page_title: Shi Jin
section_title: Becoming an outlaw
hierarchical_section_title: Shi Jin / Becoming an outlaw
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 史进。
context_page_description: Shi Jin is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels in Chinese literature. Nicknamed "Nine-Tattoo Dragon", he ranks 23rd among the 36 Heavenly Spirits, the first third of the 108 Stars of Destiny.
context_section_description: Chen Da, one of the three bandit chiefs on Mount Shaohua (少華山; southeast of present-day Hua County, Shaanxi), comes by Shi Family Village with his men on the way to plunder the well-stocked Huayin County for food. Shi Jin blocks his path and captures him in a one-on-one fight on horseback. When told the news, the other two chiefs, Zhu Wu and Yang Chun, come to the village to beg Shi Jin to arrest them as well so that they can fulfill their oath to die together. Moved by their bond, Shi Jin frees Chen and becomes a friend of the three. Henceforth, the two sides often exchange gifts and hold feast for each other.
  One day, a servant of Shi Jin, when returning from an errand to invite the bandit chiefs to a feast at his master's house,  loses the reply letter of the outlaws after getting drunk and falling asleep in a grove. The letter is taken away by a hunter who submits it to the authorities. Soldiers are sent to Shi Jin's house to arrest the bunch on the night of the feast.
  Finding his manor surrounded, Shi Jin burns it down and fights his way out with the bandit chiefs. They make it to Mount Shaohua, where Shi Jin declines Zhu Wu's plea that he be their chief. He leaves for Weizhou to look for Wang Jin.
  In Weizhou (渭州; around present-day Pingliang, Gansu), Shi Jin could not find his teacher but meets and befriends Lu Da, a local garrison officer. Later, as he wonders aimlessly and resorts to robbery to obtain money, he runs into Lu Da again, who by then has become a monk with the Buddhist name Lu Zhishen to conceal his identity as he had killed a bully. The two together defeat and kill a monk and a priest who enslaves the monks of a temple and holds a woman in captivity.
caption: An illustration of Shi Jin by Chen Hongshou
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