, when the official guidelines for history teachers said that he could no longer carry the title.
Therefore, concern for the "unity of nationalities" in China prevailed, as Yue Fei was seen as representing only one subgroup within China, and not the "entire Chinese nation as presently defined".
Yue Fei is one of the 32 historical figures who appear as special characters in the video game Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI by Koei.