I needed to get away, to unplug for a few days, and just be alive in the wilderness, so I recently took a backpacking trip going to Yosemite the long way – hiking in from Mammoth. We trekked from Reds Meadow and Devil’s Postpile along the John Muir Trail and Pacific Crest Trail through the Ansel Adams Wilderness to climb up to the Donohue high pass to enter Yosemite. Throughout our journey, we went past beautiful lake upon beautiful lake, following the stream that would become the mighty Tuolumne River. It got me thinking about one of my favorite terms in the Chinese martial arts: Jianghu (江湖). Jianghu literally means ‘rivers and lakes.’
“Contacts in the Giang Hu underworld can ensure your position. Be strong, yet supple. This is the way to rule.” Sir Te (Bei Leye 貝勒爺 - Lang Sihung)
“Is Giang Hu some kind of triad gang thing?” It was a question from one of my non-martial arts friends posed to me after watching CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON. ‘Giang Hu,’ a non-pinyinized romanization of Jianghu, is mentioned more than half a dozen times in that film. It’s not translated. In the subtitles, it’s just spelled out with that G instead of a J. Most English-subtitle-reading audiences simply overlook it so kudos to my friend for noticing.
“It literally means ‘rivers and lakes,’” I told him somewhat leadingly. I waited for my friend to ask what rivers and lakes had to do with martial arts so I could tell the legend behind the Jianghu, but he just said “oh” and moved on. He probably realized that he was about to open pandora’s box with such a question, and I would unleash a torrent of nerdy Kung Fu trivia. He was an old friend, and he knows me too well.
But I can tell that story here now. If you’re reading my writings on KungFuMagazine.com, you must enjoy nerdy Kung Fu trivia because that’s a lot of what I write about here. My recent backpacking trip reminded me of the real meaning behind Jianghu and even if it was my vacation, a writer never stops writing, even if it’s just in my head.
“Giang Hu is a world of tigers and dragons, full of corruption...” Li Mu Bai (李慕白 – Chow Yun-fat)
Although Jianghu literally translates as ‘rivers and lakes,’ it means something different and to understand that we must define another term just in case there are any unfamiliar readers. That term is wuxia (武俠). Wu means martial. It’s the same wu as in wushu (martial art 武術) or wude (martial virtue 武德). Xia refers to a chivalrous person or a knight-errant. It is often translated as just ‘martial knight’ but the ‘errant’ suffix is very important. I’ll come back to that.
Wuxia refers to a genre of Chinese fiction usually based in dynastic China, a fantasy era where knights and magic exists. The genre encompasses all media – books, television, movies, comic books, and videogames. It’s a ubiquitous part of Chinese culture, just like Batman and Spiderman are here in the USA, only it’s a lot older. Three of the four classic Chinese novels (gudian xiaoshuo 古典小說) fall into the wuxia genre: The 14th Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi 三國演義) by Luo Guanzhong, Water Margin (Shuihu Zhuan 水滸傳) by Shi Naian, a.k.a. Outlaws of the Marsh, also from the 14th century, and the 16th century epic Journey to the West Xi You Ji 西遊記) by Wu Chengen.
Among the contemporary masters of wuxia literature are celebrated novelists Louis Cha (Jin Yong 1924-2018 金庸) and Shiao Yi (1935-2018 蕭逸). Cha wrote 16 works of fiction, many as newspaper serials, notably the Condor Trilogy: The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Return of the Condor Heroes and The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre. Many of his books were retold in movies, TV series, and comic books. Shiao wrote 55 novels and novellas which were also retold in movies, TV series and comic books. His son Peter Payhuan Shiao (萧培寰) is presently retelling updated versions of his father’s work in comic book form with his publishing company Immortal Studios (full disclosure – I work for Immortal Studios as an action coordinator so this is a bit of martial name dropping on my part, but I must ‘ensure my position’ – it’s a Jianghu thing). Cha was based in Hong Kong and Shiao was in Taiwan (until he immigrated to the United States) so it was often said “Southern Jin, Northern Shiao (Nan Jin Bei Shiao 南金北蕭)” for these two titans of wuxia literature. By strange coincidence, Cha and Shiao died within 20 days of each other. Shiao died 7 days after Stan Lee, the comic book pioneer. They had met in Los Angeles prior to their passing and I can only wonder what they might have discussed.
