In any case, I am quite happy with what I saw (as I was with "Gladiator"), not least because of the fact that the cast put in strong performances all round. And despite the presence of several celebrities, the film is not built around the glamor factor, fancy (i.e., fantastic, unbelievable) martial arts stunts or special effects, but a gripping story. Needless to say, being a student of early China, I can't be counted on to give an unbiased judgment.

In what follows, I won't be offering a review of the movie in the usual sense. What I want to do is to say something about the historical background to the story of Muk Gong in the hope that this might prove useful to those who would like to find out more. Yes, there will be some spoilers, so be warned already. (Some of the information is cribbed from the introductory chapter of my dissertation, which is on the moral philosophy of the ancient Mohists.)

1. The Geopolitical Backdrop

The events of the movie are set in 370 BC China, roughly midway through the Warring States Period. I should thus begin with a word about the situation and conditions of the times. (Map of China ca. 350 BC to the left; warning: large file.)

By the late 5th century B.C., the Zhou 周 Dynasty (1050-256 BC), which had once ruled over much of the (Chinese) civilized world, had long become but a shadow of its former glory. Though a succession of Emperors (tianzi 天子 or "Sons of Heaven") continued to occupy the throne in the royal city at Luoyang 洛陽, that office had not exercised anything more than symbolic power for several centuries. Power had devolved to the ruling houses of the various feudal fiefdoms that, while still vassals of the Zhou in name, had increasingly taken on the complexion of independent states. With the breakdown of the old Zhou feudal order over time, these formed an emerging multi-state system.

This era is usually called the "Age of the Warring States" (zhanguo shidai 戰國時代; 481-221 BC) in traditional historiography. The available evidence suggests that it was a period of great social and political dislocation. As many contemporary thinkers saw it, it was an age in which the traditional pieties of social and political life were more honored in the breech, and where the lives of the common people were frequently of little consequence against the backdrop of an incessant, ruthless and often violent competition among the contending states and their ruling houses for power, land, population, wealth and prestige.

While China was, at that time, largely divided among several powerful warring states contending for supremacy, there were also a score of smaller principalities that were often at their mercy. The movie is set in one such small state--Liang 梁--sandwiched between two more powerful neighbors Zhao 趙 and Yan 燕. As the movie begins, we are told that a Zhao force of some 100,000 under General Xiang Yan-zhong (Sung-kee Ahn) was on its way to invade Yan. Liang, being square in the invasion path, was an obvious target.

The catch is that there is no known small state by the name of Liang in the vicinity of the border between Zhao and Yan, i.e., roughly modern Hebei. "Liang" was, in fact, the alternative name of what was probably the most powerful of the warring states in that time period--Wei 魏 to the south of Zhao. Furthermore, there were also no recorded major wars between Zhao and Yan in that time frame, though there were plenty of long standing conflicts between Zhao and other neighboring states (Qi 齊 and Wei come to mind).

Nonetheless, the types of events portrayed--the constant warfare, the shifting geopolitical situation (e.g., Qi taking advantage of Zhao's campaigns against Yan to launch an invasion), a smaller state being attacked as part of a larger conflict between the great powers--are hardly untypical of the period. In addition, a force of 100,000 is definitely believable: as a point of comparison, Wei and Qi each committed that number of troops during the battle of Ma Ling in 341 BC. A state of Zhao's size and power was certainly able to put together an invasion force of that number.

One interesting anachronism concerns the use of the title wang 王, translated "King". Traditionally, this title belonged only to the Zhou tianzi, the titular ruler of 'the world'--recall that at this point, the different states still acknowledged the Zhou dynasty as the rightful ruling house, in name even if not in deed. (The only exception being the rulers of Chu 楚; but Chu's place in the Zhou system has always been an ambiguous one.) The ruler of Wei was the first to adopt the title of "King" in 344 BC. By 323 BC, the rulers of all of the major states had done likewise. Historically speaking, it was unthinkable for the ruler of a puny state such as the Liang in the movie to have taken such a title.

I'll also mention two other anachronisms here. One, a Negro slave (sic) in ancient China (that speaks halting Chinese to boot) is totally uncalled for. Really. [Update 27 June 2007: I've recently been told by one of my teachers, Professor Michael Nylan, that this may not be as historically improbably as it might appear at first sight...] A female cavalry officer--Yi Yue (Fan bingbing)--on the other hand, seems at best rather improbable even if not impossible. But I guess they have to have Fan Bingbing in the show, which makes it a bit more forgivable.

