Zhao Ding, a scholar-official of the Northern Song Dynasty who once served as governor of Kaifeng, fled to Lin'an after the dynasty's fall. As a prominent war advocate, Emperor Gaozong Zhao Gou appointed him as Imperial Censor-in-Chief.
During his tenure, Zhao Ding earned great respect among his colleagues for his fearless integrity and decisive actions, standing up to powerful figures. He was particularly wary of the chief peace advocate, Chancellor Qin Hui. After Qin Hui was dismissed for forming a faction to monopolize power, Zhao Ding warned others, "If Qin Hui regains power, we will have no place to stand." His prediction proved tragically accurate. Soon, Qin Hui was reinstated, and to cater to Emperor Gaozong's desire for a peaceful life south of the Yangtze, he aggressively pushed for peace negotiations with the Jin Dynasty, which Zhao Ding opposed. Furious, Qin Hui constantly slandered Zhao Ding to the emperor, gradually eroding Gaozong's trust. Eventually, the emperor exiled Zhao Ding to a provincial post.
On the day Zhao Ding left the capital, Qin Hui hypocritically led a group of officials to host a farewell banquet for him. Unwilling to accept the gesture, Zhao Ding disdainfully clasped his hands in a brief salute toward Qin Hui, then flicked his sleeves and walked away.
Humiliated before the court, Qin Hui's hatred for Zhao Ding deepened, and he schemed relentlessly to retaliate, resorting to any means to exile Zhao Ding first to Quanzhou, then Xinghua, Zhangzhou, Chaozhou, and finally to Zhuya (present-day southeast of Qiongshan, Hainan Province).
Zhao Ding lived in Zhuya for three years, with even old acquaintances afraid to visit him, enduring great hardship. Yet Qin Hui remained suspicious, ordering local officials to report regularly on Zhao Ding's every move.
In 1147, Zhao Ding fell gravely ill. On his deathbed, he called his son Zhao Fen to his bedside and said with grief and indignation, "Qin Hui was determined to see me dead. Now that I am dying, he can probably rest easy. But until the northern invaders are driven out, I will not rest in peace!"
After speaking, he had his son bring a funeral banner and, with all his strength, wrote: "Riding the Ji and Wei constellations, I return to the heavens; my spirit, like mountains and rivers, strengthens this dynasty." The couplet meant: I ride the Ji and Wei stars back to the sky, and my spirit, majestic as mountains and rivers, endures in our court.
A few days later, Zhao Ding died after refusing food, at the age of 62.
Later, the idiom "spirit that moves mountains and rivers" came to describe a person's heroic spirit as vast as towering mountains and mighty rivers.
Source: Lu You (Song Dynasty), *Notes from the Old Learning Hut*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "气壮山河" came to describe a person's heroic spirit as vast as towering mountains and mighty rivers.