Yue Fei Pavilion

Yue Fei Pavilion

Yue Fei Pavilion is a cultural relic protection unit of Wuhan.

The Yue Wumu Portrait Pavilion, commonly known as Yue Fei Pavilion. The Yue Fei Pavilion, officially named the Yue Wumu Portrait Pavilion, is a municipal-level cultural relic protection unit in Wuhan. It is located in Yuefei Square, East Area of the Yellow Crane Tower Scenic Zone, at No. 56 Minzhu Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. Situated at the top of the central part of Snake Hill. In 1937, anti-Japanese mass organizations in Wuhan unearthed a Ming Dynasty stone tablet engraved with a half-length portrait of Yue Fei from the ruins of the former Yue Temple. The tablet was then moved here to build this pavilion to house the monument, aiming to promote national spirit and inspire the public's patriotic enthusiasm to persevere in the war of resistance and oppose surrender.

The pavilion is of a wood-and-stone structure, featuring a hexagonal hip-and-gable roof with single eaves extending outward, presenting a rather dignified and classic appearance. The plaque above the pavilion is inscribed with six characters “Yue Wumu Portrait Pavilion,” written by Kong Qingxi. Below it, the stone pillar couplet reads: “How easy it is to shake a mountain, yet how hard to shake an army. May the loyal soul forever guard Jinghu, upholding the heroic spirit of rivers and lakes, with the great cause first rising from the Three Households; civil officials loving not money, military officers fearing not death, upholding righteous words to revive family and state, preserving the righteousness of heaven and earth, with new strategies unfolding from the Four Virtues.” The engraved portrait of Yue Fei on the tablet features vigorous lines and a heroic expression, also considered a masterpiece of art. Above the portrait is a four-character eulogy composed in the tenth year of the Wanli era (1582) by Zhang Yixian of Taihe (now Dali), Yunnan. The current tablet is a re-carving based on the original Ming Dynasty rubbing.

Its protected cultural relics area extends 30 meters beyond the base on all sides. On April 7, 1983, it was listed as the second batch of municipal cultural relic protection units in Wuhan.

Yue Fei (1103–1142), courtesy name Pengju, was a native of Tangyin, Xiangzhou (present-day Henan), and an outstanding military strategist and general of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Yue Fei’s father, Yue He, and mother, Lady Yao, were farmers for generations. In his youth, Yue Fei studied archery and spear techniques under Zhou Tong and Chen Guang, becoming the most skilled martial artist in the county. However, due to his family’s poverty, he later went to Xiangzhou (present-day Anyang) where “he worked as a farmhand for the estate of Han Wei Gong (Qi), making a living through farming.”

In the early fourth year of the Xuanhe era (1122), Yue Fei joined the army for the first time. In October of the same year, during the Northern Song campaign against the Liao, he once reached the Liao capital of Yanjing... More details about Yue Fei ++