Zhou Tong (archer)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Zhou Tong
Hanyu Pinyin
Tiě Bèi Bǎng
Wade–GilesT'ieh Pei Pang
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingTit3 Bei3 Bong2
Tit3 Bei3 Pong4

Zhou Tong (Chinese: 周同 and 周侗; pinyin: Zhōu Tóng) (died late 1121 CE) was the archery teacher and second military arts tutor of famous Song dynasty general Yue Fei. Originally a local hero from Henan, he was hired to continue Yue Fei's military training in archery after the boy had rapidly mastered spearplay under his first teacher. In addition to the future general, Zhou accepted other children as archery pupils. During his tutelage, Zhou taught the children all of his skills and even rewarded Yue with his two favorite bows because he was his best pupil. After Zhou's death, Yue would regularly visit his tomb twice a month and perform unorthodox sacrifices that far surpassed that done for even beloved tutors. Yue later taught what he had learned from Zhou to his soldiers and they were successful in battle.[4]

With the publishing of Yue Fei's 17th folklore biography,

sworn brother.[3][5] Because of his association with the outlaws, he is often confused with the similarly named outlaw Zhou Tong.[7]

Various

Chinese martial arts
.

Zhou has appeared in various forms of media such as novels, comic books, and movies. His rare 20th century biography,

black and white Yue Fei films produced in the 1940s and 1960s, one of which featured a ten-year-old Sammo Hung as the lead.[12] Veteran martial arts actor Yu Chenghui, who played the sword-wielding antagonist in Jet Li's Shaolin Temple,[13] stated in a 2005 interview that he has always wanted to portray Zhou in a film.[14]

History

Mention in Yue family memoirs

On his deathbed, Yue Fei's third son Yue Lin (岳霖, 1130–1192 AD) asked his own son,

Biography of Yue Fei (chapter 365, biography 124).[18] Zhou's mention in Yue Ke's memoir was only briefly summarized in the Yuan rewrite. It reads, "He [Yue Fei] learned archery from Zhou Tong. He learned everything and could fire with his left and right hands. After Tong's death, he would offer sacrifices at his tomb".[19][20][21]

knight errant' in poetic translation, or in prosaic terms a professional strongman and bodyguard.'"[22] This means Zhou was a local hero from Tangyin County, Anyang prefecture, Henan province (the same area as Yue Fei).[23][24]

Historical and scholarly sources spell his personal name as (Tong), meaning "same or similar".[22] This differs from the spelling present in fictional sources, which will be further explained below. So, "周同" represents the historical archer.

Tutelage

Despite being literate, giving him a chance to become a scholar, young Yue Fei chose the military path because there had never been any tradition of full-fledged Confucian civil service in his family history. He would stay up all night reading military strategy books and idolized such great historical heroes as Guan Yu.[25] However, the Yue family was much too poor to afford military lessons for their son, so, Yao Dewang, the boy's maternal grandfather, hired Chen Guang (陳廣) to teach the eleven-year-old how to wield the Chinese spear. Yao was very surprised when his grandson quickly mastered the spear by the age of thirteen.[9][26] Zhou was then brought in to continue Yue's military training in archery.[27] Dr. Kaplan describes Zhou as the "most important" of the two teachers.[22]

A section of the Jin Tuo Xu Pian, the second part of Yue Ke's original published memoir, describes one of Zhou's archery lessons and reveals that he took other children as his pupils:

"One day, [Chou] T'ung gathered his pupils for an archery session and to display his ability put three arrows in succession into the center of the target.[28] Pointing to the target to show grandfather [Yue Fei], he said: 'After you can perform like this, you can say you are an archer'. Grandfather, thanked him and asked to be allowed to try. He drew his bow, let fly his arrow and struck the end of T'ung's arrow. He shot again and again hit the mark. T'ung was greatly amazed and subsequently presented to grandfather his two favorite bows. Thereafter grandfather practiced still more [until] he was able to shoot to the left and right, accurately letting fly the arrow as he moved.[29] When he became a general he taught this to his officers and men so that his whole army became skilled at shooting to the left and right and frequently used this technique to crush the enemy's spirit".[30][31]

The last sentence of the passage is similar to one from the Republican era Biography of Song Yue, Prince of E. But instead of teaching them his own technique, it states Yue taught what he had learned from Zhou to his soldiers who were victorious in battle.[27]

Death

Zhou continued to teach the children until his death, prior to Yue's legal adulthood.

