Du Wei (Water Margin)

Du Wei
Water Margin character
Infantry leader of Fang La
Origin	Blacksmith
Ancestral home / Place of origin	Shezhou (present-day She County, Huangshan City, Anhui)
Weapon	Flying daggers
Names
Simplified Chinese	杜微
Traditional Chinese	杜微
Pinyin	Dù Wēi
Wade–Giles	Tu Wei

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Du.

Du Wei is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He serves as a military officer under Fang La, a rebel leader who established a separatist regime in southern China against the ruling Song Empire. Fang La is one of the rebel leaders that the 108 Liangshan outlaws have to defeat after they have been granted amnesty by the Song government. Du Wei is best known for slaying Liangshan's Yu Baosi and Sun Erniang with his flying daggers, and for indirectly causing the death of Qin Ming.

Life

Du Wei is from Shezhou (歙州; present-day She County, Huangshan City, Anhui), where he used to be a blacksmith who forges weapons. He gains the trust of Fang La and becomes a military officer in Fang's rebel state later. He fights on foot and specialises in throwing flying daggers at enemies.

Du Wei plays an indirect role in the death of Qin Ming, a veteran Liangshan general. Qin Ming is locked in a duel with Fang Jie, Fang La's nephew, when Du Wei throws a flying dagger at him. Qin Ming manages to block the incoming projectile, but is caught off guard in the process by Fang Jie, who spears him to death.

Du Wei also kills Liangshan's Yu Baosi and Sun Erniang at the battle of Qingxi County (清溪縣; present-day Anxi County, Quanzhou, Fujian). After Qingxi County falls to the Liangshan forces, Du Wei escapes and takes shelter in the house of Wang Jiaojiao, a prostitute who used to live with him. However, Wang's father captures him, ties him up, and sends him to the Liangshan forces. Song Jiang, Liangshan's chief, rewards Wang's father and orders Du Wei to be executed by disembowelment as a sacrifice to the heroes he killed.

References

• (Chinese) Li, Mengxia. 108 Heroes from the Water Margin, page 217. EPB Publishers Pte Ltd, 1992. ISBN 9971-0-0252-3.
• Buck, Pearl. All Men are Brothers. Moyer Bell Ltd, 2006. ISBN 9781559213035.
• Zhang, Lin Ching. Biographies of Characters in Water Margin. Writers Publishing House, 2009. ISBN 978-7506344784.
• Keffer, David. Outlaws of the Marsh.
• Miyamotois, Yoko. Water Margin: Chinese Robin Hood and His Bandits.
• (Japanese) Ichisada, Miyazaki. Suikoden: Kyoko no naka no Shijitsu. Chuo Koronsha, 1993. ISBN 978-4122020559.
• Shibusawa, Kou. Bandit Kings of Ancient China. KOEI, 1989.