A Nation Defined by State: Revisiting the Chinese “Guo” through the Image of Yue Fei (1103–1142)

Drawing sources from official edicts, temple inscriptions, poetry, dramas, and academic writings, this article discusses how the legendary general Yue Fei (1103-1142) and his legacy have been perceived and appropriated in Chinese history. It is common for twentieth-century scholars to approach Yue’s career by highlighting the tension between his dedication to the nation (baoguo) and his personal loyalty (jinzhong) toward the Gaozong emperor (1107-1187), who was responsible for the murder of the general and for the humiliating peace the Southern Song state reached with the invading Jurchens. I argue that for Yue Fei himself and those who commented on or wrote about Yue Fei in late imperial China, Yue’s guo (home country), from which he derived his political identity and toward which he devoted his service, meant first and foremost the dynastic state and secondarily the people and territory under the control of this dynastic state. There were two mutually complementary pillars that constituted Yue’s aspiration and appeal: fighting Jurchen invaders and domestic bandits, both enemies of the Southern Song state; and submitting himself to the emperor and his court, both representing the Southern Song state. The dramatic shifts in the “historic assessment” of Yue Fei since the turn of the twentieth century—from a loyal general, to an anti-Manchu hero, to an enemy of the people, and to a national hero symbolizing the “spirit” of a multi-ethnic Chinese nation—not only speaks to the complexities embedded in China’s navigation of ethnic and class politics in its construction of its modern identity but also reveals a political logic that have for millennia dominated the relationship between the Chinese polity and its people: The orthodox state in power, rather than representing the national body, determines the composition of the Chinese people and defines their political loyalty.