Yu Zhaoxing

Yu Zhaoxing

Contents

Yu Zhaoxing (simplified: 余兆兴, traditional: 餘兆興, pinyin: Yú Zhàoxīng, jyutping: jyu4 siu6 hing1) was a member of the Beggars’ Guild and the shizhi of Li Sheng, the Snake King of Jiangdong. He belonged to the Dirty Clothes Faction under Lu Youjiao, and died by his own hand at the Mount Jun assembly.

Biography

Baoying

Yu Zhaoxing accompanied his shishu Li Sheng to Baoying, where four young women had been abducted in three days, to protect Cheng Yaojia from Ouyang Ke. Li Sheng introduced him to her as his shizhi. While Li Sheng lay in wait in her bed, Yu Zhaoxing kept watch downstairs with the other beggars. When Ouyang Ke’s women carried Li Sheng off in a sack and Ouyang Ke saw through the trick, Yu Zhaoxing called on his shishu to come out. Li Sheng was beaten and about to be blinded when Guo Jing and Huang Rong intervened.

Mount Jun

At the Beggars’ Guild assembly on Mount Jun, Yang Kang, now Guild Chief, accused Guo Jing and Huang Rong of murdering Hong Qigong. Li Sheng and Yu Zhaoxing, grateful for the rescue at Baoying and aware that Hong Qigong was fond of the two, came forward to vouch for them. Yu Zhaoxing cried, “These two are good people, the best friends a man could have.” Elder Liang silenced them, saying that their elder should speak for them, and being of lower rank they withdrew.

Qiu Qianren then arrived and demanded satisfaction for some Iron Palm Keep men whom two Beggars’ Guild members had badly beaten. Li Sheng explained that the two of them had stopped the Iron Palm men oppressing common people and trying to carry off women, as the Guild’s fourth rule required. Yang Kang ordered them to apologise to Qiu Qianren all the same. Li Sheng declared that he would rather die than be disgraced and stabbed himself in the heart with a short dao. Yu Zhaoxing seized the dao, stabbed himself in the chest and died on Li Sheng’s body.

Huang Rong later cited their deaths when she turned the beggars against Yang Kang. Once she had become Guild Chief she told the beggars to give Li Sheng and Yu Zhaoxing a proper burial.

Personality & traits

Yu Zhaoxing was loyal to his shishu and to Guo Jing and Huang Rong. He spoke up for them at Mount Jun, and chose to follow Li Sheng in death rather than make an apology that he saw as a disgrace to the Guild.

Martial arts abilities

The novel does not describe Yu Zhaoxing’s martial arts.

Relationships

  • Li Sheng — his shishu, with whom he died at Mount Jun.
  • Lu Youjiao — the elder in charge of the Dirty Clothes Faction, to which he belonged.
  • Guo Jing and Huang Rong — who rescued him and Li Sheng at Baoying, and whom he defended at Mount Jun.

See also

Related articles