The robbers from Liang Shan Bog

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Detail of a Chinese print from the end of the 19th century with eight of the 108 leaders

The robbers of the Liang-Schan-Moor ( Chinese  水滸傳  /  水浒传 , Pinyin Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn  - "waterfront story") is a Chinese folk book from the 14th century . The story castigates oppression, corruption and mismanagement and depicts in the form of an exciting adventure novel the rebellion of a group of legendary outlaws who take the rich and give to the poor.

The authorship is attributed to Shī Nài'ān ( 施耐庵 ) and Luó Guànzhōng ( 羅貫中  /  罗贯中 ). In addition to the Dream of the Red Chamber , The Journey to the West and The Story of the Three Kingdoms, this book is one of the four classic novels in Chinese literature .

The novel was first translated into German by Franz Kuhn .

Historical context

The novel is the first Chinese to be written in slang . It is also an important document of the criminal and moral history of China. The background of the story is the peasant revolt against the Song dynasty and the corruption of the upper class at the court at the time of Emperor Huizong . The work is about the historical bandit Song Jiang and his companions, with whom he wreaked havoc in today's provinces of Shandong , Henan and Jiangsu at the beginning of the 12th century . Shuihu Zhuan ( Waterfront Story ) is the name of a classic Chinese novel. The story is passed down orally. An old Chinese version contains 60 woodcuts that were printed in the version published by Insel Verlag. The original of the novel was probably written in 14th century China by a certain Shi Nai'an. This template was called: Anecdotes from the Xuanhe reign of the Song Dynasty .

In addition, there were at least 24 verse dramas from the Yuan Dynasty that also covered this uprising. The actual story was only put on paper during the Ming period , when there were also peasant uprisings.

In the Qing Dynasty the story was banned because it was considered subversive, but operas were created that took up the subject under other titles. In Japan the text was translated about twelve times.

action

The work is about the 108 honorable leaders of a rebel army who are fighting against corrupt imperial officials and soldiers.

The central figure in the story is the scholar Sòng Jiāng ( 宋江 ). This is a kind person, but becomes a victim through the resentment of the rulers. His role is similar to that of Robin Hood . In the course of the book a band of like-minded people gathered around Sòng Jiāng. Describes the motivation and life of the last 36 leaders and 72 sub-leaders who took part in a mountain festival with around 30,000 nameless supporters on Liang-Schan-Moor ( Chinese  梁山泊 , Pinyin Liángshān pō  - "Liángshān Lake"), Shandong , Life. This gang includes persecuted and outlawed people, farmers, fishermen, merchants, civil servants, former officers, country nobles, monks and also some women and robbers. You become a sworn brotherhood.

Translations

  • All Men Are Brothers (translation into English by Pearl S. Buck ; 1933)
  • The robbers from Liang-Schan-Moor (translation into German by Franz Kuhn ; Leipzig 1934). Reprinted 2003, ISBN 3-458-31891-7
  • The Liarshan robbers. 2 volumes. Translated from the Chinese and edited by Johanna Herzfeldt . With 96 woodcuts based on old Chinese editions. Leipzig: Insel 1968, 1st edition. 688 + 655 pages
  • Au bord de l'eau (translation into French by Jacques Dars 1978)
  • Outlaws of the Marsh (Translation into English by Sidney Shapiro ; Beijing , Foreign Languages ​​Press , 1980)
  • The Marshes of Mount Liang (translation into English by Alex and John Dent-Young, Chinese University Press, Hong Kong 1997–2002)

Modern implementations

  • The painter and graphic artist Otto Pankok made a series of 40 two-tone woodcuts based on motifs from the novel, which were shown in an exhibition in Gelsenkirchen-Buer in 1958 and which appeared in 1960 as prints in a volume from Progress-Verlag in Darmstadt.
  • From 1973 to 1974, was built around the stories Outlaws of the Shan-Moor a TV series of 26 episodes of 50 minutes as a Sino-Japanese co-production broadcast ( The Water Margin ), under the title The Water Margin of of ARD and released on DVD.
  • In 1983/1986, 1998 and 2011 further television series produced in China with a scope of 40, 43 and 86 episodes appeared.
  • In 1989, Koei, a Japanese computer game company, released the game Bandit Kings of Ancient China , which deals with the situation of the rebel robbers and the overthrow of Minister Gao Qiu. What is remarkable about this game is the occurrence of all the people named in the novel, some of which have very apt graphics.
  • The video game series Suikoden of Konami is loosely based on the robbers of Liang Shan-Moor .