Water Margin - EP5 - Song Jiang - The Two Faced Charmer (Chinese Classic Summarized)

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Күн бұрын

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This is the fifth episode of the Water Margin Summarised Series, based on the 120 chapters version of the classical Chinese Novel.
In this episode, we cover Song Jiang's adventures before he joined the Outlaws of Mount Liang and his relationship with Li Kui. I also discusses the historical & cultural context of cannibalism in ancient China.
🕒[TIMESTAMP]🕒
0:00 Introduction
1:12 Song Jiang the Charmer
4:34 Song Jiang's Dirty Recruitment Tactics
7:11 Song Jiang's Lesson in Corruption
9:10 Song Jiang's Prison Holiday & Rebellious Poem
14:52 Cannibalism in Ancient China
17:33 Song Jiang's Destiny
18:20 Li Kui's Retribution
🌟Water Margin Series Playlist🌟
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🔗LINKS TO MENTIONED VIDEOS🔗
Huang Chao's Rebellion & End of Tang Dynasty:
• How and Why Tang Dynas...
Goujian & The Sword That Defied Time:
• Defeating Sun Tzu's Ar...
Liu Bang - The First Emperor of Han Dynasty:
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🎥PLAYLISTS🎥
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• Qin Dynasty Origin
Cool Chinese History (By release)
• Cool Chinese History
Hundred Schools of Thoughts:
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📚SOURCES:
水滸傳 (120回)
William Guanglin Liu, 2015, he making of a fiscal state in Song China, 960-1279
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Пікірлер: 91

@CoolHistoryBros Жыл бұрын

Get the T-shirt & merch for the series here: dstore-10.creator-spring.com/listing/All_Men_Are_Brothers?product=2 Black T-shirt option here: dstore-10.creator-spring.com/listing/all-men-are-brothers-b?product=2

@damarquisjennings2755 Жыл бұрын

Cool history bros I like your video.

@fraderiktan1505 Жыл бұрын

i guess li kui was the TRUE tiger killer after all, but gotta admit his personality remind me of someone from ROTK hmmm.... someone who is violent and love to fight, oh yes zhang fei well except the cannibalism part i never seen in any movie or film have him being cannibal or something close to that so it is interesting to see him be a cannibal

@CoolHistoryBros Жыл бұрын

Li Kui was not only a cannibal, he was also a child killer. In fact, you will see him get progressively worse. I think he is intended to be used as a reminder for the readers that these people are not "good" people and role of "bad guy" was given to Li Kui.

@ajithsidhu7183 Жыл бұрын

@@CoolHistoryBros i am a huge fan of your channel .I would like to ask how does one become a hao han [manly man ] like what steps are prescribed to take what can be done to be one?

@carlothecoffeeguy3778 Жыл бұрын

This series could easily be renamed 'Cool History Bromance' , or 'Better Call Song Jiang'

@SeoulMan Жыл бұрын

Or "Everybody Hates Li Kui."

@wisdomleader85 Жыл бұрын

"That's not a bad idea" ---- Confucius

@marcobuncit7539 Жыл бұрын

@@wisdomleader85 "I know right?" ---Sun Tzu

@Gb-be9bn Жыл бұрын

An interesting detail in the book: when Huang Wenbing reported Song Jiang's rebellious poem to governor Cai, governor Cai dismissed it because Song Jiang was just a prisoner. What made him decided to arrest Song Jiang was a children rhyme popular at the time: 耗國因家木，刀兵點水工。縱橫三十六，播亂在山東。 The destroyer of our country is home and tree; water and work are armed soldiery; stretched in a line are thirty-six; Shandong will put us in a terrible fix. Take the top part of 家 (home) and combine it with 木 (tree) you get 宋 (Song); take the radical form of 水 and combine it with 工 you get 江 (Jiang). So basically the first two sentence means: The destroyer of our country is Song Jiang. As for the third sentence, in the book it is explained as "Thirty-six either refers to the year of our emperor's reign, or it's a number of some sort", but I personally think it refers to Song Jiang's group before Water Margin was written, which only had 36 people instead of 108. The stories of Song Jiang and his men had been circulating among the populace long before Shi Nai'an wrote the novel. The fourth sentence "Shandong will put us in a terrible fix" refers to Song Jiang's hometown in Shandong. So the reason Song Jiang got arrested was basically superstition. As medieval Chinese believed children rhymes were cryptic prophecy about the fate of the country.

@daniellin1726 Жыл бұрын

Those are some damn smart kids. Are there books documenting this? Because it feels more like someone with an agenda making it up and then trying to leverage the superstition.

