Guo Sheng
| Guo Sheng | |
|---|---|
| Water Margin character | |
| Nickname | "Comparable to Rengui" 賽仁貴 |
| Rank | 55th, Help Star (地佑星) of the 72 Earthly Fiends |
| Central Camp Defendant General of Liangshan | |
| Origin | Bandit |
| Ancestral home / Place of origin | Jialing (present-day Jialing District, Nanchong, Sichuan) |
| First appearance | Chapter 35 |
| Weapon | "Sky Piercer" (方天畫戟) |
| Names | |
| Simplified Chinese | 郭盛 |
| Traditional Chinese | 郭盛 |
| Pinyin | Guō Shèng |
| Wade–Giles | Kuo Sheng |
Guo Sheng is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He ranks 55th of the 108 Liangshan heroes and 19th of the 72 Earthly Fiends. He is nicknamed "Comparable to Rengui".
Background
Guo Sheng is from Jialing (嘉陵; present-day Jialing District, Nanchong, Sichuan). He dons a suit of silvery white armour over a white robe, along with a silver belt and a headdress. He rides on a snow white steed and wields a ji similar to Lü Bu's "Sky Piercer" (方天畫戟).
Initially a trader, Guo Sheng decides to become a bandit after he lost his goods in the river during a storm and had insufficient money to make his journey home. When he was young, he learnt martial arts from a military officer in his hometown and has become an expert in using the ji after many years of training. He is nicknamed "Comparable to Rengui" because his combat skills are comparable to those of Xue Rengui, a famous Tang dynasty general.
Joining Liangshan
Guo Sheng hears of Lü Fang's reputation as a powerful warrior and desires to challenge him, so he goes to Mount Duiying (對影山), where Lü and his bandit followers reside, and engages Lü in a one-on-one duel. Neither of them is able to overcome his opponent after fighting for over 10 days.
Song Jiang, Hua Rong and other outlaws are on their way back to Liangshan Marsh after the battle at Qingfeng Fort (清風寨; in present-day Qingzhou, Weifang, Shandong) when they pass by Mount Duiying and see Lü Fang and Guo Sheng engaging in their duel. At that time, the blades of Lü Fang and Guo Sheng's jis are caught up and entangled in their tassels, and the two warriors are struggling to disentangle their weapons. Hua Rong sees that and fires an arrow, which directly hits the entangled point and separates the weapons. The crowd cheers. Lü Fang and Guo Sheng stop fighting and greet Song Jiang, who successfully persuades them to join the outlaw band at Liangshan.
Campaigns and death
Guo Sheng becomes one of the leaders of the Liangshan cavalry and one of the Central Camp Defendant Generals after the Grand Assembly of the 108 Stars of Destiny. He and Lü Fang serve as Song Jiang's personal bodyguards during the battles against Liangshan's enemies.
Guo Sheng follows the heroes on their campaigns against the Liao invaders and rebel forces after they have been granted amnesty by Emperor Huizong. During the campaign against the rebel leader Fang La, Guo Sheng is assigned to attack the enemy at Black Dragon Ridge (烏龍嶺; northeast of present-day Meicheng Town, Jiande, Hangzhou, Zhejiang). He leads the Liangshan forces in charging up the ridge but is killed by boulders rolled down by the enemy.
Other mentions
In Louis Cha's wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes, Guo Sheng is the ancestor of the protagonist, Guo Jing.[1]
References
- ↑ Cha, Louis (1957). "Chapter 1". The Legend of the Condor Heroes (in Chinese). Hong Kong Commercial Daily.
- (Chinese) Li, Mengxia. 108 Heroes from the Water Margin, page 111. 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, page 91. KOEI, 1989.