Character Thursday: Zhuge Liang – The Sleeping Dragon

“Why?” you may ask, “Why him?”. He's one of the character I was obsessed with for a long time. The first time I knew this character existed was when I read a book about Chinese wisdom, containing Chinese legends. There he was described as a smart but cunning tactician, who outsmarted two people at the same time. (Honestly, I was between laughter and rage when I finished the story)

Then I saw him in the movie, Red Cliff, played by Takeshi Kaneshiro, who played it brilliantly. Then, needing more of him, I read it: San Guo Yan Yi or Romance of the Three Kingdoms, where he played the role of one of the most important characters.

If I were to describe him in one word, it would be genius. Being a state advisor and chief strategist at the age of 26, what other can I say about him. Earlier in his career, he was underestimated by his enemies, and later on, after his genius had become widely known, overestimated by the same party. He used everything around him, both friends and enemies, to his advantage, and did not hesitate from manipulating both side of the battlefield to gain victory.

In the movie he actually said:

“Knowing a little bit of many things gives life more colours.”

Takeshi Kaneshiro as Zhuge Liang

And that's so true about him. In the legend (I haven't read the official, more documantary and less legend version of San Guo Yan Yi), he was a great strategist, mathematician, engineer, expert in psychology, geography, weather forecast, and so many other things, except martial art. But hey, he didn't even have to use his physical strenght to deceive his enemies, did he?

He was credited for many things, from the flying lantern to the crossbow, the mechanical wooden ox to mantou (a kind of food). He was a very good battle planner, who would visit a potential pattle field years before any battle even fought and analysed the advantage and disadvantage of each side of the site. I am talking too much now.

So instead of spoiling the stories and writing them down here, I prefer to give a link where you can find the English translation to be downloaded or read online.

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Character Thursday

Adalah book blog hop di mana setiap blog memposting tokoh pilihan dalam buku yang sedang atau telah dibaca selama seminggu terakhir (judul atau genre buku bebas).

- Kalian bisa menjelaskan mengapa kalian suka/benci tokoh itu, sekilas kepribadian si tokoh, atau peranannya dalam keseluruhan kisah.

- Jangan lupa mencantumkan juga cover buku yang tokohnya kalian ambil.

- Kalau buku itu sudah difilmkan, kalian juga bisa mencantumkan foto si tokoh dalam film, atau foto aktor/aktris yang kalian anggap cocok dengan kepribadian si tokoh.

Syarat Mengikuti :

1. Follow blog Fanda Classiclit sebagai host, bisa lewat Google Friend Connect (GFC) atau sign up via e-mail (ada di sidebar paling kanan). Dengan follow blog ini, kalian akan selalu tahu setiap kali blog ini mengadakan Character Thursday Blog Hop.

2. Letakkan button Character Thursday Blog Hop di posting kalian atau di sidebar blog, supaya follower kalian juga bisa menemukan blog hop ini. Kodenya bisa diambil di kotak di button.

3. Buat posting dengan menyertakan copy-paste “Character Thursday” dan “Syarat Mengikuti” ke dalam postingmu.

3. Isikan link (URL) posting kalian ke Linky di bawah ini. Cantumkan nama dengan format: Nama blogger @ nama blog, misalnya: Fanda @ Fanda Classiclit.

4. Jangan lupa kunjungi blog-blog peserta lain, dan temukan tokoh-tokoh pilihan mereka. Dengan begini, wawasan kita akan bertambah juga dengan buku-buku baru yang menarik