@galren208 Жыл бұрын

I’m currently reading the novel and every single time Li Kui appears I ask myself “How are you going to screw up this time?”

@alkristopher Жыл бұрын

The answer is always "All the above". Song Jiang always vows to kill him and always recants.

@dialaskisel5929 Жыл бұрын

Li Kui seems to be the sort who can really appreciate a man of taste.

@zetareticulan321 Жыл бұрын

Li Kui is actually a chef. 😂

@emiliasmith5561 Жыл бұрын

@@zetareticulan321 he taught filthy frank the human cake recipe

@mistergremm735 Жыл бұрын

*"This post will include spoiler for later parts so read this with caution"* Li Kue is one of those characters where naturally viewing his actions with modern sensibilities is undeniably a monster who deserves what's coming for him although part me can't deny that I pitied the big guy many times, when he lost his mother (one of few people who will accept who he is) and eventually his downfall by the one who he followed the most and continued to follow in afterlife What I find interesting about Li kue is that even a beast like him have some level morale code like other bandits, like he didn't strike down the imposter believing he would also doom his mother (interesting it could maybe argued that he saw too much into him being that he's impersonating him and that later circled around as karma) and later would get outraged over hearing that he's brother song jiang would kidnap a women, leaving her old father grieving and wanted to help them, I do see alot merit in Song jiang and li kue being mirrors too Li kue respected few people in his life being song jiang and later the wrestler Jiao Ting who were willing to look past his rough and hotheaded nature

@emiliasmith5561 Жыл бұрын

With the amount of shit that happens in restaurants, this novel could be renamed "Shi Nai'an and his Godelian fear of eating out" Also the amount of dead tigers in this novel is concerning

@uanime1 Жыл бұрын

In East Asia killing tigers was how people proved how strong they were. For example in the Joseon (Korea) army you could get promoted to an elite unit by killing a tiger.

@marcobuncit7539 Жыл бұрын

@@uanime1 sounds like the sort of trope of "hunting game prize" but specificly for kinda athletic status stuff.

@nidohime6233 Жыл бұрын

@@marcobuncit7539 In World of Warcraft you hunt hundreds of boars, in Water Margin you hunt hundreds of tigers.

@boyanpenev9822 Жыл бұрын

Ah, Black Whirlwind. It was pretty amazing reading the book and seeing him practically taken and transplanted in the Jade Empire game.

@samwill7259 Жыл бұрын

"The man has kidnapped and is about to rape an innocent woman...I need to find him a wife someday!" Ah...right...the past

@mistergremm735 Жыл бұрын

Wu Song Murders a tiger Li Kue: Hold my rice BBQ...

@CoolHistoryBros Жыл бұрын

To be fair, Wu song did it with bare hands while Li Kui was armed with his axes.

@mistergremm735 Жыл бұрын

@@CoolHistoryBros true xd

@emiliasmith5561 Жыл бұрын

@@CoolHistoryBros counterpoint: Li Kui didn't bring his axes with him. Song Jiang forbade him to do so.

@blastershogun Жыл бұрын

Eating someone I hate ? Nah, that will give me a stomachache.

@hanchiman Жыл бұрын

I remember there is an old Chinese doll animation witj Li Kui story "Real and fake Li Gui" made somewhere in 1960 or 1970. Of course cannibalism wasn't mentioned

@CARL_093 Жыл бұрын

good job cj bro i love it its worth of waiting and please do not forget to featured balhea and goryeo :)

@animation1234111 Жыл бұрын

Lin Chong would have been in the Civil Governor's position if Gou Yanai had been a peasant. Perhaps this strengthens the tragedy of the story. The thing which separates the bandit and the upstanding citizen is just circumstance.

@abduljabaryousef8527 Жыл бұрын

So informative, thank you CJ ❤️

@lerneanlion Жыл бұрын

All of these nasty things about corruption and cannibalism made me question how did someone like Bao Zheng, the Prefect of Kaifeng, even survived to the point of retirement anyway. I remembered of his reputation as the incorruptible and honest official. This is why I asked such a question. P.S: Is it just me or all societies across the world have their own hideous sides? Because if someone told me before I saw this video that the peoples in China used to practice cannibalism, I would not believe it. But after I saw this, I was blown away.

