page_title: Zhou Tong (archer)
section_title: Water Margin outlaws
hierarchical_section_title: Zhou Tong (archer) / Fiction / Students / Water Margin outlaws
caption_attribution_description: English: Japanese woodblock representation of Lu Zhishen; it shows the story of him pulling out a Willow Tree
context_page_description: Zhou Tong 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.
  With the publishing of Yue Fei's 17th folklore biography, The Story of Yue Fei, a new, fictional Zhou Tong emerged, who differed greatly from his historical persona. Not only was he now from Shaanxi, but he was Yue's adopted father, a learned scholar with knowledge of the eighteen weapons of war, and his personal name was spelled with a different, yet related, Chinese character.
context_section_description: The Water Margin (c. 1400) is a Ming dynasty military romance about one hundred and eight demons-born-men and women who band together to rebel against the lavish Song dynasty government. 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. Most importantly, the two were not among his historical students since they are fictional characters.
  Zhou's portrayal as their teacher is connected to a recurring element in Chinese fiction where Tang and Song dynasty heroes train under a "celestial master", usually a Taoist immortal, prior to their military exploits. 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, from the Yuan dynasty tale Latter Volume of the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Seven Kingdoms (七國春秋後集). 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. 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).
  Although Lin and Lu have been connected to Zhou since the early Qing dynasty, Wu Song did not become associated with him until Wang Shaotang created a 20th-century folktale in which the two meet in Kaifeng. The tale takes place during Wu's mission to Kaifeng, but before the murder of his older brother Wu Dalang. Zhou teaches Wu the "Rolling Dragon" style of swordplay during the constable's one-month stay in the capital city. This tale was chapter two of Wang's "Ten chapters on Wu Song" storytelling repertoire, which was later transcribed and published in the book Wu Sung in 1959. It eventually carried over into the storyline of Iron Arm, Golden Sabre and, subsequently, The Legend of Zhou Tong. In the latter version, Wu instead learns 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. He is made the sworn brother of the outlaw "Flowery Monk" Lu Zhishen, a military officer-turned-fighting monk, who is, according to Hsia, first among the most popular protagonists of the Water Margin. 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. 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. Furthermore, Zhou shares the same nickname with Cai Fu, an executioner-turned-outlaw known for his ease in wielding a heavy sword.
  Because of his association with these outlaws, Zhou is often confused with the similarly named outlaw "Little Conqueror" Zhou Tong. In the Water Margin, this Zhou Tong is a bandit chief of Mount Peach Blossom whom Lu Zhishen beats for trying to forcibly marry the daughter of the Liu family. He dies later under the sword of Li Tianrun, an officer in the rebel army of Fang La. So, the connection between both Zhou's is based solely on the romanized transcription of their name.
caption: Zhou's sworn brother, the "Flowery Monk" Lu Zhishen
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