Jianghu Imagination and Power Practice

In Water Margin, jianghu (“江湖”) on the one hand bears a dual identity imagination of the heroes: in the front position is an imaginary community based on yiqi (“义气”), wuyi (“武艺”) and enterprise, and behind which is an emotional relationship with family, nation and history. On the other hand, jianghu is a field of power practice. In the heroes’ eyes, liangshanpo (“梁山泊”) should be connected with a kind of omnipotent and unchecked power. Fang La’s bangyuandong (“帮源洞”) is a relevant metaphor. With the advent of Song Jiang and the construction of a meticulous language representation system and a power hierarchy, the escapees are ushered into a discourse frame of nation and a narrative of history. If not step into bangyuandong, you have to kneel before the emperor. One shared character of these two things is to seize power and fortune. As an existence of space, Water Margin has no other ideals for people to choose.