Hi,

I was wondering how many people who post here are interested in Chinese films? I've learnt about Chinese History primarily though film, but the films don't offer many suggestions for further study. Also, I'm curious to know if some characters are actual historical personages. i'm watching a film set in 1366 now called "The Fate Of Lee Khan". A general by the name of Zhu seems to be important in this film. I think he was the Hongwu emperor. Was there a Mongol official named "Lee Khan" or was he invented for the purpose of the film? Did General Zhu really have an army of 100,000 men?

Thanks

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Zhu Yuan Zang had an army of over 100,000 men. I supposed it's a movie about the red turban rebellion against the Mongol

Thanks for the info! If I have other film related questions, should I just add them to this thread?

I personally have not heard about the movie, so feel free to add more info to the movie. If it's more about the nature of chinese movie, I might move this thread to Chinese Entertainment forum. But if it concerns more about the history aspect, I'll leave it in this forum.

Thanks. I'm really most interested in discussing these films with you guys in regards to their historical context. There are many films I had questions about in relation to history, though. Like, about the burning of Shaolin Temple, the Five Ancestors, major historical figures, etc... Should I just pose any questions I have about history in this thread? I wouldn't want to clutter the board.

Don't worry, if you have any questions about other subjects, feel free to ask them in their respective boards.

Okay here's another question -

I was watching a Sammo Hung film & the opening subtitles say the the 18 weapons of Chinese martial arts were founded by the "Sun Wu father & son during the warring period". I think that the warring period must refer to the warring states period. Who were the Sun Wu father & son? Are they famous historical figures? A google search of the forum turned up something on Sun Wu, but is the part about the 18 weapons fabricated? Who are the father & son they are refering to?

Thanks!

I have never heard of any connection to the said "18 Weapons" (which are really kind of a...well, one of those phrases in history I can never take seriously, as there is no single list of these andthere are far more weapons than that) to Sun Wu. I don't know about the father and son part, but Sun Wu was said to have written the Art of War, but debate goes on about his existence.

So, Sun Wu & Sun Tsu are the same person, but with names pronounced differently?

Sun Wu was his name. Sun Tzu (Sun Zi in modern Pinyin) simply means something like "Master Sun", like Kongzi (Confucius) means "Master Kong (whereas his name was actually Kong Qiu).

If you have any further questions, you might want to post in the ask-any-question thread.

I think the 十八般武器 is more of Song creation.

The movie in question is called "The Odd Couple". That Sun Wu/Tzu would be connected with the 18 weapons in any way was surprising to me. I'd be curious to make sense of the father & son comment. I wish I knew Chinese & would have to reley on subtitles!

The historical facts were not correct.

Sun Wu (Sun Tzu) was in the Spring/Autumn period, not warring state period. Sun Wu wrote the famous "Sun Tzu's Art of War" (Sunzi Bingfa), which had become the military text for most of the military schools around the world today.

The '18 weapons' were more likely to begin during Han period, but appeared in its full version in Ming period.