Sinologist Hellmut Wilhelm claims even though the display of grief was genuine, it was also a way of emulating the stories of his heroic idols and "[establishing himself] in the public eye".[25] Yue's father later followed him secretly to Zhou's tomb after striking him during an argument over his melancholic behavior. There, he saw him perform the unorthodox obediences involving the meat, wine, and three arrows. When he finally confronted him, the son confessed that "his gratitude for Chou's instruction could not be requited simply by the usual first and middle of the month ceremonies and so he ... shot off the three arrows to symbolize that Chou had been the source of his inspiration as an archer".[33] Dr. Kaplan's states this happened just prior to Yue's entrance into the army and that the entire event served as a symbol for Yue's "entrance into responsible manhood".[33]

The Chronology of Yue Wumu lists the events at Zhou's tomb happening in 1121 when Yue was nineteen,[26][34] but Yue would have been eighteen in that year since he was born on "the fifteenth day of the second month of 1103".[35] The author of the original source material was using xusui age calculation, in which a child is already considered one year old at birth.[36] Since Yue joined the military shortly after Zhou's death, a relative time frame can be given for when he died. During the early months of 1122, the Song empire mobilized its armed forces to assist the Jurchen in confronting their common enemy, the Liao dynasty.[37] Therefore, it appears that Zhou died in late 1121, before the call to arms was issued.

Fiction

Zhou Tong's fictional life story can be pieced together from two sources:

Iron Arm, Golden Sabre. The Story of Yue Fei is a fictionalized retelling of Yue Fei's young life, military exploits, and execution. It was written by a native of Renhuo named Qian Cai (钱彩), who lived sometime between the reigns of the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors in the Qing dynasty. The preface dates the book's publication to 1684.[38] It was deemed a threat by the Qing emperors and banned during the Qianlong era.[39] In the novel, Zhou is portrayed as an elderly widower and Yue's only military arts tutor. The General's historical spear master Chen Guang is never mentioned. Zhou teaches Yue Fei and his sworn brothers military and literary arts from chapters two through five, before his death.[40]

In the writing of his novel, Qian Cai used a different character when spelling Zhou's given name.[5] Instead of the original character meaning "similar", it was changed to , meaning "rude or rustic". So, "周侗" represents Zhou's distinct fictional persona. This spelling has even been carried over into modern day martial arts manuals.[41][42]

Iron Arm, Golden Sabre was written by Wang Yun Heng and Xiao Yun Long and published in 1986.

The Legend of Zhou Tong in 1987.[10]

Early life and adulthood

Zhou is born in Shaanxi and trains in the martial arts from a young age. He is taken as one of the pupils of

teaching positions named in order of prestige: "Heaven," "Earth," and "Man." Since he has the greatest skill, he occupies the Heaven position. He uses this post and his friendship with General Zong to get their classmate Sun Li installed as the Superintendent of Forces of Dengzhou. Sun later becomes an outlaw under Chao Gai
and helps defeat the evil Zhu Family, who learn military arts from his classmate Luan Tingyu.

As he grows older, Zhou becomes dissatisfied with politics because the Imperial court chooses to appease the northern barbarian tribes instead of standing against them. He then devotes himself wholeheartedly to his martial arts practice and creates several official and authoritative techniques including the "five step, thirteen lance

piercing kick", which is a development of Shaolin Fanzi boxing, and the "Zhou Tong cudgel." He makes a concerted effort to transmit his martial efforts while teaching at the Imperial Martial Arts School and formally accepts two disciples: "Jade Unicorn" Lu Junyi and "Panther head" Lin Chong
. Lu Junyi is a millionaire with vast land holdings and does not hold office, but Lin Chong inherits Zhou's position after his retirement, and continues to serve as the lead instructor for the 800,000 members of the Song army's Imperial Guard.

During this time, Zhou Tong also has an additional disciple named Wu Song. Wu Song becomes famous for killing a man-eating tiger with his bare hands and is appointed as a constable in his native Shandong. The county magistrate Sun Guoqin later sends Wu on a mission to Kaifeng with precious tiger bone balm in order to curry favor with influential personages.[43] During his stay in the capital, he makes the acquaintance of Zhou. Zhou finds Wu to be a man of great strength, but feels that he lacks refinement in his martial technique and, therefore, offers guidance for Wu's training. Unfortunately, these two men only interact for a brief two months before Wu has to return home, never to see Zhou again.

Following his retirement, Zhou serves for a time as an advisor to General Liu Guangshi (

Buddhist monk after the murder of his family) to pay his last respects. As the oldest of Tan's pupils, Jin orders Zhou to find a talented youth to pass on all of his martial arts knowledge to. However, this reunion is cut short when the troops track him to Shaolin. He flees to Wine Spring mountain and lives in hiding for sometime before being invited by his old friend Wang Ming (王明) to become the precept of the Wang family in Unicorn Village.[10][44]

Old age and death

One day, Zhou surprises the children with a written exam and leaves the classroom to speak with a visitor. Wang's son, Wang Gui (王贵), tricks their maid's son, Yue Fei, into completing their assignment while they go outside to play. After easily finishing the task at hand, Yue writes a

sworn brothers. Zhou also begins to teach Yue all of the eighteen weapons of war
.