@CoolHistoryBros Жыл бұрын

Water Margin is just a novel. Everything is written to be gory & gritty, like medieval European faerie tales. I think this is just an exploitation of people's paranoia about cannibalism. A lot of people are scared of it and write a lot about it, but it may not really have happened. Just like the Satanic panic of the 80s and perhaps medieval witchunts. One thing for sure, there was a lot of literature that blames the corrupt officials for the various ills of the society.

@deepseer Жыл бұрын

Bao Zheng was active in early 11th century. Song Jiang was active in early 12th century. There is a gap of 100 years between them, which could change many things.

@lerneanlion Жыл бұрын

@@deepseer Corruption existed ever since like who knows how long. And in the Chinese imperial court that was plagued by corruption, it seemed to be very hard to live. The only possible solution is that he was being protected by the Emperor or some imperial relatives with great importance. That's the point here. Was he being protected by some members of the royal household? I heard he had a very good relations with the Eight Prince but that seemed to be something in fiction only. And from what I heard, he used to be a regent and was quite a big shot when he was alive. In real life, nobody seemed to know for sure.

@lerneanlion Жыл бұрын

@@CoolHistoryBros But still, it is undeniable that they have and still eaten other "unusual" types of meats. You know what types of meats I am referring to.

@ajithsidhu7183 Жыл бұрын

@@CoolHistoryBros CJ may i ask how does one be a manly man , what steps or needed?

@user-mp5lb7sh5r 8 ай бұрын

Song Jiang is that one friend you know who had min maxed their Charisma stat, persuasion and intimidation skills. 😅

@AGS363 Жыл бұрын

It would be great, if you could at the end of the series go over all the Stars and say one or two sentences to each.

@PompadourSamurai Жыл бұрын

That death by cooking = humiliation cultural belief sounds like what Oda had in mind when he was writing Oden in One Piece.

@zetareticulan321 Жыл бұрын

I don't think it was about humiliation. I think it was about causing as much pain as possible to the victim.

@tasse0599 Жыл бұрын

I think that's based on the character from Japanese folklore

@alkristopher Жыл бұрын

Qin Ming: Doot doot doot, boy howdy, I sure do love being a respected member of the Imperial army with a loving family to come home to. Imperial officers: Not no mo you don't. Qin Ming: Shucks. Wu Yong: Yeah, sorry, we sullied your reputation and murdered a LOT of people in your name, also we got your family killed. Whoops. Song Jiang: We REALLY want to hang out with you brah. Qin Ming: lol sounds fun Song Jiang: And here's a new wife for you. Qin Ming: Dood U guys R teh besk mang! Song Jiang's 20-sided dice has nothing BUT 20s.

@michaelzheng3015 Жыл бұрын

Wu Yong: WTF? Who is this dude and why am I the one to blame? It was Song Jiang and the Qingfeng Bandits who did this.

@timothykwoh6172 Жыл бұрын

Song Jiang had his faults but his name was not soiled on account of 2 things: 1) He sought to be loyal to the Song Dynasty. 2) Despite being a bandit, he behaved extremely honourably towards the common people and ensured that they were not harmed when his men went on the attack against enemies. Another thing that also worked in his favour was the fact that he was often helping a lot of people who were down and outers.

@natn41r Жыл бұрын

You say character pretending to be insane is a trope but I see this happening a lot in our modern courts where the accused (almost predictably) would present a psychiatric report to try and excuse this or that behaviour.

@TV-uu4zm Жыл бұрын

I know how to commit corruption now, thanks Cj

@iwatchDVDsonXbox360 Жыл бұрын

Thanks.

@alkristopher Жыл бұрын

Incidentally, in the version I was read, the goddess calls Song Jiang "Star Lord". So Guardians of the Galaxy can take a seat.

@SeoulMan Жыл бұрын

I was wondering when the Black Whirlwind, Li Kui, would show up!

@cavc94 Жыл бұрын

The cruel enforcer who makes the most nasty stuff in the name of the mastermind is also present in western fiction. Two examples come to my mind: Luca Brasi in the Godfather and Gregor Clegane in ASOIAF.

@rayray6490 Жыл бұрын

@6:52 I always wondered why Jin Yong would choose the more obscure hero of the 108 to be the ancestor of the protagonist of the Condor Heroes series

@emiliasmith5561 Жыл бұрын

I think he just likes flexing

@conradojavier7547 Жыл бұрын

Maybe he's like an Easter Egg.

@ginzomelo Жыл бұрын

Li Kui arrives 🪓🪓

@nidohime6233 Жыл бұрын

Man, that's a lot characters with tiger on their nickname, it should have being called Tiger Margin. 19:35 Also many tigers die in this story. No wonder there are almost extinct in China.

