Xie Zhen (Water Margin)
| Xie Zhen | |
|---|---|
| Water Margin character | |
| Nickname | "Double-headed Serpent" 兩頭蛇 |
| Rank | 34th, Savage Star (天暴星) of the 36 Heavenly Spirits |
| Infantry leader of Liangshan | |
| Origin | Hunter |
| Ancestral home / Place of origin | Dengzhou (in present-day eastern Shandong) |
| First appearance | Chapter 49 |
| Weapon | Bronze forked spear (渾鐵點鋼叉) |
| Names | |
| Simplified Chinese | 解珍 |
| Traditional Chinese | 解珍 |
| Pinyin | Xiè Zhēn |
| Wade–Giles | Hsieh Chen |
Xie Zhen is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He ranks 34th of the 36 Heavenly Spirits of the 108 Liangshan heroes and is nicknamed "Double-headed Serpent".
The novel describes Xie Zhen as seven chi tall, with a purplish face, wide shoulders and a narrow waist. He dons trousers made of leopard skin and wraps a cloth made of tiger skin around his torso. He has a reputation for being brave and daring. He can travel in harsh conditions, scale mountains and climb dangerous cliffs. He is highly skilled in martial arts and carries a bronze forked spear as his weapon. He is nicknamed "Double-headed serpent".
Xie Zhen and his younger brother, Xie Bao, are the best hunters in Dengzhou (登州; in present-day eastern Shandong). The magistrate commissions them to, within three days, hunt down a ferocious tiger which has been terrorising Dengzhou's residents. On the second night, the Xie brothers track down the tiger, corner it on a cliff, and fire poison arrows at it. The wounded tiger falls off the cliff and lands in the backyard of Squire Mao's residence. Unknown to the Xie brothers, Squire Mao had ordered his servants to bring the dead tiger to the magistrate to claim the reward and accuse the Xie brothers of attempting to rob him. The Xie brothers are arrested by the magistrate's men when they show up at Squire Mao's house to retrieve the dead tiger. Squire Mao also bribes the magistrate to sentence the Xie brothers to death.
Yue He, the jailer in charge of watching over the Xie brothers, is a relative of Sun Li, a cousin-in-law of the Xie brothers. He informs Sun Li, Sun Xin (Sun Li's brother), Gu Dasao (Sun Xin's wife) and their friends Zou Run and Zou Yuan about the situation and implores them to save the Xie brothers. With Yue He's help, Sun Li and the others stage a raid on the prison in Dengzhou and successfully rescue the Xie brothers. They kill Squire Mao and his family in revenge and then flee to Liangshan Marsh to join the outlaw band there.
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