Six years later, Zhou takes the group to visit his old friend, the abbot of a small Buddhist temple on the "Hill of Dripping Water". Thirteen-year-old Yue wanders behind the temple and finds the "Cave of Dripping Water", in which lives a magical snake. When it lunges at Yue, he dodges to one side and pulls on its tail with his supernatural strength, causing it to turn into an 18-foot-long (5.5 m), gold-plated spear named the "Supernatural Spear of Dripping Water". When they return home, Zhou begins to drill all of his students in the military arts—eighteen weapons of war, archery, and hand-to-hand combat. After three years of practice, Zhou enters them into a preliminary military examination in Tangyin in which sixteen-year-old Yue wins first place by shooting a succession of nine arrows through the bullseye of a target two hundred and forty paces away. After his display of marksmanship, Yue is asked to marry the daughter of Li Chun (李春), an old friend of Zhou's and the county magistrate who presided over the military exams. Father and son then return home to their village.

Yue making obediences to Zhou on his death bed

Magistrate Li writes out a marriage certificate and dispatches a messenger to deliver the document to Yue Fei in Unicorn Village. Zhou and Yue set out at dawn and travel back to Tangyin to thank the Magistrate for his generosity and kindness. There, Li prepares a great feast for them, but when food is brought out for any servants that might have accompanied them, Zhou comments that they had come on foot without help. Li decides to let Yue pick from any one of his thousands of horses because every able military man needs a strong steed. After finishing their feast, Zhou and Yue thank Li once again and leave Tangyin to return home.[45] During their journey, Zhou recommends that Yue run the horse to test its speed. Yue spurs the horse on leaving Zhou in pursuit. When they reach the village gate, the two dismount and Zhou returns to his study where he feels hot from the race and removes his outer garments to fan himself. But he soon falls ill and stays bedridden for seven days. Then the book describes his death and burial:

"... his phlegm bubbled up and he died. This was on the fourteenth day of the ninth month in the seventeenth year of the Reign of Xuan He, and his age was seventy-nine ... Buddhist and Taoist Priests were asked to come and chant prayers, for seven times seven, namely forty-nine days. Then the body was taken up to be buried beside the Hill of Dripping Water".[46]

Yue lives in a shed by his grave through the winter and in the second lunar month of the following year, his martial brothers come and pull the building down, forcing him to return home and take care of his mother.

The quoted death date is not only unreliable because the book is fiction, but also because the

reign era of Emperor Huizong lasted only seven years (1119–1125) and not seventeen.[47] Although The Story of Yue Fei states Zhou died shortly before Yue took a wife, he historically died after Yue married.[26]
It is likely that the original author invented this fictional date.

Family

According to

The Legend of Zhou Tong, his wife is named Meng Cuiying (孟翠英) and his son is named Zhou Yunqing (周云清).[50] He defeats Meng in a lei tai martial arts contest and wins her as his wife.[51] But she is shortly thereafter kidnapped by the wicked monks of the Stone Buddha temple. Both Zhou and Meng eventually defeat the monks with their combined martial skills and later marry at the Miaochuan Pass in Hubei province.[52]

Zhou adopts Yue

Zhou Yunqing first appears as a fierce, impulsive young man who rides his horse into the thick of enemy encampments wielding a long spear.[53] He later dies in battle against the Liao dynasty.[54] After his son's death, Zhou retreats to the Xiangguo Temple for a long mourning period.[55] He later takes seven-year-old Yue Fei as his adopted son and sole heir years after the boy's father drowns in a great flood:

"I see that he [Yue Fei] is clever and handsome and I, an old man, wish to have him as my adopted son ... He need change neither his name nor his surname. I only want him to call me father temporarily so that I can faithfully transmit all the skills I have learned in my life to a single person. Later, when I die, all he has to do is to bury my old bones in the earth and not allow them to be exposed, and that is all".[56]

However, after comparing events from The Story of Yue Fei and an account of Yue's life from the sixteenth-century work Restoration of the Great Song Dynasty: The Story of King Yue (大宋中興岳王傳), literary critic C.T. Hsia concluded "that his father did not [historically] die in the flood and that, although Yueh Fei showed almost filial regard for the memory of his teacher Chou T'ung 同 (not 侗), the latter had not been his adopted father".

