Editing Battle of Red Cliffs (section)

== Location ==
[[File:Battle of Red Cliffs 208 map-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.8|Three possible locations for the Battle of Red Cliffs. A fourth possibility is an undefined locale in [[Jiayu County]], downriver (northeast) of Chibi City.{{sfnp|Zhang|2006|pp=215–216}}|alt=A map on a white background which shows the three possible sites for the battle, and the two rivers and lakes]]
The precise location of the Red Cliffs battlefield has never been conclusively established, and has long been the subject of both popular and academic debate.{{sfnmp|1a1=Zhang|1y=2006|1pp=215–217|2a1=de Crespigny|2y=2010|2p=272}} Scholars have contested the subject for at least 1350 years,{{sfnp|Zhang|2006|p=215}} with numerous sites having arguments put forward in their favour. There are clear grounds for rejecting some of these proposals; broadly speaking, four locations are still advocated for. According to Zhang, many of the current debates stem from the fact that the course and length of the Yangtze between Wuli and Wuhan has changed since the [[Sui dynasty|Sui]] and [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] dynasties.{{sfnp|Zhang|2006|p=225}} The modern debate is also complicated by the fact that the names of some of the key locations have changed over the following centuries. For example, modern [[Huarong County]] is located in [[Hunan]], south of the Yangtze, but in the 3rd century, the city of that name was due east of [[Jingzhou#History|Jiangling]], considerably north of the Yangtze.{{sfnmp|1a1=Zhang|1y=2006|1p=229|2a1=de Crespigny|2y=1990|2p=256 (§n78)}} Puqi ({{zhi|c=蒲圻}}), one of the candidate sites, was renamed "[[Chibi, Hubei|Chibi City]]" in 1998,<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=11 June 1998 |title= |script-title=zh:关于湖北省蒲圻市更名为赤壁市的批复 |trans-title=Regarding the approval of Puqi City, Hunan Province, changing its name to Chibi City |url=https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/shuju/1998/gwyb199819.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620163816/https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/shuju/1998/gwyb199819.pdf |archive-date=20 June 2013 |magazine=Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo Guowuyuan Gongbao |publisher=[[State Council of the People's Republic of China]] |page=784 |volume=1998 |issue=19 |issn=1004-3438 |script-work=zh:中華人民共和國國務院公報 |trans-work=Public Bulletin of the State Council of the People's Republic of China |place=Beijing}}</ref> in an attempt to spur local tourism.{{sfnp|de Crespigny|2010|p=272}}

Historical records state that Cao Cao's forces retreated north across the Yangtze after the initial engagement at Red Cliffs, which unequivocally places the battle site on the southern bank of the Yangtze. For this reason, a number of sites on the northern bank have been discounted by historians and geographers. Historical accounts also establish eastern and western boundaries for a stretch of the Yangtze that encompasses all of the possible sites for the battlefield. The allied forces travelled upstream from either Fankou or Xiakou. Since the Yangtze flows roughly eastward towards the ocean with northeast and southeast [[meander]]s, Red Cliffs must at least be west of Fankou, which is farther downstream. The westernmost boundary is also clear since Cao Cao's eastern advance from Jiangling included passing Baqiu, near present-day [[Yueyang, Hunan]], on the shore of [[Dongting Lake]]. The battle must also have been downstream (that is, northeast) of that place.{{sfnmp|1a1=de Crespigny|1y=1990|1pp=256–257|2a1=Zhang|2y=2006|2p=217}}

