Tā chōngguān yī nù wèi hóngyán, jìng fàngqì le dàhǎo qiántú.
In a fit of rage for his beloved, he threw away a bright future.
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history
From Wu Weiye's (吴伟业, Ming-Qing transition) 《圆圆曲》: 恸哭六军俱缟素，冲冠一怒为红颜. (Six armies wept together, all robed in white - he raged with hair bristling his cap, all for a beauty.) The 'beauty' is Chen Yuanyuan (陈圆圆); the enraged man is Ming general Wu Sangui (吴三桂), who opened the Shanhai Pass to the Manchus in 1644 partly over her abduction by rebel Li Zicheng - a decision that toppled the Ming.
usage
红颜 (hóngyán, 'red face') = a beautiful woman, poetic. 冲冠 is a literal borrowing from 怒发冲冠 'hair so angry it pushes up the cap.' The phrase carries a complicated tone - romantic yet disastrous.