Biography of Yue Fei to write his story.[59]
So, The Story of Yue Fei was the first full-blown fictionalized novel to introduce the adoption storyline.

Appearance and voice

Iron Arm, Golden Sabre

He is generally portrayed as a large elderly man with a powerful voice. A

modern folktale by noted Yangzhou storyteller Wang Shaotang (1889–1968), whom folklore researcher Vibeke Børdahl called "the unrivaled master of this [the 20th] century",[60]
describes Zhou thus,

"He was beyond the age of fifty, he was more than fifty, and standing upright he measured about eight feet. His face had a golden tan, arched brows, a pair of bright eyes, a regular head form, a square mouth, a pair of protruding ears, and under his chin there were three locks of beard, a grizzled beard. On his head he wore a sky-blue satin scarf, and he was dressed in a stately sky-blue satin coat with a silken girdle, a pair of wide black trousers without crotch and satin boots with thin soles".[61]

Heroes and religious masters with above normal height are a recurring theme in

Taoist saint Zhang Daoling states he was over seven feet tall.[64]

When Zhou is vocalized in "

Yangzhou storytelling", he speaks in "Square mouth public talk", which is a manner of speaking reserved for martial heroes, highly respected characters, or, sometimes, lesser characters that pretend to be an important hero.[65] Square mouth public talk is actually a mixture of two forms of dialogue: Fangkou and Guanbai. Fangkou (square mouth) is a manner of steady, yet forceful over pronunciation of dialogue that was possibly influenced by Northern Chinese opera.[66] Guanbai (public talk) is monologue and dialogue that is sometimes used for "imposing heroes".[67]
This mixture of styles means Zhou Tong is treated as a highly regarded hero.

In her analysis of Yangzhou storytelling, Børdahl noted that the aforementioned tale about Zhou and Wu Song uses different forms of dialogue for both characters. Wu speaks square mouth utilizing

Yangzhou tone system, which does utilize rusheng syllables. Therefore, she believes "square mouth dialogue should at least be divided into two subcategories, namely the Wu Song variant—without rusheng, and the Zhou Tong variant—with rusheng".[68]

Students

Water Margin outlaws

Lu Qian
and all his other captors

The

military romance about one hundred and eight demons-born-men and women who band together to rebel against the lavish Song dynasty government.[69] Lin Chong and Lu Junyi, two of these outlaws, are briefly mentioned as being Zhou's previous students in The Story of Yue Fei. They are not characters within the main plot, though, as both are killed by "villainous officials" prior to Zhou becoming precept of the Wang household.[49] Most importantly, the two were not among his historical students since they are fictional characters.[70]

Zhou's portrayal as their teacher is connected to a recurring element in Chinese fiction where

Taoist immortal, prior to their military exploits.[71] C. T. Hsia suggests the mold from which all other similar teachers are cast is Guiguzi, master of the feuding strategists Sun Bin and Pang Juan,[72] from the Yuan dynasty tale Latter Volume of the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Seven Kingdoms (七國春秋後集).[71] Hsia goes on to say that Qian Cai, Yue's fictional biographer, associated Zhou with the outlaws because "most such teachers [in the military romance genre] are celestials" with at least two students.[73] But in adopting this format, Qian reversed the traditional pattern of "celestial tutelage" since Zhou is written as a human, while his students are reincarnations of demons (Lin and Lu) and the celestial bird Garuda (Yue Fei).[74][75]

Zhou's sworn brother, the "Flowery Monk" Lu Zhishen

Although Lin and Lu have been connected to Zhou since the early

Chuōjiǎo
boxing from Zhou during a two-month stay in the capital.

Wang's tale portrays Zhou as an aging itinerant swordmaster with "a fame reverberating like thunder" throughout the underworld society of Jianghu.[2] He is made the sworn brother of the outlaw "Flowery Monk" Lu Zhishen,[5] a military officer-turned-fighting monk, who is, according to Hsia, first among the most popular protagonists of the Water Margin.[79] He is also given the nickname "Iron Arm" (铁臂膀), which carried over into the title of his fictional biography Iron Arm, Golden Sabre.[3] While the tale fails to explain the reason for the moniker, it does mention Zhou's ability to direct his qi to any part of his body to make it hard enough to overpower the "Iron shirt" technique of another martial artist.[80] Furthermore, Zhou shares the same nickname with Cai Fu, an executioner-turned-outlaw known for his ease in wielding a heavy sword.[81]

Because of his association with these outlaws, Zhou is often confused with the similarly named outlaw "Little Conqueror"

Li Tianrun, an officer in the rebel army of Fang La.[83] So, the connection between both Zhou's is based solely on the romanized transcription
of their name.