2. Mozi and the Mohists

The protagonist of the movie--somewhat of an anti-hero--is one Ge Li (Andy Lau) the Mohist (or mozhe 墨者, i.e., a follower of the philosopher Mozi 墨子). Early in the movie, just when the vanguard of the Zhao force was menacing Liang, we see him arriving beneath the city walls, a ragged figure. Turns out that Liang had earlier sent for help from the Mohists who were well known for their skill in defensive warfare and dedicated to assisting small states beleaguered by their large neighbors. In short, the "Muk" (or "Mo" in Mandarin) in the movie title refers to the Mohists, not to "ink", as this reviewer thought. Whatever the case, a word about the Mohist and their leader Mozi is in order.

The biographical details for Mozi ("Master Mo"), possibly Mo Di 墨翟, are uncertain. An early source places him either as a contemporary of or as coming after Confucius (Kongzi 孔子; 551-479 BC). Modern scholars generally believe that he was active from the late 5th to the early 4th century B.C., before the time of Mencius (Mengzi 孟子; ca. 382-300 BC), in other words, he was probably active during the early Warring States Period. We know next to nothing with any degree of certainty concerning his personal life. Some early sources say that he was a native of Lu 魯 (in modern Shandong) and at one point a minister in Song 宋 (in modern Henan). There is also a tradition saying that he studied with Ru 儒 (or "Confucian") teachers but later rebelled against their ideas. It is also probable that--as was the case with Confucius--he traveled among the various contending states to present his ideas before the princes in the hope of obtaining political employment, with an equal lack of success.

The core of Mozi's (ethical/political) teaching can be summed up in ten major theses:

1. Shangxian 尚賢 ("Elevating the Worthy"): the policy of elevating worthy and capable people to office in government whatever their social origin (i.e., a form of meritocracy) is a fundamental of good governance. The proper implementation of such a policy requires that the rulers attract the talented to service by conferring upon them honor, wealth and delegate to them responsibility (and thus power). On the other hand, the rulers' practice of appointing kinsmen and favorites to office without regard to their abilities is to be condemned.

2. Shangtong 尚同 ("Exalting Unity"): a unified conception of what is proper or morally right (yi 義; 2.2-3) consistently enforced by a hierarchy of rulers and leaders is a necessary condition for social and political order.

3. Jian'ai 兼愛 ("Concern for others without distinction"): the cause of the world's troubles lies in people's tendency to act out of a greater regard for their own welfare over that of others, and for the welfare of associates over that of strangers. People ought to be concerned for the welfare of others without making distinctions between self, associates and strangers. The doctrine of jian'ai is widely regarded as the most important aspect of Mohist moral teaching. It is sometimes misleadingly translated "Universal Love" (Mohists ai is more practical than emotional).

4. Feigong 非攻 ("Against Military Aggression"): military aggression is both immoral and unprofitable. (One version of the thesis also introduces a distinction between justified and unjustified warfare, claiming that the former was waged by the righteous ancient sage rulers to overthrow evil tyrants.)

5. Jieyong 節用 ("Frugality in Expenditures"): good governance requires thrift in the ruler's expenditures. Useless luxuries are to be condemned. There is a priority of functionality over form in the making of various human artifacts (clothing, buildings, armor and weapons, boats and other vehicles).

6. Jiezang 節葬 ("Frugality in Funerals"): similar to Jieyong though applied to the specific case of funeral rituals. The aristocratic practices of elaborate funerals and prolonged mourning are to be condemned as immoral because they are not only useless to solving the world's problems, but add to the people's burdens.

7. Tianzhi 天志 ("Heaven's Will"): the will of Heaven (portrayed as if it is a personal deity and providential agent who rewards the good and punishes the wicked) is the criterion of the morally right.

8. Minggui 明鬼 ("Elucidating the Spirits"): a loss of belief in the existence, power and providential character of spirits (supernatural agents of Heaven tasked with enforcing its sanctions) has led to widespread immorality and social and political chaos. Widespread belief the existence of these spirits will bring great social and political benefit.

9. Feiyue 非樂 ("Against Music"): the music displays of the aristocracy are to be condemned on the same basis that elaborate funerals and prolonged mourning are condemned in "Jiezang".

10. Feiming 非命 ("Against Fatalism"): the doctrine of fatalism (the thesis that human effort has no effect on the outcomes of human endeavor) is pernicious and harmful.

A few of the core Mohist doctrines were mentioned in passing in the course of the movie. In one scene, Ge Li wanted to appoint Zi Tuan (Nicky Wu) the commander of the archery squad on account of his skill with the bow and arrow, citing the Shangxian doctrine. Prince Shi (Si Won Choi), the son and heir of the Liang King objected, insisting that he was the better man. The two had an archery contest in which Zi Tuan won. The scene alludes to a passage in the Mohist text where the Shangxian doctrine is expounded: the passage argues that just as one might increase the number of skilled archers by enriching and honoring those who are good with the bow and arrow, so likewise capable people are to be drawn into government service through suitable incentives.

