text:
Talk:Creation

 * A-MEN!!! They say that if creation is a "theory" (which it is not mind you it is truth) and evolution is a theory we should at least have the same rights!!!! A-men?!?!?! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.162.17.4 (talk • contribs) 16:37, May 21, 2007 UTC

The text about the Big Bang Theory and other scientific explanations for the "origins" of the universe should either 1) be moved to another page, such as Creationism versus Naturalism or 2) summarized in a paragraph that states that most scientists do not believe that the Universe was the result of "creation."

As the "Creation" page now reads, the text about the Big Bang Theory is irrelevant to the subject of "creation"--since the Big Bang Theory says nothing about something creating something else. Rednblu 18:38, 11 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * Acccording to the Big Bang Theory the universe was created by the Big Bang. - Patrick 21:20, 11 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * Are you sure about that? As I read the physics books, the "Big Bang" was just another manifestation of the natural phenomena.  Where do you get the "created by" dogma? Rednblu 14:59, 12 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * This article suggests that the concept of "creation" does not necessarily imply the involvement of any supernatural intervention, the existence of a god or demiurge, or belief in the God of the Bible. It also suggests that religious views of creation do not necessarily exclude evolution. There are tell-tale artifacts of Mormonism (or similar non-traditional "judeo-christian" view) throughout this article; but not so strong as to call into question the sincere attempt to be neutral.  I think that the article intends to set the terms under which all ideas of "Origins" are discussed, elsewhere in the encyclopedia.  Mkmcconn 21:44, 11 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * Surely there must be a Creator if there is a Creation. That would seem to be a result of the English language.  Can you give me an example of a "Creation" without a "Creator"?  For example, would you speak of the "Creation of the Grand Canyon"?  You might, but it would be metaphorical and not scientific--something like "The Language of the Grand Canyon."  That is neither the "language" nor the "creation" of the Grand Canyon would be of scientific interest.

 * Therefore, it seems to me that the following statement is wrong.

 * <> Rednblu 15:28, 12 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * It's not scientific in a technical sense, but it's the way that English works, I think. The "creation of the Grand Canyon" is only a shade more colorful than "formation of the Grand Canyon".  But, I'm just trying to be as conciliatory as I can;  speaking my personal opinion, if you are trying to avoid giving the glory of the one Creator to any of His creatures, you have my whole-hearted blessing.  Edit boldly! :-) Mkmcconn 16:31, 12 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * I'm thinking--digesting your thoughts. Rednblu 19:00, 12 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I think the main problem here is the word "creation". The definition given in the article is vague : "Creation is the process of making something new". What level of thing are we talking about ? Are we talking about new structures of matter formed from pre-existing matter (as we commonly understand it), or entire objects popping out of nothing (as Christians believe) ? Perhaps it means to encompass both definitions, but to me they are completely different, and only sow confusion when conflated, as I think this discussion demonstrates. Franc28 08:15, Nov 10, 2004 (UTC)

this isnt a theory it is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Creation article by a creationist?
I've heard of scientific creation theories (as opposed to evolutionary origins theories discussed under that topic here), which I hoped to find some coverage on by someone with related credentials who represents those theories or ideas. How can we get such contrbutions? The article falls short of expectations. There's other topics where I could expect to find the same facts and point of view given in the article.

 * There is no such thing as "scientific creation", let alone "scientific creation theories". I would humbly suggest that you do not know what "scientific" or "theory" actually mean. Franc28

'''

Let A Creationist Answer!
'''

Allow me first to disassociate myself hurriedly from Scientific Creationism, Creation Science, and just about every creationist position argued over the Internet. Call me a commonsense creationist. Wikipedia is really Aethipedia, and reflects the aethistic evolutionary viewpoint throughout. Because all pages are a mixture of everybody's views, there is no point in me contributing a page on creation, only to have it edited/mucked up by somebody else. I'll give you a creation page, if you immediately lock it, and show conflicting viewpoints underneath. Wikipedia fails to teach the controversy effectively in any controversial issue, and sometimes makes a controversy where there is none. There are many controversial points in creation, and much ignorant faith to be injured. If wikipedia comes up with a formula for controlled editing where a license, or password is required to edit sections of viewpoint pages then it will progress. Each such page should have an "Opposition to this view" section, which might be more open. (User: Business.kid)

merge?
why is this article separate from Creation belief? Ungtss 19:25, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I'd like to add this to the page. I believe that their should be some entry on this subject which does not take a postionality which is ego based and one that may not cause the 'ego' to engage.

An innate quality of creation is evolutionary progress, as demonstrated by the organic expressions of life. Whether the source of life is considered to be a random chemical accident (bottom-up theory), or Divinity (top-down theory), the fact that it is evoltutionary is certainly documentable and strikingly obvious. The term 'creation' is an abstraction that implies emergence, appearance, and progressive existence of increasing complexity and efficacy. Every field of human inquiry has been progressive; simultaneously, the universe has been expanding in infinitie directions at the speed of light. With a little reflection, it would appear that there really is no conflict between Evolution and Creation for they are intrinsically one and the same process (e.g., Creation is a progressive, ongoing, continuous, unfolding, and emerging as Evolution). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.5.29.160 (talk) 19:02, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

from existing matter ?
"Some believe God organized worlds from existing matter" I have NEVER heard such a thing. What religion or what sect proposes this ? Franc28 01:00, August 19, 2005 (UTC)

If no one can answer this question, then I'll have to edit it back for being a completely spurious claim. Franc28 09:22, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

As a devout Christian and Creationist, I can find no Biblical text that says anything except "God created the Earth". He made the Earth from nothing.Twobytwo 19:14, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

You can find no biblical text? Well you don't look very hard. Gen. 1:1-2a "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. AND THE EARTH WAS WITH OUT FORM AND VOID" That sounds like nothing to me!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pianoloverizme (talk • contribs) 16:19, May 22, 2007 UTC

So, Twobytwo, you were there? If not, who are you to limit God to only one form of life? I can neither argue on a supreme truth level with either Creation or Evolution, so I will argue what I believe, Evolution.The open mind 19:21, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

AAAARGH....Use a little simple logic here, please!!

THE EARTH WAS WITHOUT FORM AND VOID - this statement comes AFTER the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the statement "THE EARTH WAS" means that "the earth existed", so your conclusion that "VOID" means that there was "nothing" is the main reason why Creationists can't accept simple facts like "matter cannot be created nor destroyed"(a scientific LAW).

Let's do a little English lesson so you can be a devout Christian and understand how matter could exist before God created the world:

Create (verb) - To produce something as a result, or make something happen. Void (adjective)- Having no incumbant, occupant, or holder.

When we consider the meaning of these words, you can clearly see that God produced the world, He made it happen, and that after He created the Earth it had no occupants. If "void" were used as a NOUN and not an ADJECTIVE we could assume that the earth was a vaccum, but then it wouldn't be the Earth and the statement would hold no meaning. In other words the statement "THE EARTH WAS WITHOUT FORM AND [a] VOID" would mean "the earth, which God created, did not exist". This simply doesn't make sense.