Yue Fei

Yanyue Dao. All of them learn the skill of archery in addition.[6] Some of these and other children are mentioned in Yue Ke's memoir as being his grandfather's historical childhood friends, but they are never specified as being Zhou's students.[85]

Southern Song dynasty. Yue Fei is the second person from the left. It is believed to be the "truest portrait of Yue in all extant materials".[86]

Books written by modern-day martial artists make many claims that are not congruent with historical documents or current scholarly thought. For instance,

internal and external training under Zhou.[87] However, history Prof. Meir Shahar notes that unarmed boxing styles did not develop at Shaolin until the late Ming dynasty.[88] He also states that Ji family memoirs and Qing dynasty records suggest Xingyi was created hundreds of years after the death of Yue by a spearplayer named Ji Jike (fl. 1651).[89] In addition, the appearance of Han Qi in the story is a chronological anachronism since he died nearly 30 years before Yue's birth.[90] Yue historically worked as a tenant farmer and bodyguard for descendants of Han Qi in 1124 after leaving the military upon the death of his father in late 1122,[91] but he learned from Zhou well before this time.[90][92]

Eagle Claw Grandmasters Leung Shum and Lily Lau believe "Jow Tong" (the

Emei Dapeng Qigong believe Yue trained under Zhou as a child and competed to become China's top fighter at an early age. Their lineage story dictates Zhou also took Yue to a "Buddhist hermit" who taught him said qigong style.[95][96] Northern Praying Mantis Master Yuen Mankai says Zhou taught Yue the "same school" of martial arts as he did his Water Margin students and that the General was the originator of the praying mantis technique "Black Tiger Steeling [sic] Heart".[97] Although Martial arts historian Stanley Henning admits that Yue's biographies do not mention boxing, he says "he [Yue] almost certainly did practice some form of bare handed fighting" to prepare for his weapons training.[98]
But he does not suggest who Yue might have learned it from.

Martial arts

There is insufficient historical evidence to support the claim he knew any skills beyond archery. Contemporary records never once mention Zhou teaching Yue boxing.

Drunken Eight Immortals boxing.[8]
In the Shaolin Temple of Henan province at the end of the Ming dynasty, the warrior monks were practicing leg techniques exercises and jumps that they attributed to Zhou Tong. There is a system of fighting called "The Shaolin legs and fists of Zhou Tong" (Shaolin Zhou Tong quantui) attributed to Zhou Tong. Mostly, Shaolin martial arts focusing in leg techniques and jumps are referring to Zhou Tong as the founder of their respective styles.

Zhou can also be linked to these combat arts through his historical and folklore students. Practitioners of

ground fighting are treated as two separate schools, instead of one. But he believes Mantis first was created during the Ming dynasty and was therefore influenced by these eighteen schools from the Song. He also says Lu Junyi taught Yan Qing the same martial arts as he learned from Zhou.[97]

Very few references are made to the people who supposedly taught martial arts to Zhou. In

Chuōjiǎo claim he learned the style from its creator, a wandering Taoist named Deng Liang.[99] Practitioners of Geok Gar Kuen, a style attributed to Yue Fei, believe he studied under Han De, a "chivalrous person" from Shaanxi.[105]

In popular culture

Zhou has appeared in various kinds of media including novels, comic books, and movies. Apart from The Story of Yue Fei and Iron Arm, Golden Sabre, he appears in a novel based around his older martial arts brother, Jin Tai.

eunuchs are rich because they are given high government posts. Upon locating his friend, Zhou is distressed to find him in stocks and shackles and being escorted to the farthest reaches of China by imperial guards. He later learns that the General had accidentally offended some court officials and was sentenced to permanent exile on some trumped up charges. Apparently having little or no money, Zhou decides to visit Wang Ming in Hubei (mistakenly called Hebei) and becomes the estate's tutor.[106]

Another noticeable difference in the storyline takes place when Zhou travels with his teenage disciples to visit his friend the Abbot. Instead of Yue wandering behind the temple to battle the magical snake, he stays with Zhou and the Abbot, while the other disciples go off to explore. Zhou watches as the Abbot tests Yue's strength by asking him to move an ornate 300-pound copper stove dating from the Han dynasty. The abbot then lifts a stone floor tile and presents the boy with a large book on military strategy. He goes on to tell Yue how he was once a great soldier who fought in campaigns against the Liao and Western Xia empires, but became a monk after the Song agreed to become a vassal of each state. He later made a name for himself by teaching military skills to youths from the surrounding area. Since he has no heir of his own, the Abbot presents Yue with his own personal spear and instructs him in the proper use of the weapon. Zhou kindly protests the gift at first, but allows Yue to keep it out of friendship.[107]

