Zou Run
| Zou Run | |
|---|---|
| Water Margin character | |
| Nickname | "Single Horned Dragon" 獨角龍 |
| Rank | 91st, Horn Star (地角星) of the 72 Earthly Fiends |
| Infantry leader of Liangshan | |
| Origin | Bandit leader |
| Ancestral home / Place of origin | Laizhou, Yantai, Shandong |
| First appearance | Chapter 49 |
| Names | |
| Simplified Chinese | 邹润 |
| Traditional Chinese | 鄒潤 |
| Pinyin | Zōu Rùn |
| Wade–Giles | Tsou Jun |
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Zou Run is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He ranks 91st of the 108 Liangshan heroes and 55th of the 72 Earthly Fiends. He is nicknamed "Single-horned Dragon".
Background
The novel describes Zou Run as a weird-looking man with a big stature. He is nicknamed "Single Horned Dragon" because he has a large tumour on his head. Once, during a heated argument, he rammed his head against a tree trunk in anger and caused the tree trunk to be bent. Everyone was stunned by his extraordinary ability.
Zou Run and his uncle, Zou Yuan (who is about the same age as him), lead a group of bandits based on Mount Dengyun (登雲山) near Laizhou, where they rob the rich and help the poor. The Zous are close friends of Sun Xin, Yang Lin, Deng Fei and Shi Yong.
Joining Liangshan
When the Xie brothers (Xie Zhen and Xie Bao) are wrongly imprisoned and sentenced to death in Dengzhou (登州; in present-day eastern Shandong), Sun Xin and his wife Gu Dasao approach the Zous and enlist their help in staging a prison raid in Dengzhou to rescue the Xie brothers. After saving the Xie brothers, they flee to Liangshan Marsh together and join the outlaw band there.
During the battle between the Liangshan outlaws and forces from the Zhu Family Village, the Zous join Sun Li's team in serving as spies for Liangshan inside the village by pretending to come to the Zhus' aid. The success of their espionage mission is instrumental to the outlaws' eventual victory over the Zhus.
Campaigns
Zou Run becomes one of the leaders of the Liangshan infantry after the Grand Assembly of the 108 Stars of Destiny. He follows the heroes on their campaigns against the Liao invaders and rebel forces after they have been granted amnesty by Emperor Huizong. He is one of the few lucky survivors after the campaigns but his uncle perished during the campaign against the rebel leader Fang La. The emperor offers him an official post, "Martial Gentleman of Grace" (武奕郎), to recognise him for his contributions during the campaigns, but he declines the offer and returns home to lead the rest of his life as a commoner.
References
- (Chinese) Li, Mengxia. 108 Heroes from the Water Margin, page 181. 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.