The Mohist doctrines of Jian'ai and Feigong were briefly the topic of a conversation between Ge Li and Yi Yue (Fan Bingbing)--who also accused the Mohist of being "so rational" (well, he has just rejected her advances). As indicated above, the "ai" in "jian'ai" is not best translated "love"--especially if that gives your touchy-feely impressions. It is more like a dispassionate concern for the welfare of someone. In addition, Feigong is not pacifism. It presupposes a distinction between military aggression--which is immoral and ought to be resisted--and justified defensive warfare.

The rationalism of the Mozi and his followers is something evinced throughout the surviving writings. In fact, the Mozi text contains the earliest extensive use of explicit and at times lengthy arguments in the presentation of its positions. For this reason, some scholars go as far as to consider Mozi (and not Confucius) the first philosopher of ancient China. In any case, later followers of Mozi (between late 4th and late 3rd centuries BC; sometimes referred to as the "Neo-Mohists" or "Later Mohists") wrote the first extant treatise on logic in China, among various other scientific and mathematical works on geometry, optics and mechanics. It is also highly probable that the logical ideas of the later-Mohists exerted strong influence upon the argumentative techniques of the philosophers in the Warring States.

3. Defensive War

But the story of Muk Gong would have been very different if Mozi and his followers merely preached against military aggression--though that they did. To begin with, Mozi did not found an 'academic school' (as we might understand the term). Rather, his followers were banded together as a highly organized quasi-religious and military community, with considerable geographical reach and oversaw by a juzi 鉅子 ("Grand Master"). The members of the community--the "Mohists" or mozhe 墨者--were characterized by their commitment to the ten theses ascribed to Mozi. But quite apart from propagating the teachings of Master Mo, the community also functioned as an international rescue organization that dispatched members versed in the arts of defensive military techniques to the aid of small states under threat from military aggressors. Surviving Mohist texts include extensive technical writings on various methods of defensive warfare (including counter-siege and signals), including some of the earliest sources for ancient Chinese military defense technology. It is these aspects of Mohist history that is highlighted in the movie.

Though there are some dubious elements (what is that flammable liquid used to incinerate the Zhao soldiers?) the movie did present a rather realistic portrayal of ancient siege warfare. I will need a more thorough check of the Mohist texts to determine which of the defensive measures taken are 'by the book', though most do at least feel right. At one point, Ge Li is seen listening into some half buried bamboo poles to check for any mining activities by the Zhao under the Liang city walls. This is a rather abridged version of a more complicated technique described in the Mohist texts. The method was replicated and declared "confirmed" in the show Mythbusters on Discovery Channel. The use of hot air balloons by the Zhao to breach the city walls in the final surprise attack that allow them to capture the city, however, is not only unrealistic, but uncalled for.

One anti-military aggression incident involving Mozi himself was recounted in the Mohist texts. The powerful state of Chu had commissioned the renowned carpenter/engineer Gongshu Ban 公輸盤 to build siege ladders for a planned invasion of the small state of Song 宋. Mozi, upon hearing about it, walked ten days and night to the Chu capital to persuade Gongsun and the Chu ruler to desist, while in the meantime, sending his followers (some 300 strong) to assist with the defense of Song. The Chu ruler was deterred once he realized that because of the Mohists' involvement, taking Song was no longer a cakewalk.

The movie parallels the Gongshu Ban story in several places. I will highlight three instances. First, when Ge Li made his entrance in the movie by arriving at Liang on foot, the impression is given that he had walked a long distance to get there--just as Mozi walked ten days and ten nights to get to Chu.

Second, prior to Zhao's first assault upon Liang, Ge Li was invited by Xiang Yan-zhong to parley outside the city walls, where they played a board game. To persuade Gongshu Ban and the Chu ruler of the futility of an invasion against Song, Mozi played a game of siege and counter siege with Gongshu using a belt as a simulated city wall and sticks for military units and siege weapons.

Third and most poignantly, Mozi, having succeeded in his mission to dissuade Chu from attacking Song, was on his way home (perhaps in Qi at that time) when he was caught in the rain in the vicinity of Song. He sought shelter at a guard post but was denied entry by the very people he had just saved. What he said at that point, too, can be taken as a commentary on the story of the movie: (paraphrasing a little) the person who conducts himself right before the spirits is not recognized for the good that he does by men; the one who strives in the clear sight of everyone, on the other hand, wins a good reputation before people.