A second graphic novelization drastically changes the storyline involving Zhou. Like the original, Zhou becomes the tutor of the Wang estate, but, when news of his arrival prompts rich families to send their sons to learn from him, he is forced to accept droves of these students on a trial basis. He eventually chooses his friends' sons as his indoor disciples and Yue as his "godchild". Years later, he takes his now teenage students not to see the Buddhist abbot, but to teach them military strategy out in the mountain wilderness. Yue senses trouble after his martial brothers separate to explore the forest and rushes off to rescue them, only to be confronted by a monstrous snake. After vanquishing the beast with his sword, Yue discovers a magic glowing spear within a cave and reports back to Zhou. Following their training, Zhou becomes ill from overexposure to the cold mountain air on the return trip home and dies soon after. Instead of just Yue, all of his students live beside his grave for a mourning period of one hundred days before returning home to their families. These events take place three years before Zhou originally died in The Story of Yue Fei.[108]

Stories including Zhou have also been used to educate. The secondary school system of Hong Kong teaches children the value of mentorship by making them read about the close teacher-pupil relationship between Zhou and Yue.[109] A morale tale called "Yue Fei Studies Archery" in Children's Pictorial, a Chinese magazine tailored for children ages two through seven, demonstrates how great achievements are only made possible via diligent practice. The story states how young Yue stumbles upon Zhou's training hall in a neighboring town while gathering fire wood. Yue applies to become a student, but Zhou tells him he must first practice the art of the "far-sighted person" by staring into the morning sun to improve his eyesight. After years of unrelenting practice, Yue is able to spot a lone goose flying off in the distance and two cicadas on a tree far into the forest. Zhou then officially takes him as his disciple and adopted son. Under his tutelage, Yue is able to master the eighteen weapons of war and to shoot a falling leaf from one hundred paces away.[110]

He is mentioned numerous times in author Robert Liparulo's thriller Deadlock (2009). Zhou is first featured in chapter eight during a conversation between the main character John "Hutch" Hutchinson, a journalist bent on stopping the maniacal plans of a billionaire madman, and his friend's young son Dillon, an archery enthusiast. When Hutch asks him if he had ever heard of the archery-champion-turned-actor Howard Hill, Dillon replies: "I don't think so ... You told me about Zhou Tong".[111] Hutch then says: "Oh, yeah. Zhou Tong was something. Taught the Song dynasty to be the best military archers in history. But Howard Hill [was the best]".[111] Later in chapter fifty, while Hutch is trailing a killer through an airport, a page goes out over the intercom system for a "Mr. Zhou Tong".[112] When the page goes out again, Hutch muses: "Zhou Tong had been a famous archery teacher and military arts tutor in the Song dynasty. [Dillon and I] had long telephone conversations about him, because of Tong's blending of archery skills and self-discipline. He was an inspiration to [me]. Dillon had sensed that and wanted to known everything about him".[113] He finally realizes that the page had to have been left by Dillon's mother Laura to catch his attention. The page is sent to warn him of a trap, but Hutch receives it too late.[114]

