赤壁之战 (ChìbìzhīZhàn): Battle of Red Cliffs (208 CE),…

Meanings

1 Battle of Red Cliffs (208 CE), decisive naval defeat of Cao Cao by the allied forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan
2 set piece of the Three Kingdoms period

Characters

赤

(classical possessive particle)

战

zhàn

war; battle

Examples

赤壁之战奠定了三国鼎立的局面。

Chìbì zhī Zhàn diàndìngle Sānguó dǐnglì de júmiàn.

The Battle of Red Cliffs established the tripartite division of the Three Kingdoms.

诸葛亮借东风是赤壁之战的著名情节。

Zhūgě Liàng jiè dōngfēng shì Chìbì zhī Zhàn de zhùmíng qíngjié.

Zhuge Liang 'borrowing the east wind' is a famous episode of the Battle of Red Cliffs.

Tips

history

Fought on the Yangtze at Chibi (modern Chibi City, Hubei). Cao Cao's 200,000+ northern army, unused to water, was routed when Zhou Yu's admiral Huang Gai feigned defection with fire-ships; an east wind carried the blaze into Cao Cao's chained fleet. It is the most celebrated battle of the Three Kingdoms novel.

culture

Retold in Su Shi's 《念奴娇·赤壁怀古》 and in John Woo's two-part film 《赤壁》 ('Red Cliff', 2008-09). The 2010 drama 《三国》 devotes over ten episodes to this single battle.