Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Harms: The Hardest Harm to Defeat Was Himself
Grandevity Studio presents Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Harms, a complete musical setting of the project’s established text from Liu Yiqing’s Shishuo Xinyu: Zixin. With no modern lyrical expansion, cinematic Mandopop Soul and Chinese-inspired R&B move from tiger and jiao combat toward the story’s true turning point: self-recognition and reform.
A man may be strong enough to kill a tiger.
He may enter the water and fight a jiao.
He may endure three days and three nights of pursuit.
Yet the most difficult battle in Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Harms does not take place in the mountains or the river.
It begins when Zhou Chu returns alive and discovers that the people of his community had celebrated the belief that he was dead.
聞里人相慶， 始知為人情所患， 有自改意。
Hearing that the villagers had been celebrating, he finally realised that people regarded him as a scourge and resolved to change himself.
This Grandevity Studio production sets the project’s established version of Liu Yiqing’s Shishuo Xinyu: Zixin entirely to music.
There is no modern lyrical expansion.
No paraphrased chorus.
No newly written narration.
No repeated original lines.
The song begins:
周處年少時，凶強俠氣，為鄉里所患。
and ends:
處遂改勵，終為忠臣。
The first half is about physical power.
The second is about something much harder:
the ability to see oneself from outside oneself, accept an unbearable truth and choose to become different.
Watch the MV: 🎬 Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Harms | Official Music Video
Headphones recommended. Enter Yixing in the cold atmosphere of late autumn and early winter, where the people live under three threats: a river jiao, a white-fronted tiger and Zhou Chu himself. Follow him into the mountains and water, through violence and three days of danger. Yet the true turning point comes only after he survives. When Zhou Chu learns that the villagers had celebrated his presumed death, the film moves away from physical combat toward shame, self-knowledge, counsel and reform.
“Fierce, Strong and Possessed of a Heroic Temper”
The story introduces Zhou Chu with extraordinary economy:
周處年少時，凶強俠氣， 為鄉里所患。
He is fierce.
Strong.
Bold.
Possessed of the energy associated with a roaming hero.
The problem is not that Zhou Chu lacks ability.
The problem is that his ability has not yet been governed by character.
Whatever he may think of himself, the result for everyone around him is unmistakable:
he has become a source of fear.
This establishes one of the central tensions of the story.
The person we believe ourselves to be and the person others are forced to experience may be very different.
The Three Harms
Yixing suffers from three threats.
A jiao lives in the water.
A white-fronted tiger threatens the mountains.
And then there is Zhou Chu.
義興人謂為三橫， 而處尤劇。
The people call them the Three Harms.
And Zhou Chu is the worst.
That final detail matters.
The human being is placed in the same moral landscape as two dangerous creatures.
When some villagers suggest that Zhou Chu kill the tiger and slay the jiao, the text immediately reveals what they actually hope will happen:
實冀三橫唯餘其一。
They hope the three harms will reduce themselves to one.
The request carries both desperation and calculation.
Killing the Tiger and Fighting the Jiao
處即刺殺虎， 又入水擊蛟。
Zhou Chu does not hesitate.
He kills the tiger.
Then enters the water to fight the jiao.
The creature rises and disappears beneath the surface.
It travels for dozens of li.
Zhou Chu remains with it.
The struggle continues for three days and three nights.
Whatever else Zhou Chu may be, he is not a coward.
Physical courage has never been his problem.
The story is preparing a different test.
“The Villagers Thought He Was Dead and Celebrated”
After three days and nights, Zhou Chu has not returned.
The people conclude that he is dead.
Then comes one of the coldest phrases in the text:
更相慶。
They congratulate one another.
No weapon appears in this scene.
Yet it cuts more deeply than the tiger or the jiao.
A whole community believes a man has died and experiences relief.
For the first time, Zhou Chu is about to encounter himself through the reaction of others.
A Victory Without a Hero’s Welcome
Zhou Chu eventually kills the jiao and emerges alive.
In a conventional heroic narrative, this would be the climax.
The tiger is dead.
The jiao is dead.
The warrior returns.
But Shishuo Xinyu overturns that expectation.
What Zhou Chu discovers is not celebration of his victory.
He discovers that the villagers had celebrated his presumed death.
He has defeated two external dangers.
Now he must face a truth about himself.
“Only Then Did He Realise He Was Feared by Others”
始知為人情所患， 有自改意。
The phrase 始知, “only then did he realise,” is crucial.
The harm existed before his realisation.
People had feared him before.
What changes is not the past.
What changes is that Zhou Chu finally sees it.
And his response is equally important.
He does not punish the villagers for celebrating.
He does not demand that they admire him for killing the tiger and jiao.
He resolves to change.
That is the real dividing line of the story.
Before this moment, Zhou Chu uses force to change the world around him.
After it, he begins to direct that force toward himself.
Seeking the Two Lu Brothers
Zhou Chu then goes into Wu to seek the two Lu brothers.
Pingyuan is absent.
He meets Qinghe.
Zhou Chu explains what has happened and voices a new fear:
欲自修改， 而年已蹉跎， 終無所成。
He wishes to reform himself.
But perhaps too much time has already been wasted.
Perhaps he will ultimately accomplish nothing.
The tiger and jiao are gone.
The new obstacle is familiar to almost anyone who has ever tried to change:
Is it already too late?
“Your Future Still Holds Possibility”
Qinghe replies:
古人貴朝聞夕死， 況君前途尚可。
The value of real understanding does not disappear simply because it comes late.
And Zhou Chu’s future is not yet over.
The past cannot be rewritten.
The future has not yet been completed.
That shift transforms time itself.
What Zhou Chu calls wasted years no longer have to dictate everything that comes next.
“What People Should Fear Is Failing to Establish Their Resolve”
Qinghe continues:
且人患志之不立， 何憂令名不彰邪？
The real danger is not merely having begun badly.
It is failing to establish a new resolve.
This line changes the story completely.
A tiger can be stabbed.
A jiao can be fought in the water.
But purpose must be established from within.
By this point, Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Harms is no longer fundamentally a tale of martial courage.
It has become a story about moral agency.
The Third Harm Is Not Killed. It Is Changed.
The project’s sung text ends:
處遂改勵， 終為忠臣。
Zhou Chu reforms himself and applies himself with new discipline.
He ultimately becomes a loyal minister.
There is no final monster.
No new battle.
The third harm disappears in a completely different way.
It is not killed by someone else.
It is transformed by Zhou Chu himself.
That is what gives the story its enduring force.
Physical strength may defeat danger.
Self-knowledge determines what one does with strength afterward.
Cinematic Mandopop Soul × Chinese-Inspired R&B
The finished production uses Cinematic Mandopop Soul × Chinese-inspired R&B, at approximately 74 BPM in slow-burning 6/8, with a fully through-composed structure.
The original text proceeds once, in order, without a newly written chorus or repeated lines.
The sound combines:
- Guqin, establishing the cold historical atmosphere of Yixing.
- Xiao and distant water ambience, connecting river mist and the jiao threat.
- Fender Rhodes, introducing a restrained contemporary Mandopop Soul harmony.
- Nylon-string guitar, bringing intimacy to the later self-reflective passages.
- Neo-soul bass, maintaining low dramatic tension beneath the narrative.
- Brushed drums and restrained percussion, sustaining the 6/8 movement without turning the song into a martial anthem.
- Pipa, adding sharper rhythmic detail during the tiger and jiao sequences.
- Low and cinematic strings, carrying the emotional centre after Zhou Chu hears that the villagers celebrated.
- A warm, clear and controlled Standard Mandarin male vocal, preserving the diction of the classical text without operatic delivery, shouting or theatrical historical stylisation.
The physical action happens early.
The true emotional climax is deliberately delayed.
The most important moment is not the death of the jiao.
It is:
聞里人相慶， 始知為人情所患。
Killing a monster proves strength.
Admitting that one has become a harm to others demands something more difficult.
The MV: From the Cold World of the Three Harms to the Light of “Your Future Is Still Open”
The MV is set in the historical world of Yixing during late autumn and early winter.
The first half is dominated by cold blue-grey, river mist, mountain forest and deep brown earth.
Zhou Chu is around twenty-five: tall, lean and powerful, striking but dangerous, with an untamed presence.
The white-fronted tiger and water jiao are rendered as physically convincing creatures rather than fantasy beasts.
The film deliberately places all three harms within the same visual logic.
The villagers fear the tiger.
They fear the jiao.
And they fear Zhou Chu.
The tiger and jiao encounters create the action peaks.
But once Zhou Chu returns alive, the visual language changes.
Movement slows.
Faces matter more than weapons.
Silence matters more than impact.
When he seeks Qinghe, no monster is required.
The real conflict is now between the person Zhou Chu has been and the person he might still become.
As Qinghe says:
況君前途尚可。
the visual palette begins almost imperceptibly to warm.
The past has not disappeared.
But the future is no longer closed.
📜 Complete Lyrics / Project-Approved Original Text with English Translation
Liu Yiqing, Shishuo Xinyu: Zixin
Project-approved text used in the finished song
No lyrical expansion, paraphrase, newly written lyrics or repeated original lines
【The Three Harms・Feared by the Community】
周處年少時，凶強俠氣，
為鄉里所患。
When Zhou Chu was young, he was fierce, strong and possessed of a heroic temper,
and was regarded as a scourge by his community.
又義興水中有蛟，山中有白額虎，
並皆暴犯百姓。
In Yixing there was also a jiao in the water and a white-fronted tiger in the mountains,
both of which violently harmed the people.
義興人謂為三橫，
而處尤劇。
The people of Yixing called them the Three Harms,
and Zhou Chu was the worst of them.
或說處殺虎斬蛟，
實冀三橫唯餘其一。
Some urged Zhou Chu to kill the tiger and slay the jiao,
secretly hoping that only one of the Three Harms would remain.
【Killing the Tiger・Fighting the Jiao】
處即刺殺虎，
又入水擊蛟。
Zhou Chu immediately stabbed the tiger to death,
then entered the water to fight the jiao.
蛟或浮或沒，行數十里，
處與之俱。
The jiao would surface and submerge, travelling for dozens of li,
and Zhou Chu remained with it.
【Three Days and Three Nights・The Villagers Celebrate】
經三日三夜，鄉里皆謂已死，
更相慶。
After three days and three nights, the people of the community all believed he was dead,
and congratulated one another.
竟殺蛟而出，
聞里人相慶，
At last Zhou Chu killed the jiao and emerged from the water.
When he heard that the villagers had been celebrating,
【Realising He Was a Harm・The Desire to Change】
始知為人情所患，
有自改意。
he finally realised that people regarded him as a scourge,
and resolved to change himself.
【Seeking the Two Lu Brothers・Fearing It Is Too Late】
乃入吳尋二陸。
He then entered Wu to seek the two Lu brothers.
平原不在，
正見清河，
Pingyuan was not there;
he met Qinghe instead.
具以情告，並云欲自修改，
而年已蹉跎，終無所成。
He explained the entire situation and said that he wished to reform himself,
but feared that his years had already been wasted and that he would ultimately accomplish nothing.
【Qinghe’s Counsel・Reform and Resolve】
清河曰：
Qinghe said:
古人貴朝聞夕死，
況君前途尚可。
“The ancients valued hearing the truth in the morning even if they were to die that evening;
how much more so when your future still holds possibility.
且人患志之不立，
何憂令名不彰邪？
What people should fear is failing to establish their resolve.
Why worry that a good name will not become known?”
處遂改勵，
終為忠臣。
Zhou Chu then reformed himself and applied himself with new discipline,
and ultimately became a loyal minister.
Not Erasing the Past, but Refusing to Remain Trapped by It
The story does not say that Zhou Chu’s later reform makes his earlier behaviour irrelevant.
His community genuinely feared him.
Their celebration of his presumed death is not dismissed as misunderstanding.
The past remains part of the story.
What changes is the question placed before Zhou Chu.
Now that he knows what he has been to others, what will he do next?
The answer he receives is not:
“The past does not matter.”
It is:
人患志之不立。
What matters now is whether he can establish a different direction.
A person cannot return to the beginning.
But the future is not identical to the past.
That is why one of the quietest lines in the story may also be its most hopeful:
況君前途尚可。
Your future still holds possibility.
💿 Credits
- Song Title: Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Harms
- Chinese Title: 周處除三害
- Classical Source: Liu Yiqing, Shishuo Xinyu: Zixin
- Source Period: Liu Song Dynasty
- Narrative Figure and Setting: Zhou Chu / Yixing
- Original Text / Complete Lyrics: Project-approved version of Liu Yiqing’s Shishuo Xinyu: Zixin
- Lyrics Format: 100% classical text set to music, with no modern expansion, paraphrase, newly written lyrics or repeated original lines
- Music Style: Cinematic Mandopop Soul × Chinese-inspired R&B
- Tempo / Meter: 74 BPM / 6/8
- Composition / Arrangement: Suno AI / Grandevity Studio
- Vocals: Suno AI Standard Mandarin male vocal
- Music Production: Grandevity Studio
- AI-Assisted Visuals: ChatGPT Images
- Video Editing / Art Direction / Creative Production: Grandevity Studio
- Released by: Grandevity Limited
- Production Year: 2026
- Official MV: https://youtu.be/KjZqr7TAbMQ
- YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_leJ3aeEvQLIXBo4d5d-MYxGmEe-nxhcmE
Music Style and Mood:
Premium Cinematic Mandopop Soul × Chinese-inspired R&B at 74 BPM in slow-burning 6/8, built as a through-composed narrative. Guqin, xiao, distant water ambience, Fender Rhodes, nylon-string guitar, neo-soul bass, brushed drums, pipa and low cinematic strings move from menace and physical combat toward the far more important aftermath of “聞里人相慶.” The emotional centre shifts from strength to shame, self-recognition and resolve, before Qinghe’s counsel gradually warms the sound and the work closes with “處遂改勵，終為忠臣.”
⚖️ Copyright Notice
The classical text of Liu Yiqing’s Shishuo Xinyu: Zixin is a public-domain literary work.
This musical setting uses the project-approved classical text adopted for the finished song, without modern lyrical expansion, paraphrase or newly written lyrics.
The musical composition and production, sound recording, arrangement, mixing, mastering, MV visuals, cover artwork, video editing, subtitles, storyboarding, art direction, promotional copy and overall creative production were created by or lawfully produced for Grandevity Limited / Grandevity Studio and are protected, where applicable, by copyright and related rights.
Unauthorized re-uploading, redistribution, reproduction, editing, sampling, commercial use, public broadcasting, platform distribution, AI training, dataset use, remixing, or incorporation into any other audiovisual work is strictly prohibited.
Licensing Contact:
About This Project
Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Harms is part of Grandevity Studio’s Classical Literature Reimagined in Music series.
The central drama is not ultimately the tiger.
Nor the jiao.
Nor even the fighting.
It is the moment when a man who has always understood himself through strength is forced to understand himself through the fear and relief of others.
No sword can solve that problem.
The third harm can only be removed from within.
And the text leaves us with a possibility that remains powerful centuries later:
況君前途尚可。
Your future is still open.