Plus, God is an eternal being, so he could not have sprung into existence by Himself. By accepting the argument that major Christian sects have presented on this argument without considering common sense when reading your Bible, you cannot understand Christ or God the Father as They would want you to. Plus, if you want to know what religion proposes this, it is the Mormons. So basically, this idea was given by a PROPHET who could actually SEE this stuff so you don't have to rest on a blind priest's confused interpretation of scripture. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Swiftabulous (talk • contribs).

Creation (theology) reference?
The article says: Creation (theology), the act by a God or gods of bringing the universe into existence from unlimited energy, e.g (Isaiah 40:26) rather than from "nothing".

Isaiah 40:26 is a spurious reference here - that verse is simply showing how God calls out the starry host, i.e. makes them appear at night as far as people living on the earth are concerned. I assume that what is meant by "unlimited energy" must be energy separate and distinct from God - the Bible only says that God created from his strength, not from existing energy separate from himself! Purple Banana 16:37, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

The Torah is the first five-books of the Bible, in Hebrew. The translation of the Torah's first phrase is a classic problem Even at the risk of a slightly awkward English, I am translating this line literally, not only to make it reflect the Hebrew, but to show the significant parallel between this opening and the opening of the second paragraph. The fellow editors of Wik may also reference Commentary of the Torak with an English translation and the Hebrew Text by Richard Elliott Friedman.

" In the beginning of YHWHGod's creating the skies and the earth when the earth had been shapeless and formless, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and God's spirit was hovering on the face of the water." Genesis 1;1,2

1:2 the earth had beenHere is a case in which a tiny point of grammar makes a difference for theology. In the Hebrew of this verse, the noun comes before the verb (in perfect form). This is now known to be the way of conveying the past perfect in Biblical Hebrew. This point of grammar means in that this verse does not mean " the earth was shapeless" - referring to the condition of the earth starting after it ws created. This verse rather means that "the earth had been shapeless and formeless" - that is, it had already existed in this shapeless condition prior to creation. Creation is a matter in the Torah is not out of nothing (creatio ex nihlio), as many have claimed. And the Torah is not claiming to be telling events from the begining of time.

1.2 '''shapeless and formless. The two words in the Hebrew, tohu and bohu', are understood to mean virtually the same thing. This is the first appearance in the Torah of phenomeon in biblical language known as hendidays, in which two connected words are used to signnify one thing. The henidays of "tohu and bohu, plus the reference of the deep and the water yields a picture of an undifferentiated, shapeless fluid which had existed prior to creation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.5.29.160 (talk) 19:31, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

merge with create
I propose a merger with create since "create" is the root word of "creation". -Eep² 09:59, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

I agree. We don't need both articles and they could easily be merged. Wikidudeman  (talk) 10:00, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Disagree. A "See also" link works just fine here, and this page is a bit long anyway. The words are distinct if related; I can see merging in some cases where the difference is really minor like "Foo" and "The Foo," but even then, they sometimes keep different pages (like The Tempest (disambiguation) and Tempest). SnowFire 08:30, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

Intelligent design
Per the article on intelligent design, I do not think that ID should be listed under the "science" heading. That article indicates that intelligent design is not a scientific hypothesis, and that it arises primarily from religious antecedents. I have thus moved it up into the philosophy section. I leave it to other editors to decide whether it belongs here at all. Silly rabbit 19:01, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

 * My initial reaction was that ID doesn't belong here at all, since this is a disambiguation page . When this edit was reverted, I then moved intelligent design into the correct category (creationism).  First of all, it is not a scientific theory, as the new editor is keen on suggesting: the Dover trial establishes that, as do all references over at the main article intelligent design.  Secondly, on more pragmatic grounds, the only way ID could conceivably be disambiguated from "creation" is as a subset of creationism.  Then the creationist editor inexplicably put intelligent design in two categories.  (Remember, this is supposed to be a disambiguation page for creation, not an advertisement for intelligent design.)  I've finally had enough.  I'm removing it completely based on WP:DAB.  If anyone wants to argue for its inclusion, bring it here and talk about it. Silly rabbit 12:00, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Creation myth vs. Creation account
Quartus81, concerning your repeated attempts (,, , and possibly and ? ) to replace the phrase "creation myth" with "creation account", please note that an account requires a person or author who was in some way eyewitness to the described events. Since the sequence of events describes The Initial Creation, by definition, there cannot possibly have been someone present to witness, and thus to to provide an account of the events. Hope this helps. DVdm (talk) 19:26, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

 * DVdm, concerning the repeated attempts to replace the phrase "creation account" with "creation myth", kindly note that your definition of the word "account" is incorrect. There are a great many books giving an "account" of events, written by people who were not present.  As it happens, the Bible is the inspired Word of God, whether you believe it or not, and as He WAS there at the time, by your own definition the word "account" is correct.  The word "myth", however, generally means fable or fiction, and is particularly used in a derogatory sense when discussing creation v evolution.  As I said in my email to you, this is not neutral, as it is your opinion that the creation story is a myth.   There is an overwhelming body of evidence that supports the Biblical account, and despite repeated requests no evolutionist has provided proof of their THEORY.  While there is no absolute proof (yet) either way, I put it to you that the use of the word "myth" is unnecessarily offensive and is in contravention of the neutrality that you claim to adhere to.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Quartus81 (talk • contribs) 21:10, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

 * Concerning your above sentence "As it happens, the Bible is the inspired Word of God, whether you believe it or not, and as He WAS there at the time, by your own definition the word "account" is correct" (emphasis mine), I can only suggest that, if you would like to contribute to this encyclopedia, you first try to aquaint yourself with the policies and guidelines of Wikipedia. You will find some very valuable pointers on your talk page. Please take your time. Enjoy and good luck. DVdm (talk) 21:29, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

 * By the way, concerning your phrase "no evolutionist has provided proof of their THEORY", please note that scientific theories (-please read this article-) can never be proven. In order to deserve the predicate scientific (-please read this article-), a theory must lend itself to be disproven by experiment or observation. So, indeed, no evolutionist will even think about trying to "provide proof" of the theory and indeed there will never be "absolute proof". DVdm (talk) 13:30, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Reacting to 92.236.69.30's edit summary of this edit, namely ""Myth" is someone's opinion and not a neutral description, thus contravening Wikipedia's rules". If you have a careful reading of the Creation myth article, you will understand that "Myth" is perfectly neutral. DVdm (talk) 21:36, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

Also check the neutrality and "freeness" of judgement of the word in the relevant meanings of "myth" in some notable dictionaries. DVdm (talk) 23:11, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

 * Reading those two articles proves my point exactly. As has been stated above, the article on Evolution cannot be edited.  If you must insist on Creation being called a myth, then in fairness so must Evolution.Quartus81 (talk) 07:07, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Fairness? What has fairness got to do with any of this? It's simple, what you think, I think, or anyone else here thinks, about terminology has absolutely no bearing on the articles you mentioned. Instead, they all use standard terminology, as prescribed by countless reliable sources. If you don't like that, then take it up with the reliable sources. There has been much discussion of this at the creation myth page, so please browse through the talk page archives there (the link is at the top of the talk page), where I'm sure all of your concerns will have been addressed. As an aside, there is a project called Conservapedia that sympathises with your POV that you might be interested in. Cheers, Ben (talk) 08:10, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Gentlemen, I see where Quartus81 is coming from on this, even if his reasoning style leaves something to be desired. May I suggest the word "story" instead of "myth"?--80.247.80.108 (talk) 08:27, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

