Zhao Banshan (simplified: 赵半山, traditional: 趙半山, pinyin: Zhào Bànshān, jyutping: ziu6 bun3 saan1), known as the Thousand-Armed Buddha (千臂如来, also 千手如来 in Side Story), was the third leader of the Red Flower Society and a master of hidden weapons and Taiji martial arts. He was a significant character in both Side Story of the Flying Fox and The Book and the Sword. In Side Story he meets the twelve- or thirteen-year-old Hu Fei at the Shang Family Fort, teaches him two Taiji formulas and takes him as his sworn younger brother (SIDE ch. 3–4).
Biography
Background and Red Flower Society
Zhao Banshan was originally a disciple of the Wenzhou Wang family’s Taiji School before joining the Red Flower Society, an anti-Qing Dynasty secret society. He was known for his benevolent nature, exceptional martial arts skills, particularly in Taiji and hidden weapons, and his extensive network of contacts in the jianghu.
At the Shang Family Fort
In Side Story Zhao, a stout, kindly man in his fifties, has spent months riding thousands of li from the Muslim regions to catch Chen Yu, a renegade of the northern Taiji School. Sun Gangfeng, zhangmen of the Taiji School at Guangping, had cut off his own left hand and sent it with a letter in blood begging Zhao’s help: Chen had killed his shishu Lü Xixian and Lü’s son to learn the school’s Chaos Rings and Yin-Yang formulas. Zhao runs Chen to ground on a stormy night at the Shang Family Fort. He pins Chen with a single move, snaps the jian of the Tianlong man Yin Zhongxiang who strikes at his back, and catches a volley of seven darts in one sweep. When Old Madam Shang and Wang Jianying of the Eight Trigrams School turn on the boy Hu Fei, Zhao stays to protect him, and he gives Wang Jianying an antidote when a poisoned dart wounds his palm (SIDE ch. 3–4).
To Chen Yu’s astonishment, Zhao then recites the two formulas aloud and explains them, and Hu Fei takes in every word. When Chen attacks him from behind, Zhao defeats him with the principles he has just taught, pressing down on Chen from mid-air until his strength is spent. Zhao is inclined to spare him, but Chen flees from Lü Xixian’s daughter and dies against the red-hot iron door of the hall (SIDE ch. 4).
Old Madam Shang has shut the guests inside the iron hall her late husband Shang Jianming built as a trap, and set it on fire. Hu Fei is outside fighting the household alone; Zhao calls to him to use the Yin-Yang formula on the leader and the Chaos Rings on her followers, and with it Hu Fei disarms Old Madam Shang and breaks open the door. Zhao comes out last, carrying Lü Xixian’s daughter, then goes back into the fire with Hu Fei for Wang Jianjie and holds up a falling burning beam so that the boy can drag him out (SIDE ch. 4).
Moved by the boy’s courage in saving others, Zhao swears brotherhood with him on the open ground outside the fort and tells him to call him Third Brother. Fuk’anggan, then “Young Master Fu”, takes one look at Zhao and hurries away, having once been the Red Flower Society’s prisoner. Parting at a teahouse, Zhao advises Hu Fei to build his neili and leaves him four hundred taels in gold (SIDE ch. 4). Hu Fei later credits Zhao’s teaching as the turning point in his martial arts (SIDE ch. 5, 11).
In Beijing
In the Muslim regions Zhao praises Hu Fei so highly that Yuan Ziyi sets out resolved to test him, and Luo Bing, hearing of the boy who broke the iron hall, sends her own white horse, the one Zhao had ridden at the Shang Family Fort, to Hu Fei by her hand (SIDE ch. 4, 14, 19). At Fuk’anggan’s Grand Assembly of Zhangmen under Heaven Zhao, disguised as a fat guard, snatches a Jade Dragon Cup and puts out every light in the hall so that the captured Xinyan can be rescued (SIDE ch. 18–19). He meets Hu Fei again at Taoranting, where the Red Flower Society has come to mourn at a grave, and introduces him to Chen Jialuo (SIDE ch. 19).
Role in The Book & the Sword
In The Book and the Sword, Zhao Banshan is a prominent member of the Red Flower Society, serving under Chen Jialuo. He participates in many of the society’s anti-Qing activities, demonstrating his loyalty and martial prowess. His expertise in hidden weapons often proves crucial in battles against imperial forces.
Personality
In Side Story Zhao is gentle and good-natured, gets on with everyone and has friends across the jianghu. He usually lets even villains go after a lesson in the hope that they will mend their ways (SIDE ch. 3–4).
Martial arts
Zhao Banshan is a master of Taiji Fist (太极拳) who, in Side Story, knows the Taiji School’s Chaos Rings and Yin-Yang formulas by heart. The text explains his epithet: “Buddha” for his kindly face and heart, “Thousand-Hand” because he throws and catches hidden weapons as if he had a thousand hands. Hu Fei notes that he never seems to carry any, yet never runs out (SIDE ch. 3, 18).
Relationships
- Hu Fei (Sworn brother): Zhao swore brotherhood with him as a boy and taught him the two Taiji formulas.
- Yuan Ziyi: Calls him Third Uncle Zhao; his praise of Hu Fei sent her out to test him.
- Chen Jialuo: The chief leader of the Red Flower Society, whom he served loyally.
- Red Flower Society members: His sworn brothers in the anti-Qing organisation.