@final909 2 күн бұрын

So this Song Jiang is the Tenkai star of the Suikoden.

@Vieyram Жыл бұрын

Reminds me of how majin bu turns people into snacks and eats them.

@ninjaluc79 Жыл бұрын

So Song Jiang found his "Lady Leknaat" around halfway through the novel?

@tanishshrivastava2442 Жыл бұрын

Didn't Zhuge Liang did the same thing with Jiang Wei? Frame him up, leave him with no options, and then make him join his side?

@blindedbliss Жыл бұрын

17:33 - Nine-tailed turtle? Is it a mythic create, like the fox that grows a tail per century or is alive (max 9 tails)?

@lottenetzel8751 Жыл бұрын

8:30 - 8:41 I can attest to this. I remember having to hand over money to some minor town officials after I gave their mayor money.

@redcrown5070 Жыл бұрын

Man...

@adrianng8367 Жыл бұрын

Based Yue Fei be like: Amateurs, I’ll feast on the blood and flesh of thousands of Jurchen Barbarians. Proceeds to write a poem 满江红

@garou12 Жыл бұрын

man now i see where hannibal got his ideas re cannibalism

@shinsenshogun900 Жыл бұрын

Sixty-One Stars have shone, Forty-Seven more to encounter!

@Flyingfoxman Жыл бұрын

Li Kui is a lot like Luca Brasi.

@shinsenshogun900 Жыл бұрын

A Jolly Brute Enforcer to a Charismatic Godfather

@Alusnovalotus Жыл бұрын

“He had attacked the classics and history since he was a child, and when he grew up, he also had scheming. Just like a ferocious tiger lying on a barren hill, its lurking minions endure it. Unfortunately, the cheeks were stabbed, and it was worthy of being in Jiangzhou. If he is old enough to avenge his grievances, his blood will stain the mouth of the Xunyang River. The heart is in Shandong and the body is in Wu. If he is as high as Yunzhi, he dares to laugh at Huang Chao not being a husband!” ~ Song Jiang

@Gb-be9bn Жыл бұрын

A non-Google translated poem would be: Since young I studied classics and history, Grew up I had strategies and tactics. I was like a tiger lying on a barren hill, Hiding its teeth and claws enduring. Unfortunately both of my cheeks were tattoed, And I was exiled to Jiangzhou. One day, if I have my revenge, Xinyang estuary will be dyed with blood. My heart is in Shandong, but my body is in Wu. Drifting across seas and rivers, I sighed, One day, if I achieve my lofty aim, I will laugh at Huang Chao's unmanliness!

@hanchiman Жыл бұрын

For some reason, I don't really like Song Jiang, maybe because he was too obsessed for working for the already corrupt and bloated Song Government which become the death of the 108 heroes when they were being "used" to attack Fang La and later Gao Ku betray and kill the remaining heroes

@alkristopher Жыл бұрын

Yeah, but really, what alternative did the bandits have? Either work for the corrupt government and MAYBE survive or stay outlaws forever and DEFINITELY get killed off eventually. Besides, most of them were terrible people and got better than they deserved. It is pretty awful that "basically decent" people like Qin Ming, Lin Chong, and Lu Junyi got colossally screwed over.

@deepseer Жыл бұрын

@@alkristopher The alternative is overthrowing the emperor. Many dynasties were overthrown by peasant rebellions, and the leaders (sometimes not a peasant) became new emperors.

@alkristopher Жыл бұрын

@@deepseer Yeah, but do you honestly think the author (or authors) would have gotten away with writing something like that? Violence is one thing, but sedition?

@michaelzheng3015 Жыл бұрын

Nah, Fang La is not just some dude who rebel because the government was too cruel. He went to a creek to wash his hands and he saw his reflection wearing the Emperor's rode, and then he rebelled by gathering people suffering from government oppression. In fact, Fang La was so cruel that one of his generals just straight surrendered to Song army and there are also instances where peasant caught a general hiding because they can't stand Fang La

@blindedbliss Жыл бұрын

15:45 - Oh... Any good information of this failed political move?

@zetareticulan321 Жыл бұрын

I suggested covering the Shang and Zhou Dynasty to him a long time ago.

@Alusnovalotus Жыл бұрын

I mean, Greek culture was pretty much the same at treating women poorly, so there’s a counterpart in the west. Xenia (Greek: ξενία) Is basically the same idea of treating your guests better than family and making sure nothing happened to them while staying with you.

@aquil3scach088 Жыл бұрын

Greeks,wise people