{"id":1784,"date":"2011-05-05T06:56:56","date_gmt":"2011-05-04T22:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.happybonsai.com\/?p=1784"},"modified":"2011-05-05T06:56:56","modified_gmt":"2011-05-04T22:56:56","slug":"zhuge-liang-kong-ming-the-crouching-tiger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happybonsai.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/05\/zhuge-liang-kong-ming-the-crouching-tiger\/","title":{"rendered":"Zhuge Liang (Kong Ming) – The Crouching Dragon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kong<\/a>
Zhuge Liang figurine in Happy Bonsai Shop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From time to time, I receive emails from customers asking me for more details about the few figurines of significant Chinese historical characters that are now selling in Happy Bonsai Shop. Some of these figurines are the most popular characters in Chinese history. And today, I would like to introduce one of my favorite Chinese historical character – Zhuge Liang (\u8af8\u845b\u4eae)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you play video games, I bet you know him already. Zhuge Liang\u2019s reputation for being an unparalleled genius is fully emphasized in his role in video games (usually his intelligence power is highest among all characters). Or if you have been in China before, you may have come across statues of a man wearing a robe and holding a hand fan made of crane feathers. Yes, that\u2019s Zhuge Liang.<\/p>\n

\"Zhuge<\/a>
Zhuge Liang in a video game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Zhuge<\/a>
Statue of Zhuge Liang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Zhuge Liang, also known as Kong Ming (\u5b54\u660e)<\/a>, was a chancellor (Chinese: \u4e1e\u76f8) of Shu Han Kingdom during China\u2019s turbulent era of Three Kingdoms (220 -280).\u00a0 He is often recognized as the greatest and most accomplished strategist in Chinese history. Zhuge Liang was also known as a contemporary of Guan Yu, the patron saint of martial arts.<\/p>\n

Through researching and self-taught, Zhuge Liang was not only a master in astronomy and geography, but also an expert in military strategy and tactics. In his early year, Zhuge Liang lived in a thatched cottage, working as a farmer while studying (Zhuge Liang\u2019s living in relative aloofness and others\u2019 underestimation of his intelligence are probably how Zhuge Liang earned his nickname – \u201cCrouching Dragon\u201d (\u81e5\u9f8d)).<\/p>\n

\"Zhuge<\/a>
Zhuge Liang in the movie - The Battle of Red Cliff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

\"Zhuge<\/a>
A painting of Zhuge Liang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Legend states that Liu Bei (\u5289\u5099), then a descendent of the royal Han house, heard of Zhuge Liang\u2019s great wisdom and went three times to Zhuge Liang\u2019s little cottage, inviting Zhuge Liang<\/a> to be his military advisor. Zhuge Liang was touched by Liu Bei\u2019s sincerity. Zhuge Liang then shared his plan of reunifying the whole nation. Liu Bei was enlightened and pleased, adopted Zhuge Liang\u2019s plan – setting up his kingdom in the west and allying with the state of Wu in the East. From then on, Zhuge Liang (by then 26 years old) helped Liu Bei to reunify the nation and establish the Han Dynasty.<\/p>\n

Zhuge Liang assisted Liu Bei through many difficult situations, and his wisdom and achievement were popularized by the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (\u4e09\u570b\u6f14\u7fa9) written in the Ming Dynasty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From time to time, I receive emails from customers asking me for more details about the few figurines of significant Chinese historical characters that are now selling in Happy Bonsai Shop. Some of these figurines are the most popular characters in Chinese history. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,5],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/happybonsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/happybonsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/happybonsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happybonsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happybonsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/happybonsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/happybonsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happybonsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happybonsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}