The politics of the Scholar in White
By
Dr Wong Wee Nam
The Scholar in White (白衣秀士) is not an idiom referring to those scholars selected by the PAP to be its candidates for general elections. It is actually the kungfu nickname of Wang Lun (王伦), a character in the famous Chinese novel, The Water Margin（水浒传）.
To understand the character Wang Lun, it is necessary to know what the book, The Water Margin, is about.
The book is made up of short stories of various characters and their adventures. Set in the last days of the Song Dynasty, corruption, incompetence in government, political disorder, oppression by the ruling class and the powerful and cruelty in meting out punishment were the norm. The 108 heroes in the stories are labelled “outlaws” because of their opposition to the establishment.
However, because of their determination to fight for universal justice (替天行道), they are regarded as heroes by the common folks and strikes a chord with generations of oppressed people because the stories are about the heroism of the common man that even peasants can identify themselves with.
The historical background that formed the basis of the book was the reign of the useless Emperor Huizong, of the Song Dynasty. After he ascended the throne, he robbed and exploited the people so much that he aroused peasants to rise up against him. Water Margin is a fictional account of one of the uprisings led by a hero named Song Jiang.
This book is not just an ordinary Chinese kungfu novel. The reason why it is one of China’s four greatest novels and the story an enduring one is because of its serious underlying theme which carries a universal and eternal message. For generations after generations and dynasties after dynasties, the inspirational message is to oppose oppression and fight for the rights of the people. It is about the spirit of the people and that everyone can decide his destiny. It is about democracy – consensus and equality, group decision against dictatorship. “Within the four seas, all men are brothers” 四海之内皆兄弟也。
The Water Margin is not just a political novel; it is also a political primer. It is about how a revolution comes about – by being forced by oppression. It is about how disparate and weak little groups can gel to form a formidable force. Lu Xun, the great modern Chinese writer, described the book as having a reformist spirit.
The book was popular during the Yuan Dynasty because it contained inspirational stories extolling the virtue of heroism against domination. For this reason it was banned during the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Even Chairman Mao Zedong was an avid fan. He told a lot of people so, including Edgar Snow, the first westerner to interview him. By his own admission Mao had read the book more than ten times and drawn many political lessons from it. He had advised people to read it as a book of politics.
He proclaimed, “The Water Margin reflects the political situation of its times. The Golden Lotus reflects the economic situation of its times. Both books must be read.” (20/2/1956)
“《水浒传》是反映当时的政治情况的，《金瓶梅》是反映当时经济情况的。这两本书不可不看。”
We now turn back to Wang Lun, the Scholar in White. During the oppressive reign of Emperor Huizong, there were more than ten opposition parties fighting against the established order. Each group established its various bases on the many mountains in the country and each was led by very strong leaders. Nevertheless, the parties were weak and ineffective because they were disparaged and fragmented.
Amongst these opposition parties, the biggest and the richest was the one at Liangshan Marsh led by Wang Lun. Unfortunately Wang Lun lacked talent and was intellectually sub-standard. Even worse, he was small minded and was therefore ineffective.
To the credit of Wang Lun, he had foresight to choose Liangshan as his base. This mountain stronghold was very secure, easy for fugitives to escape to and difficult for enemy forces to attack. There was an early warning system in place and no directional landmarks in the marsh. So it was impossible for any enemy force to launch a surprise raid.
In spite of these advantages, Wang Lun never made it big. In fact, in the book, he never even became the 108 heroes of Water Margin. There is a good reason for it. Though he ran the biggest opposition outfit and all the other opposition parties looked up to him, he was a small minded person. His fault was that he was satisfied with his lot and simply turned away talents and people whom he considered better than him. As a result his party could not grow. Furthermore, since he was not willing to provide the leadership, there was no opposition unity to talk about to challenge the government forces.
Two incidents illustrate this negative trait of Wang Lun.
In the first, a fugitive by the name of Lin Chong went up to Liangshan to seek refuge. Lin Chong was a government military instructor with exceptional fighting skills. He would have been an asset to Wang Lun. Yet when Wang met him, his first thought was that Lin was definitely more skilful than them and no one would be able to stop him should he challenge them for power. (His actual thoughts were: 我又没十分本事，杜迁、宋万武艺也只平常。如今不争添了这个人，他是京师禁军教头，必然好武艺。倘若被他识破我们手段，他须占强，我们如何迎敌?).
He thus feted Lin, told him that he lacked accommodation and food and then gave him gifts of silver and silk and bade him to seek refuge in another place.
In the second incident, when the "Righteous Seven" led by Chao Gai came to Liangshan for refuge, Wang Lun again tried to send them away again with gifts. He used the same excuse he had used on Lin Chong earlier. Lin Chong became even more incensed with Wang Lun for his narrow-mindedness and self-interest. Under some instigation, Lin Chong finally killed him and Chao Gai was voted the new chief.
For this reason Wang Lun left behind a poor reputation. Nowadays the phrase “Scholar in White, Wang Lun” is used to describe a mediocre person who squeezes out or rejects others who are more capable than himself or someone who preserves his own position by elbowing out others except those who are inferior to him.
Needless to say, under a mean character like Wang Lun, Liangshan did not grow into a formidable force. It was only after his assassination that opposition unity became a reality. All the chieftains from the ten opposition camps then decided to throw their lot in with Chao Gai and his group at Liangshan marsh and the rebels became a force that could match the government forces.
For his decisive act, Lin Chong became a popular legendary folk hero in the folklore of China.
Advising his comrades, Chairman Mao Zedong said, “Don’t become like the Scholar in White Wang Lun from The Water Margin. He does not allow revolution. Any person who does not allow revolution puts himself in a dangerous position. Wang Lun didn’t and he paid for it.” (Selected Works of Mao Zedong.)
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