Tian Hu is a fictional character and antagonist in ''

Water Margin ''Water Margin'' (), also called ''Outlaws of the Marsh'' or ''All Men Are Brothers'', is a Chinese novel from the Ming dynasty that is one of the preeminent Classic Chinese Novels. Attributed to Shi Nai'an, ''Water Margin'' was one of the e ...

'', one of the

Four Great Classical Novels Classic Chinese Novels () are the best-known works of literary fiction across pre-modern Chinese literature. The group usually includes the following works: Ming dynasty novels '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', '' Water Margin'', ''Journey to t ...

Chinese literature The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with the earliest recorded inscriptions, court archives, building to the major works of philosophy and history written during the Axial Age. The Han dynasty, Han (202 ...

. He is one of the three rebel leaders in the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

along with

Fang La Fang La (; died 1121) was a Chinese rebel leader who led an uprising against the Song dynasty. In the classical novel ''Water Margin'', he is fictionalised as one of the primary antagonists and nemeses of the 108 Stars of Destiny. He is sometim ...

and Wang Qing, that the Liangshan heroes have to defeat in the final chapters of the novel. He only appears in the longest versions of the stories which include these extra chapters.

Life

Tian Hu was originally a hunter from Qinyuan County, Weisheng Prefecture (威胜府),

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

. He possesses great physical strength and excels in martial arts. The government of the

is corrupt and people are suffering from extreme poverty and natural disasters. Tian Hu uses the opportunity to spread rumours and incite people to follow him in rebelling against the government. As the local government is weak and lacks a capable military force to suppress Tian Hu's rebels, Tian conquers and overrun five prefectures and 56 counties in a short time. Tian Hu establishes for himself a domain in the

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

and

region and proclaims himself "King of Jin". He also builds a palace for himself in Fenyang. After the Liangshan outlaws have been granted amnesty by Emperor Huizong, the emperor sends them on military campaigns to drive away the Liao invaders in the north and suppress the rebel forces on Song territory as a form of service to the Song Empire. The Liangshan heroes successfully defeated the Liao invaders, followed by Tian Hu and Wang Qing's rebel forces, without suffering much casualties. Tian Hu is captured by Liangshan's "Featherless Arrow" Zhang Qing after his defeat.

Life

References

Further reading