 * I don't see what could possibly be wrong with the current word. As I explained on User_talk:Quartus81, note that the first meaning we find in the dictionary links I provided, is "a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, esp. one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature." (empasis mine). We see that this neatly covers all possible viewpoints and that it respects all possible religious and a-religious views, even if one would happen to take the creation of the cosmos in 7 days by one's god as fact.
 * DVdm (talk) 12:59, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Summary of principal meanings of "Myth" as found on dictionary.reference.com, with emphasis illustrating the neutrality of the word in the context of the first book of the Bible, Genesis:
 * from Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1):
 * "A traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, esp. one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature."
 * from American Heritage Dictionary:
 * "A traditional, typically ancient story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serves as a fundamental type in the worldview of a people, as by explaining aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology, customs, or ideals of society: the myth of Eros and Psyche; a creation myth."
 * from Online Etymology Dictionary:
 * "Myths are "stories about divine beings, generally arranged in a coherent system; they are revered as true and sacred; they are endorsed by rulers and priests; and closely linked to religion. Once this link is broken, and the actors in the story are not regarded as gods but as human heroes, giants or fairies, it is no longer a myth but a folktale. Where the central actor is divine but the story is trivial ... the result is religious legend, not myth." (J. Simpson & S. Roud, "Dictionary of English Folklore," Oxford, 2000, p.254)"
 * from Wordnet:
 * "A traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the world view of a people"
 * from Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary:
 * "A story of great but unknown age which originally embodied a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; an ancient legend of a god, a hero, the origin of a race, etc.; a wonder story of prehistoric origin; a popular fable which is, or has been, received as historical."

Looks like the word was specially created for this. DVdm (talk) 10:41, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

wonder story of prehistoric origin - This definition fits Evolution, as in essence of scientific fact it cannot be proven as no one has witnessed it. The use of "Creation Myth" is hugely biased- claiming that what we do not know is wrong is not impartial( not favouring one person or thing more than another) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.219.105.21 (talk) 19:59, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

An innate quality of creation is evolutionary progress, as demonstrated by the organic expressions of life. Whether the source of life is considered to be a random chemical accident (bottom-up theory), or Divinity (top-down theory), the fact that it is evoltutionary is certainly documentable and strikingly obvious. The term 'creation' is an abstraction that implies emergence, appearance, and progressive existence of increasing complexity and efficacy. Every field of human inquiry has been progressive; simultaneously, the universe has been expanding in infinitie directions at the speed of light. With a little reflection, it would appear that there really is no conflict between Evolution and Creation for they are intrinsically one and the same process (e.g., Creation is a progressive, ongoing, continuous, unfolding, and emerging as Evolution).

The literal Hebrew translation in the Torah (first five books of the Bible) states " In the beginning of God's creating the skies and the earth, when the earth had been shapeless and formless..." That is, there is a preexisting matter which is is a watery chaos. Subsequent matter - dry land, heavenly bodies, plants, animals - may be formed out of this undifferentiated fluid.

I am going to add these deifinitions, unless others object. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.5.29.160 (talk) 19:37, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

Disambiguation of the Lost: Atheist & Theist, Agnostic & Gnostic
All Wrong, All Lost:

To break the restriction of a linear time sequence, The Lost need empirical data - uncorrupted, honest data. However, the Lost have filtered all their data with a scientific-religious presumption: a finite universe with a finite number of dimensions.

The Lost do not understand, nor do they perceive their conflict with the infinite Universe and the infinite number of dimensions...

"...nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it..." (Ecclesiastes 3:14)--FinalNotice (talk) 22:13, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

NPOV
I recently placed a double star against the entry for Genesis creation narrative so that it appeared as a sub-set of Creation myth, both being stories of supernatural beginnings. This has been reverted under the guise of NPOV which seems to me to be the exact opposite of what has just happened. Other views would be welcomed. Abtract (talk) 16:09, 16 June 2011 (UTC)

Canadian and Russian wars 2021
conflict Nikolaifruzhev1993 (talk) 21:22, 31 August 2021 (UTC)

Idea for renaming disambiguation
As a test of the organizational theory of harmony, might we reconsider naming "disambiguation" to "concept"? Dyxtan (talk) 03:00, 25 September 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Creation


text:
Talk:Alexander Cockburn

March 2022
See this discussion for motivations/explanations driving the mega-pruning to this article. JoJo Anthrax (talk) 13:58, 18 March 2022 (UTC)

I've tried to pound this article into shape, but am now seriously considering removal of the entire 'Political views and activities' mega-section, as little content therein is referred to secondary sources, most of the topics are tangential to Cockburn, etc. Thoughts? JoJo Anthrax (talk) 19:21, 18 March 2022 (UTC)

 * It's certainly looking much better. I think there needs to be something for his views, as that was his schtick, but I think it might have to be done with a healthy dose of WP:TNT. I wouldn't object to removing it wholesale, for now. Same with the friendship with Hitchens section, which should be a couple sentences in his personal life. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 19:33, 18 March 2022 (UTC)

 * More condensation and trimming, perhaps making things a bit more encyclopaedic. Cites to Cockburn's primary published works remain, which might not be optimal but it was either that or remove pretty much everything. To any one reading this: please feel free to restore content that you deem absolutely essential. I haven't touched the Hitchens material yet, but yeah, there's plenty to do there. JoJo Anthrax (talk) 16:30, 24 March 2022 (UTC)
 * I just hacked all of the primary sourced cruft out of the Hitchens section. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 16:37, 24 March 2022 (UTC)
 * I think it's a shame that you guys have managed to totally wreck this article in the name of 'pruning'. It had lots of interesting material before, which was useful in determining what kind of political figure Mr. Cockburn was. It's perfectly fine to use primary sources to verify personal views. In this case, it's even more ridiculous to remove CounterPunch references on 'reliability' grounds, considering that the man himself literally founded the magazine. smdh 81.191.204.248 (talk) 16:46, 15 May 2022 (UTC)

 * I am wondering if you might have some feedback regarding WP:SPS/WP:ABOUTSELF and how it applies to this article since Cockburn's own writings (rather than secondary sources) are used to back-up what he apparently believed. For example, the section titled "Opposition to conspiracy theories" has four Cockburn/CounterPunch articles strung together to make the point that he was not a conspiracist. (The editor(s) who strung this together did not add material that he was a firm believer in the CIA drug trafficking allegations.) The "Social topics" section is built similarly. -Location (talk) 19:59, 25 April 2023 (UTC)
 * , what is left is the result of a huge amount of pruning. It was much worse before, and as I noted above I'd have been fine with removing all of it, but there should be something about his views. I'm not terribly fond of using articles written on a topic as ABOUTSELF, since writers can and do explore different points of view in their work. It also puts too much interpretation in the hands of the editor, as they're deciding what's worthy of inclusion and what's not. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 22:24, 25 April 2023 (UTC)
 * As I wrote above, I intentionally left some of Cockburn's publications as primary sources because if they were all removed, little sourced material would remain. I know that is sub-optimal, but because I thought the content was non-controversial, having something in the article was better than nothing. Perhaps I was wrong about that. As SFR wrote above, the article was significantly worse prior to the pruning of March 2022. JoJo Anthrax (talk) 02:22, 26 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the feedback. I've quickly harvested various secondary sources (with difference biases, levels of reliability, and levels of coverage) for future reference:
 * The fractured brilliance of Alexander Cockburn - Reuters
 * The Rise and Fall of a Radical Journalist - The New Republic
 * ALEXANDER COCKBURN, 1941–2012 - New Left Review
 * Alexander Cockburn, 1941-2012 - The Village Voice
 * Alexander Cockburn's climate change adventure - Salon
 * Interview: Alexander Cockburn. Judging the Jury - disClosure
 * “Oliver Stone’s Paranoid Propaganda” - USN&WR/Frontline
 * Alexander Cockburn Fearlessly Decries Al Gore's Ties to Big Nuke - Reason
 * Anti-Israel conspiracy author accuses opponent of 'Bigfoot erotica' - The Jerusalem Post
 * Eco-Hustle! Global Warming, Greenwashing, and Sustainability by Bruce E. Johansen
 * -Location (talk) 01:01, 27 April 2023 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Alexander Cockburn


