This painting shows a battle scene from The Romance of the Three Kingdom. In the Battle of Changban, the general Zhao Yun was severely outnumbered by the enemy army led by Cao Cao, whose son and future successor Cao Pi overthrew the Han Dynasty royals and founded the Kingdom of Wei. Zhao Yun had to find the wife of Liu Bei, the founder of the Shu Han, and her child Liu Shan. When he found them, Liu Bei’s wife committed suicide in order not to be a burden on Yun, who then went into battle protecting the child. The painting shows Yun, dressed in white, surrounded by enemy soldiers and holding Liu Bei’s son. In the end, he managed to inflict great harm on the enemy and save the child.
The Long Corridor (simplified Chinese: 长廊; traditional Chinese: 長廊; pinyin: Cháng Láng) is a covered walkway in the Summer Palace in Beijing, China. First erected in the middle of the 18th century, it is famous for its length (728 m) and its many richly painted murals (more than 14,000 paintings).
Sources:
Muller, Rolf (2005). Zhao Yun’s Fight at Changban from The Long Corridor of the Summer Palace in Beijing, China. Photograph taken on April 17, 2005. Wikipedia, accessed Feb. 2020 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Corridor#/media/File:Zhaoyunfightsatchangban.jpg