Reflections | Qin Hui, Chinese historical figure featured in Zhang Yimou’s Full River Red, is hated for causing a hero’s death – but maybe he wasn’t so bad

Song dynasty politician Qin Hui, who has a key role in new Zhang Yimou film Full River Red, is reviled in China for aiding heroic general Yue Fei’s execution

Statues of Qin were erected so people could show their scorn for him; later scholars felt he’d been unfairly ‘cancelled’, but rehabilitation remains far off

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Statues of Qin Hui and his wife, Lady Wang, at Yue Fei Temple in Hangzhou, China. While the Song dynasty politician did facilitate the execution of a military hero, Yue Fei, some historians consider he wasn’t as bad as history makes him out to be. Photo: Wikipedia

Wee Kek Koon

Published: 7:45am, 18 Apr 2023

I recently watched the movie Full River Red (2023), directed by Zhang Yimou, expecting it to be a biopic about Yue Fei (1103–1142), the Chinese military hero who valiantly defended the Southern Song dynasty against the Jurchen invaders.

The movie title (Man Jiang Hong in Mandarin) is a direct reference to the famous patriotic poem, traditionally attributed to Yue Fei, of which many in the Greater China region can recite by heart a line or two, if not all of it.

The film turned out to be a mystery-comedy set a few years after Yue Fei’s death, with his nemesis, Qin Hui, playing a key role.

Qin Hui (1091–1155) is best known in Chinese history as the prime minister who was in favour of making peace with the Jurchen nation, in contrast to the frontier general Yue Fei, whose ultimate goal was to recover all the lands north of the Yangtze River, which had been conquered by the Jurchen.

Chinese actor Jackson Yee in a still from Full River Red. Photo: Huanxi Media

The final outcome of their political rivalry was Yue Fei’s execution by Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song, who had his own reasons for wanting Yue Fei out of the way and concluding a peace treaty with the enemy state.