text:
Water Margin

Water Margin is one of the earliest Chinese novels written in vernacular Mandarin. It is one of the Four Classic Chinese Novels and is attributed to Shi Nai'an. It is also translated as Outlaws of the Marsh and All Men Are Brothers.

The story, which is set in the Northern Song dynasty (around 1120), tells of how a group of 108 outlaws gathers at Mount Liang (or Liangshan Marsh) to rebel against the government. Later they are granted amnesty and enlisted by the government to resist the nomadic conquest of the Liao dynasty and other rebels. While the book's authorship is traditionally attributed to Shi Nai'an (1296–1372), the first external reference to the novel only appeared in 1524 during the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty, sparking a long-lasting academic debate on when it was actually written and which historical events the author had witnessed that inspired him to write the book.

The novel is considered one of the masterpieces of early vernacular fiction and Chinese literature. It has introduced readers to many of the best-known characters in Chinese literature, such as Wu Song, Lin Chong, Pan Jinlian, Song Jiang and Lu Zhishen. Water Margin also exerted a significant influence on the development of fiction elsewhere in East Asia, such as on Japanese literature.

Historical context and development
Water Margin is based on the exploits of the outlaw Song Jiang and his 108 companions (The 36 "Heavenly Spirits" (三十六天罡) and the 72 "Earthly Demons" (七十二地煞)). The group was active in the Huainan region and surrendered to the Song government in 1121. They were recorded in the historical text History of Song in the annals of Emperor Huizong of Song, which states: "(When) the outlaw Song Jiang of Huainan and others attacked the army at Huaiyang, (the Emperor) sent generals to attack and arrest them. (The outlaws) infringed on the east of the capital (Kaifeng), Henan, and entered the boundaries of Chu (referring to present-day Hubei and Hunan) and Haizhou (covering parts of present-day Jiangsu). The general Zhang Shuye was ordered to pacify them." Zhang Shuye's biography further describes the activities of Song Jiang and the other outlaws, and tells they were eventually defeated by Zhang.

Folk stories about Song Jiang circulated during the Southern Song. The first known source to name Song Jiang's 36 companions was Miscellaneous Observations from the Year of Guixin (癸辛雜識) by Zhou Mi, written in the 13th century. Among the 36 are Lu Junyi, Guan Sheng, Ruan Xiao'er, Ruan Xiaowu, Ruan Xiaoqi, Liu Tang, Hua Rong and Wu Yong. Some of the characters who later became associated with Song Jiang also appeared around this time. They include Sun Li, Yang Zhi, Lin Chong, Lu Zhishen and Wu Song. A palace memorial by Hou Meng, included in the History of Song, states: "Song Jiang and 36 others cross Qi and Wei (the central belt of the North China Plain) at will. Government troops number tens of thousands but no one dares oppose him. His abilities must be extraordinary. Since we also face plunders by Fang La and his outlaws from Qingxi, why not grant Song Jiang and his men amnesty and request them to lead a campaign against Fang La to redeem themselves?"

A direct precursor of Water Margin is Old Incidents in the Xuanhe Period of the Great Song Dynasty (大宋宣和遺事), which appeared around the mid-13th century. The text is a written version of storytellers' tales based on supposed historical events. It is divided into ten chapters, roughly covering the history of the Song dynasty from the early 11th century to the establishment of the Southern Song regime in 1127. The fourth chapter covers the adventures of Song Jiang and his 36 companions, and their eventual defeat by Zhang Shuye. Versions of some of the stories and characters in Water Margin are clearly visible, including "Yang Zhi Sells His Precious Sabre", "Robbing the Convoy of Birthday Gifts", "Song Jiang Kills Yan Poxi", and "Fighting Fang La". Song Jiang and his outlaws are said to operate in the Taihang Mountains.

Stories about the outlaws became a popular subject for Yuan dynasty drama. During this time, the material on which Water Margin was based evolved into its current form. The number of outlaws increased to 108. Even though they come from different backgrounds, and include scholars, fishermen, imperial drill instructors, officers, and others, all of them eventually come to occupy Mount Liang (or Liangshan Marsh).

Author's inspiration and dates
While the book's authorship is attributed to Shi Nai'an (1296–1372), there is an extensive academic debate on what historical events the author had witnessed that inspired him to write the book, which forms a wider debate on when the book was written. The first external reference of this book, which dated to 1524 during a discussion among Ming dynasty officials, is a reliable evidence because it presents strong falsifiability. Other scholars put the date to the mid-14th century, sometime between the fall of the Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty and the early Ming dynasty.

Both the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty (1521–1568) and the closing years of the Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty (1360s) were marked by a chain of rebellions, which confused scholars a lot as to which of the two inspired the author, and hence when was the book written. The proponents of the Yuan dynasty argued that Water Margin became popular during the Yuan as the common people (predominantly Han Chinese) resented the Mongol rulers. The ambivalence persisted into later times, and the Chongzhen Emperor of the Ming dynasty, acting on the advice of his ministers, banned the book.

