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Mi Heng

Courtesy nameZhengping

The Wild Scholar Who Cursed Cao Cao at the Drum

Masters of the Iconic Scene · Small Roles, Famous Names

ArroganceLiterary TalentTragedy

Who they are

A famously wild scholar of the late Eastern Han, proud of his talent and unbridled of tongue, who cursed nearly every notable of his day and esteemed only Kong Rong and Yang Xiu. When Cao Cao made him a drummer to humiliate him, he stripped naked before all and drummed while cursing Cao Cao, so that Cao Cao, enraged, sent him on to Liu Biao, who, finding his tongue too venomous, sent him on to Huang Zu — who at last had him killed for an offending word, at only twenty-six. A mouth that would not stop cursed him to death.

Primary sourcesFan Ye, Book of the Later Han, Biography of Mi Heng

Key stories

Cursing Cao Cao at the Drum

Cao Cao made Mi Heng a drummer to humiliate him; by custom a drummer changed into new robes, but Mi Heng stripped off his old clothes and changed naked before the assembly, unmoved, drumming a piece — "The Three Beats of Yuyang" — so mournfully grand it moved all present, then pointing at Cao Cao and his ministers and cursing each in turn. Cao Cao, furious yet wary of the infamy of killing a famous scholar, swallowed his anger and sent him on to Liu Biao — this "cursing performance" is the hardest-core piece of performance art in the Three Kingdoms.

Relationships

Nemesis

🦅Cao Cao　Cursed Cao Cao at the drum

Echoes today

Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.

"Cursing Cao Cao at the drum"A traditional Peking opera piece; the episode’s strong dramatic tension has made it a repertory staple on the traditional stage.

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