Fact or Fiction

A large portion of the movie Red Cliff is based on fact. This includes the fact that main characters in the movie were actually real people. This includes Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu, Cao Cao, Sun Quan, Sun Shangxiang, Zhao Yun, Gan Ning, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and many more. The battles that occurred in the film were also reenactments of actual battles. The Battle of Changban actually happened, and Cao Caos forces actually attacked innocent civilians. This includes the final battle as well, in which they used a fire attack. One of the reasons for their victory was the favorable southeast wind, as stated in the movie. The borrowing of arrows with straw boats prior to the Battle of Red Cliffs is also true, as it is recorded in history books as one of Zhuge Liangs many feats. This event is so well known that there is a Chinese proverb based upon it. Another aspect of the movie that was true is the alliance between Liu Bei and Sun Quan. They wouldnt have been able to defeat him if they were fighting separately. According to the textbook, the Han Dynasty was immensely powerful, and that was portrayed accurately in this movie. They had seemingly unlimited supplies and an immensely powerful army. The emperor was merely a figurehead, and the power belonged to the warlords. The weapons and armor the soldiers had equipped was also correctly portrayed in the movie. The common foot soldier wielded a spear as it was not only effective, but cheap to make compared to other weapons such as swords. The armor they wore was also accurately portrayed. In that era, the materials they had were insufficient in blocking a majority of the attacks. The armor they had was only capable of defending against light attacks such as scrapes and slashes.

Some events that happened in this movie are fictional. This includes the event in which Xiao Qiao secretly heads over to Cao Cao and tries to convince him to give up. There is no record of this event in books. Furthermore, if you analyze Xiao Qiaos behavior based on logic, it is very unreasonable for her to think that she herself can stop a man who had gone to such extents to achieve his goal. This event was only included to spice up the movie and make it more interesting. The Bagua Formation they used to fight Cao Caos land forces is also not historically accurate. The Bagua Formation, also known as the Stone Sentinel Maze, was not a battle formation but rather a maze made up of rocks. In the movie, instead of trapping people in an array of rocks and boulders, they trapped their enemies in a formation made up of shields and spears. The battle technique in which they flipped their shields to reflect sunlight is also a fictitious aspect of the movie. Their weapons were mostly made up of cheap metals such as iron, and iron does not possess such luster. The only material that possesses such a trait would have been gold, and they would not have given golden shields to the average soldier. That much gold would have been worth more than the amount that the soldiers were being paid to fight, thus proving an unlikely strategy as the soldiers could just leave with the gold. Another aspect of the movie that would not have happened in history is the role Sun Shangxiang played in the battle. Women of that era never participated in battle. People would never allow a woman to fight, much less infiltrate an enemy camp. Sun Shangxiang not only fought effectively, but showed a desire to do so. Women of that era were taught to never behave in that manner, therefore proving Sun Shangxiangs role in the fight improbable. The soldiers in the film fought bravely until death. This is inaccurate as a lot of the soldiers fighting had little experience with war, and would desert and run away when battle commenced. A majority of the soldiers were lost in battle in the film, but in reality a majority of the soldiers simply deserted.