Zou Yuan
Water Margin character
First appearance	Chapter 49
Nickname	"Forest Emerging Dragon" 出林龍
Rank	90th,Short Star (地短星) of the 72 Earthly Fiends
Infantry leader of Liangshan
Origin	Outlaw leader
Ancestral home / Place of origin	Laizhou,Shandong
Weapon	Flying TigerStaff (飛虎棒)
Names
Simplified Chinese	邹渊
Traditional Chinese	鄒淵
Pinyin	Zōu Yuān
Wade–Giles	Tsou Yüan

Zou Yuan is a fictional character inWater Margin, one of theFour Great Classical Novels inChinese literature. Nicknamed "Forest Emerging Dragon", he ranks 90th among the108 Stars of Destiny and 54th among the 72 Earthly Fiends.

Zou Yuan, a native ofLaizhou, is skilled in martial arts. Upright and principled, he is intolerant of people he is contemptuous of. Before becoming an outlaw, he used to be a vagrant who indulged in gambling.

Zou Yuan and his nephewZou Run, who is about his age, lead a group of outlaws at Mount Dengyun (登雲山) nearLaizhou. They practise the principle of robbing the rich to help the poor. The Zous are close friends ofSun Xin andYang Lin,Deng Fei andShi Yong ofLiangshan Marsh.

The Xie brothers (Xie Zhen andXie Bao) are arrested in Dengzhou (登州; in present-day easternShandong) for smashing up the house of one Squire Mao who has pocketed the tiger they shot to claim the reward at the prefectural office.Yue He, a jailer in the prison and a distant relative of the Xies, takes the news to their cousinGu Dasao, warning that the brothers could be murdered in prison. Gu's husband Sun Xin enlists the Zous to help in the rescue. Sun Xin also compels his brotherSun Li, the garrison commandant of Dengzhou, to join the plan. After they extricated the Xies from prison, the group flee to join theLiangshan Marsh.

Before going up to the stronghold, Sun Li volunteers to infiltrate the Zhu Family Manor, which Liangshan has failed to take in two offensives. As Sun Li has learnt combat from the same teacher as Luan Tingyu, the martial arts instructor of the manor, he wins the confidence of the Zhus. As soon asSun Li gives his signal Zou Yuan, together with Zou Run, Sun Xin, Gu Dasao, the Xie brothers and Yue He, goes on a rampage inside the manor, taking it by surprise. The fall of the Zhu Family Manor is a great contribution by the group before their acceptance into Liangshan.

Zou Yuan is appointed as one of the leaders of the Liangshan infantry after the108 Stars of Destiny came together in what is called the Grand Assembly. He participates in the campaigns against theLiao invaders and rebel forces inSong territory following amnesty fromEmperor Huizong for Liangshan.

In the battle of Qingxi County (清溪縣; present-dayChun'an County,Zhejiang) in the campaign againstFang La's rebel forces, Zou Yuan is trampled to death by the enemy's cavalry.

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• Water Margin characters
• 72 Earthly Fiends
• Fictional characters from Shandong

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing Chinese-language text
• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• CS1 Chinese-language sources (zh)