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Man Jiang Hong (simplified Chinese: 满江红; traditional Chinese: 滿江紅; pinyin: Mǎn Jīang Hóng; literally: "the whole river red") is the title of a set of Chinese lyrical poems (ci) sharing the same pattern. If unspecified, it most often refers to the one normally attributed to the Song dynasty general Yue Fei. However, the commonly accepted authorship of that particular poem has been disputed.
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Authorship controversy
The common belief is that Yue Fei wrote the poem in 1133 at the age of 30 during the Jin–Song Wars. In 1127, the Song emperors Qinzong and Huizong were captured by forces of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty (this incident is known as the "Humiliation of Jingkang", as mentioned in the poem). Emperor Gaozong retreated to present-day Hangzhou in 1127 and established the Southern Song dynasty.
However, James T.C. Liu, a history professor from Princeton University, states that Yue Fei's version was actually written by a different person in the early 16th century. The poem was not included in the collected works of Yue Fei compiled by Yue's grandson, Yue Ke (岳柯; 1183–post 1234), and neither was it mentioned in any major works written before the Ming dynasty. The section that states the author's wish "to stamp down Helan Pass" is what led scholars to this conclusion. Helan Pass was in Western Xia, which was not a military target of Yue Fei's armies. Liu suggests the "real author of the poem was probably Zhao Kuan who engraved it on a tablet at Yue Fei's tomb in 1502, in order to express the patriotic sentiments which were running high at that time, about four years after General Wang Yue scored a victory over the Oirats near the Helan Pass in Inner Mongolia."
Song versions
Various song settings of the poem exist, including the traditional version from the 1930s recorded by operatic baritone Yi-Kwei Sze in the 1950s.