All those golden era period Kung Fu movies from Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers are wuxia, as is CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON. Many of those films were based on stories plucked from those three classic Chinese novels, Cha, and Shiao. CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON was based on a wuxia novel too. The novel was written by another modern master of wuxia literature, Wang Dulu (1909-1997 王度廬), part of his Crane-Iron pentalogy (鶴鐵系列). Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍) was the fourth installment; the fifth and final book was Iron Knight, Silver Vase (鐵騎銀瓶) which was retitled to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2: Sword of Destiny when it was produced for Netflix.
“You enchanted me with the world of Giang Hu. But once I realized I could surpass you, I became so frightened! Everything fell apart.” Jen Yu (Yu Jiaolong 玉嬌龍 – Zhang Ziyi)
So why is wuxia associated with ‘rivers and lakes?’ Jianghu is a more specific term referring to the subculture of wuxia warriors – the community of Kung Fu masters within wuxia stories. These are classically from sword wielding periods in an imaginary Chinese history, although some contemporary stories might fall into this category if thematically similar. It’s Chinese sword and sorcery, what was loosely dubbed ‘Fant-Asia’ as Asian cinema began to have some cult following in the West. Fant-Asia expanded to encompass anime and some Asian sci-fi, basically becoming an umbrella term for Asian cinema with a penchant for the fantastic.
The Jianghu are an alternate society existing within our own, akin to how the magical world of Harry Potter exists within the muggle world or how superheroes have their own social structure the Avengers within the MCU or the Justice League within DCEU apart from regular people without superpowers. In the Jianghu world, there is a code of honor, there are rules of social etiquette, and the clans and sects are ripe with political intrigue. Masters are fiercely loyal to their lineage and style, and students are dedicated to their masters with Confucian commitment. These rules are violated by the villains and bent by some of the antiheroes. Both good and evil can fall under the Jianghu banner. Those characters are what drives these tales by giving the heroes opposition. And my friend wasn’t far off in his ‘triad tong’ assumption. Nowadays, Jianghu can also refer to the criminal underworld.
An undercurrent of rebellion against an oppressive regime is a consistent theme within the Jianghu. This element can be traced back to Water Margin where the heroes are rebels against the Northern Song Dynasty (969-1127 CE). This is echoed within stories told about the Qing Dynasty (1636–1912 CE) where loyalists to the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 CE) became rebels against the Manchu rule. The bulk of modern wuxia stories are set in this period. Consequently, most of the beloved Kung Fu movies are too. The trope of rebel heroes is universal spanning Robin Hood to STAR WARS.
There is a popular creation story behind the Jianghu label connected to this rebel spirit. During the Qing, Ming rebels created an underground network through live theater performed on boats. These boats were floating stages, often painted red to attract attention, so some lore refer to them as the ‘red boats.’ The boats travelled the waterways of China, covertly serving as a communication link for rebel groups in different villages and cities. This is a commonly given explanation of the meaning behind ‘rivers and lakes.’
And like so many martial arts myths, it more romantic than realistic.
“It's the Giang Hu fighter lifestyle... kill or be killed. Exciting, isn't it?” Jade Fox (Biyan Huli 碧眼狐狸 – Cheng Pei-pei)
There may well have been red boat rebels back in those days. It is such a prevalent myth that it feels as if it may have indeed been based on something historical. However, there is a far simpler answer to why rivers and lakes is used to refer to these wandering warriors. This goes back to that distinction between a knight and a knight-errant. Like the Jianghu, the knight-errant is a figure in chivalric romance literature. Errant can mean journeying, straying from the course, or moving in an aimless manner, the latter two definitions tie into the rebel undercurrent. Errant stems from the Latin iterare, from which we also derive the terms itinerant and itinerary. A knight-errant is a wandering knight searching for adventures to prove his chivalric virtue or win the hand of his love. This is parallel to the Jianghu. However, unlike knighthood, which was solely granted to men in medieval times, women can hold their own and then some within the Jianghu. A perfect example is COME DRINK WITH ME. In 1966, it was one of the earliest wuxia blockbusters starring the queen of Kung Fu cinema, Cheng Pei-pei. She was equally fierce in CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON.