Screen actors who have portrayed Zhou in films from the 1940s and 1960s include Wong Sau Nin,[115] Li Ming,[116] and Jing Ci Bo.[12] Jing starred alongside a ten-year-old Sammo Hung, who played young Yue Fei.[12] Veteran martial arts actor Yu Chenghui, who played the sword-wielding antagonist in Jet Li's Shaolin Temple,[13] stated in a 2005 newspaper interview that he never shaved his trademark beard, even at the request of movie producers, because he wanted to portray Zhou in a future film.[14] He went on to say "He is an outstandingly able person from the northern and southern Song dynasties and many Water Margin heroes are his disciples. This person is very important in the martial arts and many people want to portray him in films".[14][117]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Wang, Yun Heng (汪运衡) and Xiao Yun Long (筱云龙). Iron Arm, Golden Sabre: The Biography of Zhou Tong (铁臂金刀周侗传). Hangzhou: Zhejiang People's Publishing House, 1986 (UBSN: CN (10103.414) and 464574)
  2. ^ ), p. 376.
  3. ^ a b c d Wang Shao-t'ang (王绍堂). Wu Sung (武松). Nanking: Kiangsu wen-yi ch'u-pan-she, 1959), vol. I, chap. 2, sec. 7,
  4. ^ Kaplan, Edward Harold. Yueh Fei and the founding of the Southern Sung. Thesis (Ph.D.) – University of Iowa, 1970. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1970. pp. 10–12
  5. ^ ), pp. 448–449, footnote #31
  6. ^ ), p. 39.
  7. ^ a b Rodrigo Wolf Apolloni. "Shaolin to Brazil: Study on the Presence and Transformation of Eastern Religious Elements in Kung Fu Practiced in Brazil (thesis)" (PDF) (in Portuguese). The Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-07-17. See number 6 on p. 4. Notice the author portrays him as the outlaw from the Water Margin and spells his name as 周通, instead of the correct 周同 (historical) or 周侗 (fictional).
  8. ^ a b Børdahl, 1996: p. 373.
  9. ^ a b Yue, Ke (岳柯). Jin Tuo Xu Pian (金佗续编), 1234 – Chapter 28, p. 16.
  10. ^ a b c Xiong, Ti (匈棣). The Legend of Zhou Tong (周侗传奇) (Vol. 1–10). Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House (浙江美术 出版社), 1987
  11. ^ a b Lou, Yun He (楼云和). Jin Tai Fights the Shaolin Monastery Three Times (金台三打少林寺). Zhejiang Literature & Art Publishing House (浙江文艺出版社), 1986
  12. ^ a b c "Yue Fei Chu Shi" (in Chinese). China Movie DataBase. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  13. ^ a b "Yu Cheng Hui". Hong Kong Cinémagic. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  14. ^ a b c Liang Lijie. "Shandong actor would like to portray Zhou Dong and make him popular" (in Chinese). Populace daily paper. Archived from the original on 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  15. ^ Kaplan: p. 16.
  16. ^ B. J. ter Haar. "Newly Recovered Anecdotes from Hong Mai's (1123–1202) Yijian zhi" (PDF). Sinological Institute, Leiden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  17. ^ Kaplan: p. 2.
  18. ), p. 147.
  19. ^ 學射与周同,盡其術,能左右射。同死,溯望設祭于其冢。"
  20. ^ 宋史 卷三百六十五‧列傳第一百二十四 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on November 1, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-17.)
  21. ), p. 258.
  22. ^ a b c d Kaplan: p. 10.
  23. ), p. 95.
  24. ^ Kaplan: p. 5.
  25. ^ a b c Wilhelm: p. 149.
  26. ^ a b c Kaplan: p. 13.
  27. ^ a b Qian, Ru Wen (錢汝雯). Biography of Song Yue, Prince of E (宋岳鄂王年), 1924
  28. ^ Shooting three successive arrows was known as "three-in-row", which was one of the "Five Archery Techniques" according to the Tang dynasty archery manual of Wang Ju (王琚) (Selby: p. 202).
  29. ^ This sentence refers to a technique taught to Song archers that involved them "[moving] their feet in co-ordination with their draw so that they could advance or retreat and shoot at the same time" (Selby: p. 242).
  30. ^ a b c Kaplan: p. 11.
  31. ^ Li, Hanhuan (李漢魂). Chronology of Yue Wumu (岳武穆年譜). Shanghai: Shangwu Press, 1947 – Chapter 4, p. 3b.
  32. ^ This means the tomb was somewhere close to the Yue family village.
  33. ^ a b Kaplan: p. 12.
  34. ^ Li, 1947: p. 9.
  35. ^ Kaplan: pp. 3–4
  36. ), p. 696.
  37. ^ Kaplan: p. 32.
  38. ), p. 69).
  39. ^ Degkwitz: pp. 116–131
  40. ^ Qian: pp. 24–57
  41. ^ ), p. 15.
  42. ), pp. 5–6.
  43. retcons the reason why Wu Song travels to Kaifeng. In the Water Margin
    , the county magistrate sends Wu Song to the capital to deliver a load of gold and silver to his family in order to buy him a higher government post (Shi: p. 489).
