Pang Wanchun
| Pang Wanchun | |
|---|---|
| Water Margin character | |
| Nickname | "Little Yang Youji" (小養由基) |
| General of Fang La | |
| First appearance | Chapter 98 |
| Weapon | Bow and arrows |
| Names | |
| Simplified Chinese | 庞万春 |
| Traditional Chinese | 龐萬春 |
| Pinyin | Páng Wànchūn |
| Wade–Giles | Pang Wan-chun |
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Pang Wanchun is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He serves as a general under Fang La, a rebel leader who established a separatist regime in southern China against the ruling Song Empire. Fang La is one of the rebel leaders that the 108 Liangshan outlaws have to defeat after they have been granted amnesty by the Song government.
Life
Pang Wanchun is nicknamed "Little Yang Youji" after Yang Youji (養由基), a famous general and archer of the Chu state in the Spring and Autumn period. He fights in the war between Fang La and the Liangshan forces loyal to the Song Empire. His first appearance in the novel, at the battle of Yuling Pass (昱嶺關; near present-day Zhupu Village, She County, Huangshan City, Anhui), is striking: He kills Liangshan's Shi Jin with a single arrow shot and orders his archers Lei Jiong and Ji Ji to kill another five Liangshan heroes – Shi Xiu, Chen Da, Yang Chun, Li Zhong and Xue Yong – along with more than 2,000 enemy troops. He also kills Ou Peng, who is famous for catching projectiles in mid flight, with a few successive arrow shots.
Zhu Wu, a Liangshan strategist, conceives a plan to lure Pang Wanchun into an ambush. Pang falls for the ruse and attempts to raid Lu Junyi's camp at night, but falls into the trap and ends up being captured by the enemy. Lu Junyi orders Pang to be executed by disembowelment as a sacrifice to the Liangshan heroes he killed.
In media
In The Water Margin, a 1998 Chinese television series based on the novel, Pang Wanchun first appears at Yan Qing's leitai match in Tai'anzhou (泰安州; around present-day Tai'an, Shandong). He and his younger sister, Pang Qiuju, participate in the match, but are both defeated by the challenger Ren Yuan, who cheats during the fight by using a sash with hidden blades. Yan Qing easily defeats Ren Yuan later, but their identities as outlaws are exposed when Li Kui loses his temper and starts shouting and stomping on Ren Yuan's body. Yan Qing and Li Kui team up with the Pang siblings to fend off the soldiers sent by the authorities to arrest them, and fight their way out of Tai'anzhou.
In a later episode, when the Liangshan forces are attacking Fang La's territories, Song Jiang sends Yan Qing and Li Kui as Liangshan's representatives to persuade Pang Wanchun to surrender, but Pang politely refuses and affirms his allegiance to Fang La. In the ensuing battle, Pang lures the enemy into a trap and inflicts heavy casualties on them. However, after he is wounded by an arrow fired by Hua Rong, the Liangshan forces seize the opportunity to break into the fortress and capture it. Pang and his sister are killed in battle by the Ruan brothers.
References
- (Chinese) Li, Mengxia. 108 Heroes from the Water Margin, page 217. EPB Publishers Pte Ltd, 1992. ISBN 9971-0-0252-3.
- Buck, Pearl. All Men are Brothers. Moyer Bell Ltd, 2006. ISBN 9781559213035.
- Zhang, Lin Ching. Biographies of Characters in Water Margin. Writers Publishing House, 2009. ISBN 978-7506344784.
- Keffer, David. Outlaws of the Marsh.
- Miyamotois, Yoko. Water Margin: Chinese Robin Hood and His Bandits.
- (Japanese) Ichisada, Miyazaki. Suikoden: Kyoko no naka no Shijitsu. Chuo Koronsha, 1993. ISBN 978-4122020559.
- Shibusawa, Kou. Bandit Kings of Ancient China. KOEI, 1989.
