A monument to heroes
Wishing there was somebody as capable as Zhuge to end the war and the suffering of the people, Du made a special visit to the Temple of Marquis Wu the following spring, writing the poem Shu Premier with the following lines:
Looking for the temple
To Zhuge Liang I find it
Outside the city under
Cypresses; green grasses
Among the paving stones
Reminding of spring, little birds
Hidden among the branches all twittering; and I think of how
Three times Liu Bei called
Zhuge Liang to serve him, how then
Two reigns gave this statesman
Room to plan; sad that he had
To die before he gained victory,
Leaving great men of
Succeeding generations
Wetting sleeves with tears.
Liu Xiang's last words "The war of resistance against Japan will be fought to the end, and the Sichuan army will swear not to return home until the enemy withdraws from Chinese territory" were recited by Sichuan soldiers on the front line during their morning flag-raising ceremony to encourage them in the fight against the invaders.
In February 1938, the Kuomintang government ordered a state funeral for Liu Xiang, and the tomb site was selected to the west of the temple's cultural relics area. Construction of the tomb was finished in early 1940.
Moved by his patriotism, visitors to the tomb place chrysanthemums there.
Contact the writers at huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn
