Red Cliff is the famous battle ground where Cao Cao （曹操）was defeated by was defeated. The cliff has inspired many Chinese poets and philosophers​ including, most notably, Su Shi (苏轼). Su Shi wrote more than four essays about the beauty of the cliff, its historical value and its role as a metaphor for huamn existance. 
The amazing thing about Su Shi, Red Cliff and thousands of other Chinese poets and poems is that though thousands of years have passed, the texts remain similar to the Chinese today. Only small differences remain. Guwen (古文) is the name for ancient Chinese text. Guwen has a strong resemblence to modern mandarin, though guwen is written originally in traditonal characters. In Guwen grammatical structure is also different from that of modern Chinese, some characters that today have one meaning, meant something totally different in the past. 走 for example, in modern Chinese means to walk, however in guwen it means to run. Small differences like these might seems insignificant, but when deciphering an ancient Chinese poem one requires extensive knowledge in the rules of ancient grammar, and the meanings of characters in ancient times.