Those itinerate warriors were backpackers. Some of them travelled by horseback, but most of them trekked on foot. It wasn’t like me with my modern backpack and camping gear. They travelled with a small pack and of course, their weapon (for the record, I’ve backpacked with my trusty Shaolin staff, but that’s another story.)
When it comes to rivers and lakes, backpackers understand. In order to trek into the wilderness, you need to be near a water source. Water is too heavy to pack more than a day or two’s worth. Backpacking trails always run adjacent to water sources like rivers and lakes. While the Red Boat creation story has a romantic appeal, and may have some historical basis, it’s a complication of something much simpler. The rivers and lakes were merely a poetic way to describe ancient backpackers. The Jianghu, like the knight-errant, were itinerant.
“Look at the trouble you've caused. Now you know what Giang Hu life is really like.” Yu Shu Lien (俞秀蓮 Michelle Yeoh)
The perpetuation of the Red Boat story over a much simpler, albeit less cool, explanation reveals an intrinsic problem with traditional martial arts. It reminds me of that classic line from THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALENCE “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend” Maxwell Scott (Carleton Young). It’s far more appealing to think of Red Boat rebels as the origin of the rivers and lakes reference, so much so that we overlook the obvious. It’s a behavior that can be seen across the martial arts on many different levels. We gravitate towards the more fantastic because it seems more powerful, more epic and grandiose. And while such myths are fun to retell, it’s important to keep it real. Authentic martial arts are grounded in what is practical, not what is fantastic.
“I thought by giving away the sword, I could escape the Giang Hu world. But the cycle of bloodshed continues.” Li Mu Bai
The pandemic has been hard. When print magazine Kung Fu Tai Chi folded, I had to reevaluate a lot. Losing my full-time job sent me back into the world of freelancing for a while. And that also reminded me of Jianghu life. Remember that the lance in freelance refers to a polearm and being a free agent lance bearer sounds very Jianghu to me.
took a major injury early in the summer which forced me to cancel another backpacking trip earlier in the year. This Yosemite trip was challenging because I was still on the mend. I was still in fair amount of pain so hiking 8 miles a day in full pack at high altitude was rough.
Nothing brings you into the Zen of the moment like pain. Sometimes I think that’s why Kung Fu is a practice of Shaolin monks. Whether I’m sitting in meditation or reciting my Twin Tigerhead Hooks (as has been my preference for this Year of the Tiger, there’s no distinction. That’s what I tell myself at least.
When we reached Emerald Lake, we camped near where some boulders made tiny islands in the water. It was a good spot for refilling our bottles and a great spot for qigong. After I recited Baduanjin, I sat in meditation and came out with this haiku:
Qigong by the lake
Shimmering ripples on rock
A moment of peace
If we martial artists are going to call ourselves artists, we should behave like artists. Artists constantly struggle to feed their muse, and whatever art you pursue, all your experiences inform it. Backpacking is so inspirational for me – everything is so clear on the trail – so there was space in my head to write despite being on vacation. See now that’s the thing right there. Genuine artists never really take vacations. Genuine martial artists are the same.
I’ve been ruminating about the Jianghu way since going freelance and working for Immortal Studios on wuxia comics. I hope to craft a few more feature pieces like this for KungFuMagazine.com, which I plan to dub ‘Rivers & Lakes’ and if anyone asks, like my subtitle reading friend, I’ll just refer them here.
Happy Trails. Until we meet again…
