Originally posted by me_a_clone:
Recently i watch the Liang shan 108 VCD.. I am impress by Li kui loyalty to his brother song jiang till the end when he finish the spike wine given to song jiang jiang by Kao QU thru his evil plot.. Although song jiang is consider as 1 of the 'good fellow' but am really sad that for his own selfish thinking he chose to submit to the empire and cost most of his brothers to lost their life in the event when they were sent to jiang nan to suppress the 'Fang' rebellion. Maybe if song jiang did not submit, the histories of liang shan pass down to us might be diff..
i like that show very very much too (altho some parts are debatable e.g. the death of Lin Chong).
I'm quite surprised you made that comment about Song Jiang being "selfish". On the contrary, it is exactly becoz he is very responsible as a leader to his men that he had to plan for their future. If you are a leader, would you want your brothers' name to be tarnished forever in history? If they didnt submit to the court, do you think they will be as well known in history? Rather they will leave a bad name forever, tarnishing not only their own names but their families as well. They will forever be living as bandits! Maybe they wont even be remembered in history, just like one of the many other bandits.
Another central theme is Patriotism. Even though he knows the court is corrupted, he still wants a chance to do his duty for his country. The Song empire was so full of corruption and so weak, without them, maybe Song Dynasty would have ended much earlier, with many external threats coupled with bandits from within.
What is your impression of Fang La's group? He who even dared to proclaim himself emperor?
so you see the difference why we honor Song Jiang rather than Fang La? Even though the evil Gao Qiu got what he wanted, he has lost all honor and respect in history, and the Emperor is also disgraced becoz of his weak character.