On a related note, these passages from the "Tianxia" chapter of the Zhuangzi 莊子 (from a sympathetically critical perspective) should also be useful in understanding the characterization of Ge Li as a Mohist (Burton Watson's translation):

Mozi defends his teachings by saying, "In ancient times, when Yu dammed the flood waters and opened up the courses of the Yangtze and the Yellow River so that they flowed through the lands of the four barbarians and the nine provinces, joining with the three hundred famous rivers, their three thousand tributaries, and the little streams too numerous to count--at that time Yu in person carried the basket and wielded the spade, gathering together and mingling the rivers of the world, till there was no down left on his calves, no hair on his shins; the drenching rains washed his locks, the sharp winds combed them, while he worked to establish the ten thousand states. Yu was a great sage, yet with his own body he labored for the world in such fashion!" So it is that many of the Mohists of later ages dress in skins and coarse cloth, wear wooden clogs or hempen sandals, never resting day or night, driving themselves on to the bitterest exertions. "If we cannot do the same," they say, "then we are not following the way of Yu, and are unworthy to be called Mohists!" ...

Mozi and Qin Guli [Mozi's chief disciple] were all right in their ideas but wrong in their practices, with the result that the Mohists of later ages have felt obliged to subject themselves to hardship "till there is no down left on their calves, no hair on their shins" --their only thought being to outdo one another. Such efforts represent the height of confusion, the lowest degree of order. Nevertheless, Mozi was one who had a true love for the world. He failed to achieve all he aimed for, yet, wasted and worn with exhaustion, he never ceased trying. He was indeed a gentleman of ability!

According to the write up on the movie website, Ge Li was a "third generation Mohist". The site also mentioned that he came to Liang alone because the Mohists were then in the grip of reform and sectarian infighting and were unable or unwilling to respond to Liang's call for help. While the implied dating of the events is not supported by historical evidence, there is something to this piece of back-story. Writing towards the end of the Warring States Period, Hanfeizi 韓非子 (ca. 280-233 BC) indicated that by his time, the Mohists had divided into three rival sects. A similar division is recounted in the Zhuangzi, which describes how the different sects "exchanged volleys of refutation" and called each other "heretical" or perhaps "factionalist" Mohists (biemo 別墨). But if the account in the Zhuangzi is to be believed, it seems the dispute between the sects concerned distinctively "Neo-Mohist" topics, rather than the theses in the "Core Chapters".

Incidentally, the Mohist community as a paramilitary organization probably did not survive into the Qin 秦 (the state of Qin conquered the other contending states to establish the first unified Chinese Empire in 221 BC). Even though there is no direct historical evidence of its suppression, it is unlikely that the ruthless Qin would have tolerated the existence of such an organization--that included military experts among its ranks--outside imperial control. But by then, Mohist ideas had already exerted a decisive influence upon the thinkers of early China, and continued to have a strong currency well into the early imperial era.

4. References

Note: This list of references is nowhere near exhaustive.

For the history of the Warring States Period, Zhanguoshi 战国史 by Yang Kuan, 杨宽 (1955; in Chinese) is still a standard. But there is always the ever useful Cambridge History of Ancient China: from the beginnings of civilization to 221 B.C. edited by Edward L. Shaughnessy and Michael Loewe (1998). Failing that, there is always the wiki entry on the Warring States Period, which seems reasonably well written.

Two general histories of the philosophical thinking of the period are Benjamin Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China (1985) and Angus C. Graham, The Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argumentation in Ancient China (1989); both contain useful background information as well. Graham also wrote the still standard study on the logical and scientific works of the Mohists in his Later Mohist logic, ethics, and science (1978). An older but still useful treatment of Mohist thought is Y. P. Mei's Mo-tse, the Neglected Rival of Confucius (1934). Mei also gave us one of the two widely available partial translations of the Mozi text (The Ethical and Political Works of Motse, 1929; online edition). The other one is by Burton Watson entitled, Mo Tzu: Basic Writings (1963). Chris Fraser's entry, "Mohism" in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is an excellent study of the philosophy, and one of very few comprehensive attempts in that direction in recent years. (UPDATE: My own entry on the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy is now online as well.)

Finally, when it comes to the military aspects, Robin D.S. Yates is the acknowledged expert (writing in the English language). His translation and study of the military sections of the Mohist texts, unfortunately, is largely in his unpublished and very hard to get PhD Dissertation, "The City under Siege: Technology and Organization as Seen in the Reconstructed Text of the Military Chapter of Mo-tzu" (Harvard University, 1980). Fortunately, there is this website: "Chinese Siege Warfare Mechanical Artillery & Siege Weapons of Antiquity: An Illustrated History", the value of which cannot be overstated.