Mu Chun

Mu Chun
Water Margin character
Nickname	"Little Restrained" (小遮攔)
Rank	80th, Guardian Star (地鎮星) of the 72 Earthly Fiends
Infantry leader of Liangshan
Origin	Rich man
Hometown	Jieyang, Guangdong
First appearance	Chapter 36
Weapon	Saber
Names
Simplified Chinese	穆春
Traditional Chinese	穆春
Pinyin	Mù Chūn
Wade-Giles	Mu Ch'un

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

Mu Chun is a fictional character in the Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He ranks 80th of the 108 Liangshan heroes and 44th of the 72 Earthly Fiends. He is nicknamed "Little Restrained".

Background

Mu Chun is the younger brother of "Unrestrained" Mu Hong. The brothers are from a wealthy and influential family in Jieyang, Guangdong. Mu Chun excels in martial arts and wields a saber in battle.

Meeting Song Jiang

When Song Jiang is exiled to Jiangzhou (present-day Jiangxi), he passes by Jieyang along the way and meets the street performer Xue Yong. Xue Yong does not acknowledge the Mu brothers' presence and angers them. Mu Chun forbids the townsfolk to pay Xue Yong for his performance. Song Jiang ignores Mu Chun and pays Xue Yong five silver taels. Mu Chun is furious with Song Jiang for showing disrespect towards him and he wants to beat up Song, but Xue Yong comes to Song's aid and he defeats Mu in a fight.

Mu Chun feels humiliated after his defeat and orders the townsfolk not to let Song Jiang spend the night in the town. Mu Chun plots revenge on Song Jiang with his brother but Song overhears their conversation and flees from the village. Xue Yong is caught by the Mu brothers and severely beaten up. Song Jiang reaches the riverbank with the Mu brothers hot on pursuit and he boards Zhang Heng's boat in desperation to escape from them. Zhang Heng claims to be a ferryman but is in fact a pirate who robs unsuspecting travellers who board his boat. Zhang Heng wants to kill Song Jiang when the boat reaches the middle of the river but he is stopped by Li Jun. Li Jun introduces Song Jiang to Zhang Heng and the Mu brothers, who recognise him as the famous philanthropist. They apologise to Song Jiang and become friends with him.

Joining Liangshan

Song Jiang runs into some trouble in Jiangzhou later and is almost put to death. The Liangshan outlaws storm the execution ground and rescue him. They reach the riverbank where Li Jun, the Mu brothers and others are waiting with boats. They ferry the outlaws all the way back to Liangshan Marsh and the Mu brothers join Liangshan.

After the Grand Assembly, Mu Chun becomes one of the leaders of the Liangshan infantry. He follows the Liangshan heroes on their campaigns against the Liao invaders and southern rebel forces after they have been granted amnesty by the emperor. During the Fang La campaign, six heroes fall ill after the battle of Hangzhou and Mu Chun remains behind to take care of them. After the eventual defeat of Fang La, Mu Hong dies of illness and Mu Chun mourns his brother's death. The emperor grants him the official post of "Martial Gentleman of Grace" (武奕郎) in recognition of his contributions to the nation during the campaigns. Mu Chun declines the offer and returns home to lead the life of a commoner.

References

• (Chinese) Li, Mengxia. 108 Heroes from the Water Margin, page 161. EPB Publishers Pte Ltd, 1992. ISBN 9971-0-0252-3.