Plot
The opening episode in the novel is the release of the 108 Spirits, imprisoned under an ancient stele-bearing tortoise. The next chapter describes the rise of Gao Qiu, one of the primary antagonists of the story. Gao abuses his status as a Grand Marshal by oppressing Wang Jin; Wang's father taught Gao a painful lesson when the latter was still a street-roaming ruffian. Wang Jin flees from the capital with his mother and by chance he meets Shi Jin, who becomes his apprentice. The next few chapters tell the story of Shi Jin's friend Lu Zhishen, followed by the story of Lu's sworn brother Lin Chong. Lin Chong is framed by Gao Qiu for attempting to assassinate him, and almost dies in a fire at a supply depot set by Gao's henchmen. He slays his foes and abandons the depot, eventually making his way to Liangshan Marsh, where he becomes an outlaw. Meanwhile, the "Original Seven", led by Chao Gai, rob a convoy of birthday gifts for the Imperial Tutor Cai Jing, another primary antagonist in the novel. They flee to Liangshan Marsh after defeating a group of soldiers sent by the authorities to arrest them, and settle there as outlaws with Chao Gai as their chief. As the story progresses, more people come to join the outlaw band, including military personnel and civil officials who grew tired of serving the corrupt government, as well as men with special skills and talents. Stories of the outlaws are told in separate sections in the following chapters. Connections between characters are vague, but the individual stories are eventually pieced together by chapter 60 when Song Jiang succeeds Chao Gai as the leader of the band after the latter is killed in a battle against the Zeng Family Fortress. The plot further develops by illustrating the conflicts between the outlaws and the Song government after the Grand Assembly of the 108 outlaws. Song Jiang strongly advocates making peace with the government and seeking redress for the outlaws. After defeating the imperial army in a great battle at Liangshan Marsh, the outlaws eventually receive amnesty from Emperor Huizong. The emperor recruits them to form a military contingent and sends them on campaigns against invaders from the Liao dynasty and rebel forces led by Tian Hu, Wang Qing and Fang La within the Song dynasty's domain. Although the former outlaws eventually emerge victorious against the rebels and Liao invaders, the campaigns also lead to the tragic dissolution of the 108 heroes. At least two-thirds of them die in battle while the surviving ones either return to the imperial capital to receive honours from the emperor and continue serving the Song government, or leave and spend the rest of their lives as commoners elsewhere. Song Jiang himself is eventually poisoned to death by the "Four Treacherous Ministers" – Gao Qiu, Yang Jian, Tong Guan and Cai Jing.

Characters
The 108 Heroes (一百单八将) are at the core of the plot of Water Margin. Based on the Taoist concept that each person's destiny is tied to a "Star of Destiny" (宿星), the 108 Stars of Destiny are stars representing 108 demonic overlords who were banished by the deity Shangdi. Having repented since their expulsion, the 108 Stars are accidentally released from their place of confinement, and are reborn in the world as 108 heroes who band together for the cause of justice. They are divided into the 36 Heavenly Spirits and 72 Earthly Fiends.

Table of chapters
This outline of chapters is based on a 100 chapters edition. Yang Dingjian's 120 chapters edition includes other campaigns of the outlaws on behalf of Song dynasty, while Jin Shengtan's 70 chapters edition omits the chapters on the outlaws' acceptance of amnesty and subsequent campaigns.

The extended version includes the Liangshan heroes' expeditions against the rebel leaders Tian Hu and Wang Qing prior to the campaign against Fang La.

Other stories are told such as the heroes fighting the Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty or moving to Siam.

Reception and themes
Water Margin, praised as an early "masterpiece" of vernacular fiction, is renowned for the "mastery and control" of its mood and tone. The novel is also known for its use of vivid, humorous and especially racy language. However, it has been denounced as "obscene" by various critics since the Ming dynasty. "王婆道：「大官人，你聽我說：但凡捱光的，兩個字最難，要五件事俱全，方才 行得. 第一件，潘安的貌；第二件，驢兒大的行貨；第三件，要似鄧通有錢；第四件 ，小就要棉裏針忍耐；第五件，要閒工夫：——這五件，喚作『潘、驢、鄧、小、閑 』. 五件俱全，此事便獲著. 」西門慶道：「實不瞞你說，這五件事我都有些：第一 ，我的面兒雖比不得潘安，也充得過；第二，我小時也曾養得好大龜；第三，我家裏 也頗有貫百錢財，雖不及鄧通，也得過；第四，我最耐得，他便打我四百頓，休想我 回他一下；第五，我最有閒工夫，不然，如何來的恁頻？乾娘，你只作成我！完備了 時，我自重重的謝你. 」 'These seduction cases are the hardest of all. There are five conditions that have to be met before you can succeed. First, you have to be as handsome as Pan An. Second, you need a tool as big as a donkey's. Third, you must be as rich as Deng Tong. Fourth, you must be as forbearing as a needle plying through cotton wool. Fifth, you've got to spend time. It can be done only if you meet these five requirements.'

'Frankly, I think I do. First, while I'm far from a Pan An, I still can get by. Second, I've had a big cock since childhood.'"

Susan L. Mann writes that the "desire for male camaraderie" is "far from a mere plotline," for it is a basic theme of this and other classic novels. She places the novel's male characters in a tradition of men's culture of mutual trust and reciprocal obligation, such as figures known as the Chinese knight-errant. Sima Qian, the Han dynasty historian, devoted a section to biographies: "Their words were always sincere and trustworthy, and their actions always quick and decisive. They were always true to what they promised, and without regard to their own persons, they would rush into dangers threatening others." She finds such figures in this and other novels, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West, all of which dramatized the "empathic emotional attraction between men who appreciate and play off against one another's complementary qualities."

Licentious and treacherous women are another recurring theme. Modern critics have debated whether Water Margin is misogynistic. Most beautiful women in the novel are depicted as immoral and cruel, and they are often involved in schemes against the protagonists. Among them is Pan Jinlian, the sister-in-law of Wu Song, who has later become an archetypal femme fatale and one of the most notorious villainesses of classical Chinese culture. On the other hand, the few "good" women in the story, like Sun Erniang and Gu Dasao, are not particularly noted for their beauty, or are even described as being plain or ugly. The leader of the outlaws, Song Jiang admonishes: "Any outlaw that meddles with women is contemptible."

Critics offer various explanations for Water Margin's prejudice against women. Most common among modern Chinese critics is the patriarchal society of the Imperial China. Professor Sun Shuyu of The Chinese University of Hong Kong argues that the author(s) of Water Margin intentionally vilified women in order to discipline their would-be-outlaw audiences.

Authorship
Since fiction was not at first a prestigious genre in the Chinese literary world, authorship of early novels was not attributed and may be unknowable. The authorship of Water Margin is still in some sense uncertain, and the text in any case derived from many sources and involved many editorial hands. While the novel was traditionally attributed to Shi Nai'an, of whose life nothing is reliably known, recent scholars think that the novel, or portions of it, may have been written or revised by Luo Guanzhong (the author of Romance of the Three Kingdoms). Other contenders include Shi Hui (施惠) and Guo Xun (郭勛).

Shi Nai'an
Many scholars believe that the first 70 chapters were indeed written by Shi Nai'an; however the authorship of the final 30 chapters is often questioned, with some speculating that it was instead written by Luo Guanzhong, who may have been a student of Shi. Another theory, which first appeared in Gao Ru's Baichuan Shuzhi (百川書志) during the Ming dynasty, suggests that the whole novel was written and compiled by Shi, and then edited by Luo.

Shi drew from oral and written texts that had accumulated over time. Stories of the Liangshan outlaws first appeared in Old incidents in the Xuanhe period of the great Song dynasty (大宋宣和遺事) and had been circulating since the Southern Song dynasty, while folk tales and opera related to Water Margin have already existed long before the novel itself came into existence. This theory suggests that Shi Nai'an gathered and compiled these pieces of information to write Water Margin.

Luo Guanzhong
Some believe that Water Margin was written entirely by Luo Guanzhong. Wang Daokun (汪道昆), who lived during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor in the Ming dynasty, first mentioned in Classification of Water Margin (水滸傳敘) that: "someone with the family name Luo, who was a native of Wuyue (Yue (a reference to the southern China region covering Zhejiang), wrote the 100-chapter novel." Several scholars from the Ming and Qing dynasties, after Wang Daokun's time, also said that Luo was the author of Water Margin. During the early Republican era, Lu Xun and Yu Pingbo suggested that the simplified edition of Water Margin was written by Luo, while the traditional version was by Shi Nai'an.

