Yue Fei’s Mother Tattooed Characters on the Skin of Yue Fei

Yue Fei was a patriotic military commander of the Southern Song Dynasty and a national hero in resisting the invading Jin people. As a young man, he was diligent and adept in martial arts. His mother was afraid that after her death some unworthy men would come to tempt her son. If he was lured due to momentary negligence and committed treason, his illustrations name would be destroyed overnight. Therefore, she lighted joss sticks and candles in front of the sacred ancestral temple, wishing to tattoo the characters “serving the motherland with selfless loyalty” (精忠报国jīn? zhōn? bào ?uó) on the back of his son.

After Yue Fei had worshiped the heaven and earth and his ancestors, his mother wrote the characters with a brush on his back. Then she used an embroidery needle to stab in conformity to the strokes and smeared it with vinegar ink to avoid color fading. This story has become a classic piece of teaching material for the later generations to eulogize patriotism.