[[File:东坡赤壁建筑群.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|Su Dongpo's Red Cliffs in Huangzhou|alt=A photograph of a walled structure abutting a river]]
One popular candidate for the battle site is Chibi Hill in [[Huangzhou]], sometimes referred to as "[[Su Dongpo]]'s Red Cliffs" or the "Literary Red Cliffs" ({{zhi|c=文赤壁}}).{{sfnp|Tian|2018|p=303}} This conjecture arises largely from the famous 11th-century poem "[[First Ode on the Red Cliffs]]", which presents the Huangzhou hill as the location where the battle took place. The cliff's name is "Chibi", though written with different second character ({{zhi|c=赤鼻|l=red nose}}). The contemporaneous pronunciation of the two names were also different, which is reflected by their distinct pronunciations in many non-Mandarin dialects. Consequently, virtually all scholars have dismissed the connection. The site is also on the north bank of the Yangtze and is directly across from Fankou, rather than upstream from it.{{sfnp|Zhang|2006|p=215}} If the allied Sun-Liu forces left from Xiakou rather than Fankou, as the oldest historical sources suggest,{{efn|name=fankou}} the hill in Huangzhou would have been downstream from the point of departure, a possibility that cannot be reconciled with historical sources.{{sfnp|Zhang|2006|p=231}}

Chibi City, formerly named Puqi, is possibly the most widely accepted candidate. To differentiate from Su's site, the site is also referred to as the "Military Red Cliffs" ({{zhi|c=武赤壁}}).{{sfnp|Tian|2018|p=303}} It is directly across the Yangtze from Wulin. This argument was first proposed in the early Tang dynasty.{{sfnp|Zhang|2006|p=217}} There are also characters engraved in the cliffs which suggested that was the site of the battle. The origin of the engraving can be dated to between the Tang and [[Song dynasty|Song]] dynasties, which makes it at least 1,000 years old.{{sfnp|Zhang|2006|pp=219, 228}}

Some sources mention the southern banks of the Yangtze in [[Jiayu County]] ({{zhi|s=嘉鱼县}}) in the [[prefecture-level city]] of [[Xianning]] in [[Hubei]] as a possible location. This would place the battlefield downstream from Chibi City, a view that is supported by scholars of [[Chinese history]] who follow the ''[[Shui Jing Zhu]]'', such as [[Rafe de Crespigny]] and {{ill|Zhu Dongrun|zh|朱東潤}}.{{sfnp|de Crespigny|1990|p=256}}

Another candidate is [[Wuhan]], which straddles the Yangtze at its confluence with the [[Han River (Yangtze River tributary)|Han River]]. It is east of both Wulin and Jiayu, as well as Chibi City on the opposite bank. The metropolis was incorporated by joining the three cities of [[Wuchang District|Wuchang]], [[Hankou District|Hankou]], and [[Hanyang District|Hanyang]]. There is a local belief in Wuhan that the battle was fought at the junction of the rivers, southwest of the former Wuchang city, now part of Wuhan.{{sfnp|de Crespigny|1990|p=256, n. 78}} Zhang asserts that the Chibi battlefield was amongst a set of hills in Wuchang levelled in the 1930s so that their stone could be used as raw material.{{sfnp|Zhang|2006|pp=215, 223}} The local topography narrows the width of the Yangtze by a substantial margin, and the Wuhan area was strategically important.{{sfnp|Fitzgerald|1985|pp=90, 92–93}} Citing several historical-geographical studies, Zhang shows that earlier accounts place the battlefield in Wuchang.{{sfnp|Zhang|2006|p=226}} In particular, the 5th-century provincial history ''Jingzhou ji'' ({{zhi|c=荊州記}}) by {{ill|Sheng Hongzhi|zh|盛弘之}} places the battlefield {{nowrap|160 [[Li (unit)|li]]}} ({{abbr|approx.|approximately}}&nbsp;{{convert|80|km|mi|disp=or|abbr=on}}) downstream from Wulin, but since the Paizhou and Lukou meanders grew at some point during the Sui and Tang dynasties, the length of the Yangtze between Wuli and Wuchang increased by {{nowrap|100 li}} ({{abbr|approx.|approximately}}&nbsp;{{convert|50|km|mi|disp=or|abbr=on}});{{sfnp|Zhang|2006|p=225}} later works do not regard Wuchang as a plausible site.{{sfnmp|1a1=Zhang|1y=2006|1pp=219, 230|2a1=de Crespigny|2y=2010|2p=272}}