However, Huikang Yesou (惠康野叟) in Shi Yu (識餘) disagree with Wang Daokun's view on the grounds that there were significant differences between Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, therefore these two novels could not have been written by the same person.

Hu Shih felt that the draft of Water Margin was done by Luo Guanzhong, and could have contained the chapters on the outlaws' campaigns against Tian Hu, Wang Qing and Fang La, but not invaders from the Liao dynasty.

Another theory states that Luo Guanzhong was from the Southern Song period vice the Ming dynasty. Cheng Muheng (程穆衡) suggested in Notes on Water Margin (水滸傳注略) that Luo lived in the late Southern Song dynasty and early Yuan era. Huang Lin'gen (黃霖根) pointed out that the name of one of the compilers of Anecdotes of Jingkang (靖康稗史) was Nai'an, and suggested that this "Nai'an", who lived during the Southern Song dynasty, was Shi Nai'an. He also felt that Shi wrote a simplified version of Water Margin, which is not the current edition.

Shi Hui
Another candidate is Shi Hui (施惠), a nanxi (southern opera) playwright who lived between the late Yuan dynasty and early Ming dynasty. Xu Fuzuo (徐復祚) of the Ming dynasty mentioned in Sanjia Cunlao Weitan (三家村老委談) that Junmei (君美; Shi Hui's courtesy name)'s intention in writing Water Margin was to entertain people, and not to convey any message. During the Qing dynasty, Shi Hui and Shi Nai'an were linked, suggesting that they are actually the same person. An unnamed writer wrote in Chuanqi Huikao Biaomu (傳奇會考標目) that Shi Nai'an's given name was actually "Hui", courtesy name "Juncheng" (君承), and he was a native of Hangzhou. Sun Kaidi (孫楷第) also wrote in Bibliography of Chinese Popular Fiction that "Nai'an" was Shi Hui's pseudonym. Later studies revealed that Water Margin contained lines in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang variety of Chinese, and that You Gui Ji (幽闺记), a work of Shi Hui, bore some resemblance to Water Margin, hence the theory that Water Margin was authored by Shi Hui.

Guo Xun
Early scholars attributed the authorship to Guo Xun (郭勛), a politician who lived in the Ming dynasty. Shen Defu (沈德符), a late Ming dynasty scholar, mentioned in Wanli Yehuo Bian (萬曆野獲編) that Guo wrote Water Margin. Shen Guoyuan (沈國元) added in Huangming Congxin Lu (皇明從信錄) that Guo mimicked the writing styles of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin to write Guochao Yinglie Ji (國朝英烈記). Qian Xiyan (錢希言) also stated in Xi Gu (戲嘏) that Guo edited Water Margin before. Hu Shih countered in his Research on Water Margin (水滸傳新考) that Guo Xun's name was used as a disguise for the real author of Water Margin. Dai Bufan (戴不凡) had a differing view, as he suspected that Guo wrote Water Margin, and then used "Shi Nai'an" to conceal his identity as the author of the novel

Editions
The textual history of the novel is extraordinarily complex for there are early editions of varying lengths, different parts, and variations. The scholar Scott Gregory comments that the text could be freely altered by editors and publishers who also could add prefaces or commentaries. Not until the 1920s were there studies which began to set these questions in order, and there is still disagreement. The earliest components of the Water Margin (in manuscript copies) were from the late 14th century. A printed copy dating from the Jiaqing reign (1507–1567) titled Jingben Zhongyi Zhuan (京本忠義傳), is preserved in the Shanghai Library. The earliest extant complete printed edition of Water Margin is a 100-chapter version published in 1589. An edition, with 120 chapters by Yang Dingjian (楊定見), has been preserved from the reign of the Wanli Emperor (1573–1620) in the Ming dynasty. Yet other editions were published in the early Qing dynasty.

The most widely read version is a truncated recension published by Jin Shengtan in 1643, reprinted many times, which became the standard text for later editions and most translations. Jin provided three introductions that praised the novel as a work of genius and inserted commentaries into the text that explained how to read the novel. He cut matter that he thought irrelevant, reduced the number of chapters to 70 by turning chapter 1 into a prologue, and added an ending in which all 108 heroes are executed.

The various editions can be classified into simplified and complex. The simplified editions, edited for less sophisticated audiences, can contain all the events but in less detail. There is no way of knowing whether a simplified edition came before or was derived from another by adding or cutting text.

Simplified editions
The simplified editions include stories on the outlaws being granted amnesty, followed by their campaigns against the Liao dynasty, Tian Hu, Wang Qing and Fang La, all the way until Song Jiang's death. At one point, the later chapters were compiled into a separate novel, titled Sequel to Water Margin (續水滸傳), which is attributed to Luo Guanzhong.

Known simplified editions of Water Margin include:

 * A 115-chapter edition, Masterpieces of the Han and Song dynasties (漢宋奇書)
 * A 110-chapter edition, Chronicles of Heroes (英雄譜)
 * A 164-chapter edition, combined with Sequel to Water Margin

Complex editions
The complex editions are more descriptive and circulated more widely than their simplified counterparts. The three main versions of the complex editions are a 100-chapter, a 120-chapter and a 70-chapter edition. The most commonly modified parts of the complex editions are the stories on what happened after the outlaws are granted amnesty.

 * 100-chapter edition: Includes the outlaws' campaigns against the Liao dynasty and Fang La after they have been granted amnesty.
 * 120-chapter edition: An extended version of the 100-chapter edition, includes the outlaws' campaigns against Tian Hu and Wang Qing (chapters 91 to 110).
 * 71-chapter edition: Edited by Jin Shengtan in the late Ming dynasty, this edition uses Chapter 1 as a prologue and ends at Chapter 71 of the original version, and does not include the stories about the outlaws being granted amnesty and their campaigns.

Translations
Water Margin has been translated into many languages. The book was translated into Manchu as Möllendorff: Sui hū bithe. Japanese translations date back to at least 1757, when the first volume of an early Suikoden (Water Margin rendered in Japanese) was printed. Other early adaptations include Takebe Ayakari's 1773 Japanese Water Margin (Honcho suikoden), the 1783 Women's Water Margin (Onna suikoden), and Santō Kyōden's 1801 Chushingura Water Margin (Chushingura suikoden). In 1805, Kyokutei Bakin released a Japanese translation of the Water Margin illustrated by Hokusai. The book, called the New Illustrated Edition of the Suikoden (Shinpen Suikogaden), was a success during the Edo period and spurred a Japanese "Suikoden" craze.

In 1827, publisher Kagaya Kichibei commissioned Utagawa Kuniyoshi to produce a series of woodblock prints illustrating the 108 heroes in Water Margin. The 1827–1830 series, called 108 Heroes of the Water Margin or Tsuzoku Suikoden goketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori, catapulted Kuniyoshi to fame. It also brought about a craze for multicoloured pictorial tattoos that covered the entire body from the neck to the mid-thigh.

Following the great commercial success of the Kuniyoshi series, other ukiyo-e artists were commissioned to produce prints of the Water Margin heroes, which began to be shown as Japanese heroes rather than the original Chinese personages.

