![\"Chongqing](\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20121027053625im_\/http:\/\/www.danwei.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Chongqing-Economic-Times-22-Oct-121-e1350878761663.jpg\" "\\"Chongqing")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The\u00a0front page<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0Chongqing Economic Times<\/em>\u00a0(\u91cd\u5e86\u5546\u62a5) today features a\u00a0glowing obituary<\/a>\u00a0to Lu Zijian (\u5415\u7d2b\u5251): Chinese martial arts expert, \u201cKnight of the Yangtze\u201d, \u201cSwordsman of the North East\u201d, \u201cThree Time Knight\u201d, fighter against Japanese imperialism, witness to three centuries and now dead at the freakishly old age of 118. Sounds like an awesome story of a modern Chinese hero, except that much of it might be pure fantasy.<\/p>\n Chongqing Economic Times<\/em>\u00a0does have a ripping yarn of an obituary, however. We are told that Lu was born all the way back in October 1893 in Yichang (\u5b9c\u660c\u5e02) in Hubei province, which means that he was two months older than Chairman Mao. After 118 years of fighting foreign bullies, training and teaching martial arts, and dabbling in being a doctor and painter, \u00a0Lu finally gave up the ghost yesterday morning when he died in his sleep.\u00a0Shortly after Lu passed away, journalists from the\u00a0Chongqing Economic Times<\/em>\u00a0went to speak to his former disciples and family members to get an idea of the main events in Lu\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>long life. The fantastic story that emerged from this goes something like the following:<\/p>\n So there you have it, a swashbuckling, ever-unbeaten, patriotic and long-living fighter, teacher, man of peace and member of government. Its a great series of events but it is\u00a0filled with inaccuracies and much of its is patently untrue. Firstly, when exactly did Lu die?\u00a0Chongqing Economic Daily<\/em>\u00a0tells us that Lu died \u2018yesterday\u2019, which is 21 October 2012. This would have made Lu 119 years old, not 118. While the\u00a0Chongqing Economic Daily<\/em>\u00a0keeps using the word \u2018yesterday\u2019, it is unclear when \u2018yesterday\u2019 actually was.<\/p>\n Secondly, there is evidence to suggest that Lu was nowhere near 119 when he died. The\u00a0Chinese Wikipedia entry<\/a>\u00a0on Lu points to an entry in a collection of documents entitled\u00a0Yichang City Literature and History Materials<\/em>\u00a0(\u5b9c\u660c\u5e02\u6587\u53f2\u8d44\u6599) from 1986 stating that Lu was in his seventies at the time, meaning that he was actually born sometime after 1907. In fact, this same collection of archival material on the city of Yichang (where Lu was from) has information that contradicts virtually\u00a0every aspect of Lu\u2019s resume for the first third of his life. For example,\u00a0another entry<\/a>\u00a0from 1992 records that Lu stayed on in Yichang until the 1930s, when he was forced to flee to Sichuan because he beat up a bodyguard at a brothel. Lu then went on to establish a clinic in Chongqing in 1938. He thus never became a close associate of the legendary Huo Yuanjia (who died in 1910 and may not even have fought any foreigners), and never fought General Marshall\u2019s bodyguard.<\/p>\n Yet what a tale. And how ever old he was, he has now passed on. Of that at least we can be sure.<\/p>\n Links and sources<\/strong><\/p>\n The\u00a0front page\u00a0of the\u00a0Chongqing Economic Times\u00a0(\u91cd\u5e86\u5546\u62a5) today features a\u00a0glowing obituary\u00a0to Lu Zijian (\u5415\u7d2b\u5251): Chinese martial arts expert, \u201cKnight of the Yangtze\u201d, \u201cSwordsman of the North East\u201d, \u201cThree Time Knight\u201d, fighter against Japanese imperialism, witness to three centuries and now dead at … Continue reading \n
\n
\n
\n