The Stone of Hatred is a rock in the temple grounds that Xuande and Sun Quan each split with a sword while appealing to Heaven over their respective fortunes. Its crossed cuts commemorate their common opposition to Cao Cao, but also expose the rivalry over Jingzhou beneath their alliance.

The Stone and Xuande’s Appeal

Walking in the temple grounds, Xuande comes upon a large rock and asks for a sword. He frames the test as a question of fate: if he is destined to return to Jingzhou and become king, the sword will split the stone; if he is destined to die there, it will remain whole. He strikes, and the rock divides.

Sun Quan has watched the act and asks what Xuande has against the stone. Xuande explains that, although he is nearly fifty, he has not fulfilled his aim of ridding the country of traitors. He treats the rock’s division as an auspicious sign that he may yet destroy Cao Cao and revive the Han dynasty.

Sun Quan’s Counter-Test

Sun Quan makes his own appeal to Heaven. Publicly, he asks for help in destroying Cao Cao; privately, he asks whether he will recover Jingzhou and see his own lands prosper. He then strikes the same rock with his sword, splitting it again. The gesture echoes Xuande’s test, but Sun Quan’s private wish makes the difference between their political aims explicit.

The rock remains marked by the two crossing sword cuts and becomes known as the Stone of Hatred. A visiting poet’s verses recall the swords falling on the mountain rock, turning the physical marks into a compact record of the encounter.

Significance

The stone gives a visible form to an alliance under strain. Xuande and Sun Quan share an immediate enemy in Cao Cao, yet both seek control of Jingzhou and their own political futures. Their parallel appeals to Heaven momentarily align their hopes, while the second, crossing cut preserves the competition within that apparent unity. The object’s name and enduring marks therefore hold together the scene’s alliance, rivalry, and uncertainty about fate.