Among these later series was Yoshitoshi's 1866–1867 series of 50 designs in Chuban size, which are darker than Kuniyoshi's and feature strange ghosts and monsters. A recent Japanese translation is

The book was first translated into Thai in 1867, originally in Samud Thai (Thai paper book) format, consisting of 82 volumes in total. It was printed in western style in 1879 and distributed commercially by Dan Beach Bradley, an American Protestant missionary to Siam.

Jacques Dars translated the 70 chapter version into French in 1978, reprinted several times.

Pearl S. Buck was the first English translator of the entire 70-chapter version. Titled All Men are Brothers and published in 1933. The book was well received by the American public. However, it was also criticised for its errors, such as the mistranslation of Lu Zhishen's nickname "Flowery Monk" as "Priest Hua". In 1937, another complete translation appeared, titled Water Margin, by J. H. Jackson, edited by Fang Lo-Tien. A translation of Jin's Preface was published in 1935 by the Shanghai journal, The China Critic.

Later translations of the 70 chapter version include Chinese-naturalised scholar Sidney Shapiro's Outlaws of the Marsh (1980), which also does not include the verse. However, as it was published during the Cultural Revolution, this edition received little attention then. It is a translation of a combination of both the 70-chapter and 100-chapter versions.

The most recent translation, titled The Marshes Of Mount Liang (1994), by Alex and John Dent-Young, is a five-volume translation of the 120-chapter version. It includes a prologue but omits the foreword by Shi Nai'an and some passages related to the official details of the Ming Dynasty.

These translations differ in the selection of texts and completeness. The Jackson translation is the only translation to contain Shi Nai'an's foreword. The Shapiro translation omits the prologue, the foreword, and most of the poems. The Dent-Young translation omits the author's foreword and the passages concerning the Ming Dynasty administration and the translators admitted to compromising some details and retaining inconsistencies in their Brief Note on the Translation.

Literature
Jin Ping Mei is an erotic novel written under the pen-name Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng (蘭陵笑笑生) ("The Scoffing Scholar of Lanling") in the late Ming dynasty. The novel is based on the story of Wu Song avenging his brother in Water Margin, but the focus is on Ximen Qing's sexual relations with other women, including Pan Jinlian. In Water Margin, Ximen Qing is killed by Wu Song for murdering the latter's brother, while in Jin Ping Mei he dies a horrible death due to an accidental overdose of aphrodisiac pills.

Shuihu Houzhuan (水滸後傳), which roughly translates to The Later Story of Water Margin, is a novel written by Chen Chen (陳忱) in the Qing dynasty. The story is set after the end of the original Water Margin, with Li Jun as the protagonist. It tells of how the surviving Liangshan heroes are forced to become outlaws again due to corruption in the government. When the armies of the Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty invade the Song dynasty, the heroes rise up to defend their nation from the invaders. The heroes eventually decide to leave China for good and sail to distant lands. Apart from the surviving Liangshan heroes from the original novel, Shuihu Houzhuan also introduces new characters such as Hua Rong's son Hua Fengchun (花逢春), Xu Ning's son Xu Sheng (徐晟) and Huyan Zhuo's son Huyan Yu (呼延鈺).

Dang Kou Zhi (蕩寇志), which roughly translates to The Tale of Eliminating Bandits, is a novel written by Yu Wanchun (俞萬春) during the reign of the Daoguang Emperor in the Qing dynasty. Yu disagreed that the Liangshan outlaws are loyal and righteous heroes, and was determined to portray them as ruthless mass murderers and destroyers, hence he wrote Dang Kou Zhi. The novel, which starts at the Grand Assembly of the 108 outlaws at Liangshan Marsh, tells of how the outlaws plundered and pillaged cities before they are eventually eliminated by government forces led by Zhang Shuye (張叔夜) and his lieutenants Chen Xizhen (陳希真) and Yun Tianbiao (雲天彪).

The Qing dynasty writer Qian Cai intertwined the life stories of Yue Fei and the outlaws Lin Chong and Lu Junyi in The Story of Yue Fei (1684). He stated that the latter were former students of the general's martial arts tutor, Zhou Tong. However, literary critic C. T. Hsia commented that the connection was a fictional one created by the author. The Republican era folktale Swordplay Under the Moon, by Wang Shaotang, further intertwines Yue Fei's history with the outlaws by adding Wu Song to the list of Zhou's former students. The tale is set in the background of Wu Song's mission to Kaifeng, prior to the murder of his brother. Zhou tutors Wu in the "rolling dragon" style of swordplay during his one-month stay in the capital city. It also said that Zhou is a sworn brother of Lu Zhishen and shares the same nickname with the executioner-turned-outlaw Cai Fu.

Frank Chin's novel, Donald Duk, contains many references to the Water Margin. Song Jiang and Li Kui make several appearances in the protagonist's dreams.

Rise of the Water Margin (水滸再起) is a novel launched in 2022 by the American author Christopher Bates in which all of the Chinese characters and their approximate character arcs are 21st century modernizations of people in The Water Margin. In this cyber-thriller, the characters of Lin Chong, Lu Da, Gao Qiu, Gao Yanei, Zhang Zhenniang, Fu An, Cai Jing, Chai Jin, Wang Lun, Zhu Gui, Zhao Ji, Li Shishi and many others appear. The location of Liangshanpo is a deserted ghost city known to its investors as Mount Liang Swamp, repurposed as a hacker enclave.

Eiji Yoshikawa wrote Shin Suikoden (新水滸伝), which roughly translates to "New Tales from the Water Margin".

The Water Outlaws, a novel by S. L. Huang, is a gender-flipped version of the story in which the outlaws are queer women.

In addition to its colossal popularity in China, Water Margin has been identified as one of the most influential works in the development of early modern Japanese literature.

Comics
Water Margin is referred to in numerous Japanese manga, such as Tetsuo Hara and Buronson's Fist of the North Star, and Masami Kurumada's Fūma no Kojirō, Otokozaka and Saint Seiya. In both works of fiction, characters bearing the same stars of the Water Margin characters as personal emblems of destiny are featured prominently. A Japanese manga called Akaboshi: Ibun Suikoden, based on the story of Water Margin, was serialised in Weekly Shonen Jump.

A Hong Kong manhua series based on Water Margin was also created by the artist Lee Chi Ching. A reimagined series based on Water Margin, 108 Fighters, was created by Andy Seto.

Between 1978 and 1988, the Italian artist Magnus published four acts of his work I Briganti, which places the Water Margin story in a setting that mixes Chinese, Western and science fiction (in Flash Gordon style) elements. Before his death in 1996, the four completed "acts" were published in a volume by Granata Press; two following "acts" were planned but never completed.

In 2007, Asiapac Books published a graphic narrative version of portions of the novel.

Film
Most film adaptations of Water Margin were produced by Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers Studio and mostly released in the 1970s and 1980s. They include: The Water Margin (1972), directed by Chang Cheh and others; Delightful Forest (1972), directed by Chang Cheh again and starring Ti Lung as Wu Song; Pursuit (1972), directed by Kang Cheng and starring Elliot Ngok as Lin Chong; All Men Are Brothers (1975), a sequel to The Water Margin (1972) directed by Chang Cheh and others; and Tiger Killer (1982), directed by Li Han-hsiang and starring Ti Lung as Wu Song again.

