Tao Zongwang

Tao Zongwang
Water Margin character
Nickname "Nine Tailed Turtle"
九尾龜
Rank 75th, Manage Star (地理星) of the 72 Earthly Fiends
Construction supervisor of Liangshan
Origin Bandit leader from Mount Yellow Gate
Ancestral home / Place of origin Guangzhou (around present-day Huangchuan County, Xinyang, Henan)
First appearance Chapter 41
Weapon Iron shovel
Names
Simplified Chinese 陶宗旺
Traditional Chinese 陶宗旺
Pinyin Táo Zōngwàng
Wade–Giles T'ao Tsung-wang
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Tao.

Tao Zongwang is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He ranks 75th of the 108 Liangshan heroes and 39th of the 72 Earthly Fiends. He is nicknamed "Nine Tailed Turtle".

Background

Tao Zongwang is born in a peasant family in Guangzhou (光州; around present-day Huangchuan County, Xinyang, Henan). He possesses great strength and is highly skilled in the use of the spear and sword. He is nicknamed "Nine Tailed Turtle". He becomes the leader of a group of bandits based on Mount Yellow Gate (黃門山), alongside Ou Peng, Ma Lin and Jiang Jing.

Joining Liangshan

After saving Song Jiang and Dai Zong in Jiangzhou (江州; east of present-day Chongzuo, Guangxi), the outlaws from Liangshan Marsh are making their way back to base when they passed by Mount Yellow Gate along the way. The four bandit chiefs stop the Liangshan outlaws and request to join them. Song Jiang agrees and they return to Liangshan together.

Campaigns and death

Tao Zongwang is placed in charge of overseeing the construction of defence infrastructure at Liangshan after the Grand Assembly of the 108 Stars of Destiny. He follows the heroes on their campaigns against the Liao invaders and rebel forces after they have been granted amnesty by Emperor Huizong. He is killed in the battle of Runzhou (潤州; present-day Runzhou District, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) during the campaign against the rebel leader Fang La.

References