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Post by Admin on Jun 18, 2015 3:19:17 GMT
So actually what is the difference between Wulin 武林 and Jianghu 江湖? How do you define Wulin 武林 and Jianghu 江湖?
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Post by yenchin on Jun 19, 2015 5:29:11 GMT
Wulin is like the generic term for the collective society of martial artists.
Jianghu is like an underworld society where all kinds of people could be involved, such as ordinary beggars, street performers...etc and not all of them have martial arts.
A monk from Shaolin might be practicing his whole life, or mostly get involved in martial art affairs such as someone stealing Shaolin manuscripts. After his mission he goes back to his Shaolin life. This makes him more Wulin than Jianghu.
And escort master on the other hand might be trained in Shaolin arts. However, he's been dealing with bandits, gangsters, burglars, and all other types of people. This makes him more Jianghu than Wulin. Not to mention his men, including the guys pushing the carts.
The two worlds might interact in some ways making things a bit mixed up, and sometimes some characters or groups are involved within both worlds. The guy who stole the Shaolin manuscript is the notorious Viper of Shandong, trained by the Taishan School and eventually betrayed his master. He has also stole scripts from Wudang and Kunlun. On the other hand the Viper has also taken down various escort convoys and the Great Escort Masters of the Northern Provinces are eager to hunt him. He has killed innocent people all over the place and Xias everywhere are also looking for him. This makes the Viper both a Wulin and Jianghu problem.
Finally the Viper is caught by a constable who promptly sends him to a maximum security prison. This infuriates both the Wuliners and Jianghuers as their issues haven't been resolved. The escort masters and the grandmasters of the greater schools attempt to negotiate with the constables while the Xia and the lesser schools are cooking their plots to snatch the Viper from prison. The truth is most of the Wuliners either sincerely want their manuscripts back, make the Viper unlearn what he learned, or eager to get the secrets of other schools. The escort masters mostly want to get back what they lost. The Xia are determined to rid the Viper with their own hands, and probably make themselves famous.
In the end, the Beggar Clan invites the Wuliners and the Jianghuers for a feast to settle the issues. The Clan has their own martial art system, their Dragon Subduing Palms is high martial art, and their leader was trained by a late Wudang elder. Not to mention before she (yes, why not) was initiated in the Clan she defeated the 3 Traitors of Wudang, who plagued the Great Schools for a decade. On the other hand, the Clan of course has great power all over the place. While not required, all tongs, gangs, cults..etc usually prepare great feasts for the local beggars when they're setting up branches, and the escort masters all know that a simple dinner with the local beggar master help A LOT on their work. And therefore, the Clan provides a good platform to resolve both Wulin and Jianghu issues. At least based on some of the settings in the novels I read.
(And if it's a Liang Yu Sheng novel, the Viper also stole from various bandits, making him also a Lulin (綠林, sort of like a collective term for bandits) issue.)
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Post by Admin on Jun 19, 2015 5:46:15 GMT
oh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo how complicated it is!! Thanks yenchin it's a very detailed explanation actually
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