  44. ^ Iron Arm, Golden Sabre retcons the reason why Zhou travels to Henan to see his friend Wang Ming. In The Story of Yue Fei, Zhou originally travels to Henan to inspect land purchased with earnings saved from teaching military skills to the millionaire Lu Junyi. Wang Ming then talks him into taking his son and other children in the village as his students (Qian: pp. 24–25).
  45. ^ Qian: pp. 24–56
  46. ^ Qian: p. 57.
  47. ), p. 325.
  48. ^ Qian: p. 24.
  49. ^ a b Qian: p. 25.
  50. ^ Xiong: Vol. 2 and 8
  51. ^ Xiong: Vol. 2, pp. 68–75
  52. ^ Xiong: Vol. 2–6
  53. ^ Xiong: Vol. 6
  54. ^ Iron Arm, Golden Sabre retcons his son's death to decades before he takes a very young Lu Junyi as his student (Xiong: vol. 6 and 10).
  55. ^ Xiong: Vol. 8
  56. ^ Qian: pp. 33–34
  57. ^ Chang: p. 103.
  58. ), p. 238.
  59. ), p. 10.
  60. ^ Børdahl, 1996: xxv
  61. ^ Børdahl, 1996: pp. 366–367
  62. ^ Børdahl, 1996: p. 370.
  63. ^ Qian: p. 102.
  64. ), p. 77.
  65. ^ Børdahl, 1996: pp. 92, 94
  66. ^ Børdahl, 1996: p. 84.
  67. ^ Børdahl, 1996: Footnote #38, p. 84.
  68. ^ Vibeke Børdahl. "The Voice of Wang Shaotang in Yangzhou Storytelling" (PDF). Danish Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. Retrieved 2008-03-02., pp. 27, 38–39
  69. ^ Liu, 1967: pp. 108–116
  70. ), p. 83.
  71. ^ a b Hsia, 2004: p. 140
  72. ^ As shown by C. T. Hsia, students who train under celestials eventually come at odds with each other. (Hsia, 2004: p. 146) However, this does not happen with Lin, Lu, and Yue Fei, as the outlaws are killed off prior to Zhou becoming the precept of the Wang household (Qian: p. 25).
  73. ^ Hsia, 2004: p. 149.
  74. ^ Shi: pp. 14–16
  75. ^ Hsia, 2004: pp. 149 and 154
  76. ^ Børdahl, 1996: p. 365.
  77. ), p. 166.
  78. ^ Xiong: Vol. 10
  79. ^ Hsia, 1996: p. 85.
  80. ^ Børdahl, 1996: pp. 367–368
  81. ^ Shi: p. 1320.
  82. ), pp. 113–114.
  83. ^ Shi: p. 2003.
  84. ^ Qian: pp. 39–40
  85. ^ Kaplan: p. 8.
  86. ^ Shao Xiaoyi. "Yue Fei's facelift sparks debate". China Daily. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-09.
  87. ^ a b Liang, 2002: pp. 15–16.
  88. ^ Shahar: pp. 113–114.
  89. ), pp. 134–135.
  90. ^ a b Wilhelm: p. 150.
  91. ^ Kaplan: p. 37.
  92. ^ Liu, James T. C. "Yueh Fei (1103–41) and China's Heritage of Loyalty". The Journal of Asian Studies. Vol. 31, No. 2 (Feb., 1972), pp. 291–297 [291].
  93. ^ ), pages 13 and 15
  94. ^ Lily Lau and Cindy Lee (July 28, 2007). "Eagle Claw Fan Tsi Moon & Lau Fat Mang's History: Part I". Kung Fu Magazine. Archived from the original on September 6, 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  95. ^ This hermit is mentioned as teaching Yue strength-bestowing exercises in the second preface of the Sinews Transformations Classic, a forged qigong manual claimed to have been discovered, but actually written by a Taoist with the religious moniker of "Purple Coagulation Man of the Way" in 1624 CE (Shahar: pp. 162, 168–170).
  96. ), p. 321.
  97. ^ a b Yuen: p. 8.
  98. ^ a b Henning, Stanley E., M.A. "Chinese General Yue Fei: Martial Arts Facts, Tales and Mysteries". Journal of Asian Martial Arts. Vol. 15 #4, 2006: 30–35 [32].
  99. ^ a b c "Chuo Jiao Fist". Plum publications. Archived from the original on 2008-02-21. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
  100. ^ Fan Keping. "Wutang Golden Bell" (in Chinese). Nanjing Chinese Traditional Wushu Group. Archived from the original on 2008-08-19. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  101. ^ Børdahl, 1996: pp. 373–374
  102. ^ Yuen: p. 7.
  103. ISSN 1671-1572
    )
  104. ^ Xiong: Vol. 1, p. 8.
  105. ^ Master Zhang Han Xiong. "A Brief History of Penang Yue Fei Martial Art Centre". Martial Arts Gathering. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  106. ), pp. 25–27
  107. ^ Low: pp. 40–43
  108. ), pp. 11–19
  109. ^ David W. Chan. "The Development of Mentorship Programs at the Chinese University of Hong Kong". Roeper Review vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 85–88
  110. ^ Yue Fei Studies Archery". Children's Pictorial Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-12-12. Archived February 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  111. ^ ), p. 54
  112. ^ Liparulo: p. 314
  113. ^ Liparulo: p. 315
  114. ^ Liparulo: p. 316
  115. ^ "岳飞 (1940) (The general)" (in Chinese). China Movie Database (CMDB). Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  116. ^ 尽忠报国 (1940) (in Chinese). China Movie Database (CMDB). Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  117. ^ "他是一个奇人,横跨北宋南宋两朝代,很多水浒好汉都是他的弟子。这个人物在武术界很重要,很多电影人都想拍这个人物。"

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