44 Origins of a Military Tradition
him eventually to the heroic band of rebels who live by the “Water Margin” at
the Liangshan Marsh.
The novel highlights Lu’s dietary transgressions, having him devour dog
meat, which, though consumed in parts of China, is shunned by many Chi-
nese. The popular Chinese religion regards dogs as ritually polluting, for
which reason it also considers them magically potent. In Taiwan, for ex-
ample, canine deities are the subject of nightly worship, and dog flesh is
sometimes utilized in black magic.^74 This does not deter the carnivorous Lu
Zhishen, who eagerly consumes all meat. The narrator exploits the literary
topos of the meat-eating monk for all its worth, savoring each detail as the
dog-hungry Lu thrusts both hands into the animal’s carcass. It is no accident
that he has his savage protagonist garnish his meal with garlic, which, like
meat, is shunned by Chinese Buddhists:^75
Lu consumed ten big bowls of wine. “Have you any meat?” he asked. “I
want a platter.”
“I had some beef earlier in the day,” replied the proprietor, “but it’s
all sold out.”
Lu Zhishen caught a whiff of the fragrance of cooking meat. He
went into the yard and found a dog boiling in an earthenware pot by the
compound wall.
“You’ve got dog meat,” he said. “Why don’t you sell me any?”
“I thought as a monk you wouldn’t eat it, so I didn’t ask.”
“I’ve plenty of money here.” Lu pulled out some silver and handed it
over. “Bring me half.”
The proprietor cut off half the dog carcass and placed it on the
table with a small dish of garlic sauce. Lu tore into it delightedly with
both hands. At the same time he consumed another ten bowls of wine.
He found the wine very agreeable and kept calling for more.^76Lu’s dietary misdemeanor was taken up, six hundred years after the novel’s
composition, by a movie that portrays Shaolin monks as dog eaters. Produced
in 1982, the film Shaolin Temple (Shaolin si) has played a significant role in the
monastery’s modern history. Among the biggest blockbusters in mainland cin-
ema history, it featured some of the greatest Chinese martial artists, most nota-
bly the legendary Li Lianjie ( Jet Li) (b. 1963), who by the age of eighteen had
five times earned the title of All-Round National Champion. At the tender age
of eleven, Li had performed at the White House as part of a Chinese martial
arts tour, which figured in the hesitant beginnings of diplomatic relations be-
tween China and the United States. Eight years later, he was cast in the movie
Shaolin Temple as a monk, appearing side by side with some of the monastery’s
own martial artists. The movie, which was filmed on location, aroused tremen-
dous interest in the Shaolin Monastery. Following its screening, thousands of
aspiring martial artists flocked to the temple, initiating the construction of