Yuan Chonghuan - Legacy

Legacy

Yuan Chonghuan's name was cleared nearly a century later by the Qianlong Emperor, after conclusive evidence was found in old archives of the Imperial Qing court supporting his innocence. Qianlong tried to express his kindness by searching and rewarding for Yuan's direct descendants, but failed to find any of them.

Although history states that his entire family was resettled, it is said in Jin Yong's wuxia novel Sword Stained with Royal Blood that Yuan was survived by his son, Yuan Chengzhi. As the protagonist of the novel, Yuan learns martial arts on Mount Hua and vows to avenge his father's death. Jin Yong also put forward a theory by some other historians that it was the Chongzhen Emperor, not Huang Taiji, that had Yuan Chonghuan killed, and that the Chongzhen Emperor knew perfectly well that Yuan was innocent. As in the case of Yue Fei, Jin Yong proposed that the cause of Yuan's death was the Chongzhen Emperor's fear of his popularity with the people and his disrespect of the throne.

Apart from the novel as stated above, there are various other books have been written on him. Various TV dramas or films have been made in his memory.

During the 2010 pro-Cantonese rally, protesters chanted an obscene chant that had been general Yuan's battle cry against his Manchu enemies in the Battle of Ningyuan: 掉哪妈! 顶硬上! (trad: 掉哪媽! 頂硬上!) - "Fuck his mom! Hit them hard!"