Other non-Shaw Brothers production include: All Men Are Brothers: Blood of the Leopard, also known as Water Margin: True Colours of Heroes (1992), which centers on the story of Lin Chong, Lu Zhishen and Gao Qiu, starring Tony Leung Ka-fai, Elvis Tsui and others; and Troublesome Night 16 (2002), a Hong Kong horror comedy film which spoofs the story of Wu Song avenging his brother.

Television
Television series directly based on Water Margin include: Nippon Television's The Water Margin (1973), which was later released in other countries outside Japan; Outlaws of the Marsh (1983), which won a Golden Eagle Award; CCTV's The Water Margin (1998), produced by Zhang Jizhong and featuring fight choreography by Yuen Woo-ping; All Men Are Brothers (2011), directed by Kuk Kwok-leung and featuring actors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Animations adapted from Water Margin include: Giant Robo: The Animation (1992), an anime series based on Mitsuteru Yokoyama's manga series; Outlaw Star (1998), another cartoon series which makes several references to the novel; Hero: 108 (2010), a flash animated series produced by various companies and shown on Cartoon Network. Galaxy Divine Wind Jinraiger, an anime in the J9 Series planned for a 2016 broadcast, has also cited Water Margin as its inspiration.

The 2004 Hong Kong television series Shades of Truth, produced by TVB, features three characters from the novel who are reincarnated into present-day Hong Kong as a triad boss and two police officers respectively.

Video games
Video games based on the novel include Konami's console RPG series Suikoden and Koei's strategy game Bandit Kings of Ancient China. Other games with characters based on the novel or were partly inspired by it include: Jade Empire, which features a character "Black Whirlwind" who is based on Li Kui; Data East's Outlaws Of The Lost Dynasty, which was also released under the titles Suiko Enbu and Dark Legend; Shin Megami Tensei: IMAGINE. There is also a beat em' up game Shuǐhǔ Fēngyún Chuán, created by Never Ending Soft Team and published by Kin Tec in 1996. It was re-released for the Mega Drive and in arcade version by Wah Lap in 1999. An English version titled "Water Margin: The Tales of Clouds and Winds" by Piko Interactive translated and released in 2015. Some enemy sprites are taken from other beat 'em ups and modified, including Knights of the Round, Golden Axe and Streets of Rage.

Music
Yan Poxi, a Pingju form of the story focused on the concubine Yan Poxi, was performed by Bai Yushuang and her company in Shanghai in the 1930s.

Water Marginised (水滸後傳) (2007) is a folk reggae narrative by Chan Xuan. It tells the story of a present-day jailbird who travels to Liangshan Marsh in hope of joining the outlaw band, only to find that Song Jiang and his men have all taken bureaucratic jobs in the ruling party.

"108 Heroes" is a three-part Peking Rock Opera (first shown in 2007, 2011 and 2014 respectively) formed through a collaborative effort between the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the Shanghai International Arts Festival, Taiwan Contemporary Legend Theater, and the Shanghai Theater Academy. The show combines traditional Peking Opera singing, costumes, martial arts and dance with elements of modern music, costume and dance.

Other
The temple fair in Southern Taiwan Song Jiang Battle Array is based on the acrobatic fighting from Water Margin.

Characters from the story often appear on Money-suited playing cards, which are thought to be the ancestor of both modern playing cards and mahjong tiles. These cards are also known as Water Margin cards (水滸牌).

The trading card game, Yu-Gi-Oh! has an archetype based on the 108 heroes known as the "Fire Fist" (known as "Flame Star" in the OCG) (炎えん星せい, Ensei) where the monsters aside from Horse Prince, Lion Emperor, and Spirit are based on those heroes.

The Jurchen chief and Khan Nurhaci read the Chinese novels Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin learning all he knew about Chinese military and political strategies from them.

title: Water Margin


text:
John Godber

John Harry Godber (born 18 May 1956) is an English playwright, known mainly for observational comedies. The Plays and Players Yearbook of 1993 rated him the third most performed playwright in the UK after William Shakespeare and Alan Ayckbourn. He has been creative director of the Theatre Royal Wakefield since 2011.

Early life and education
Godber was born in Upton, West Riding of Yorkshire. He trained as a teacher of drama at Bretton Hall College, which was affiliated to the University of Leeds, and became artistic director of Hull Truck Theatre Company in 1984.

Career
Before venturing into plays, he was head of drama at Minsthorpe High School, the school he had attended as a student, and then wrote for the TV series Brookside and Grange Hill. While he was at Minsthorpe he taught future actors Adrian Hood (Preston Front, Up 'n' Under film) and Chris Walker (Doctors, Coronation Street). A 1993 survey for Plays and Players magazine cited Godber as the third most performed playwright in the UK, after Shakespeare and Alan Ayckbourn. In 2005 he won two British Academy Children's Awards for Oddsquad, written and directed on location in Hull and screened by BBC children's television. His plays are performed across the world, Bouncers (1977) being the most popular.

In 2004 he became a visiting professor of Popular Theatre at Liverpool Hope University. He has also been professor of drama at Hull University. In 2011, Godber became creative director at Theatre Royal Wakefield and set up the John Godber Company as its resident company.

Style
Godber's earlier style utilises an interest in German Expressionism, an economic and physical style inspired by this and the inspiration of Bretton Hall Head of School (Drama) John Hodgson. His later and more naturalistic style reflects his growth as a member of the middle classes and an Ayckbournesque world of drama. He says that the "new Godber" is perhaps a writer like Tim Firth.

Personal life
Godber is married to the writer and actress Jane Thornton, also known as Jane Clifford and Jane Godber.

Legacy
Godber is a Patron of the Second Chance Headway centre’s charity in Wakefield.

The theatre facility at New College, Pontefract, a college near his birthplace, is named the John Godber Theatre. It opened in 2012.

Filmography

 * Grange Hill (1978) TV series
 * Toys of Age (1979) TV
 * Brookside (1982) TV series
 * The Rainbow Coloured Disco Dancer (1983) TV
 * Crown Court (1983) TV
 * The Ritz (1987) TV series
 * My Kingdom for a Horse (1991) TV series
 * Chalkface (1991) TV series
 * Shakers (1993) TV
 * Bloomin' Marvellous (1997) TV series
 * Up 'n' Under (1998)
 * Bouncers! (2000) TV
 * Thunder Road (2001) TV
 * Portas, Os (2005) TV
 * Make that happy (1997) TV

title: John Godber


text:
Talk:Vaishya

Trolling
Vaishyas (General Category|OBC in Some region) are given below : Vthera, Patwa,gupta,garg ,Sinduriya-Bania, Mahuri-Vaishya, Avadh-Bania,.. Sinduriya-Bania,Mahuri-Vaishya,Aggrwala, Sudi, Halwai, Roniyar, Pansari, Modi, Kasera,Kesarwani, Thathera, Patwa, Sinduriya-Bania, Gupta teli Tayal,their profession is cow protection, Business. Mahuri-Vaishya, Avadh-Bania, Agrahari-Vaishya(gupta,mittal,garg),marw… Teli,Garg,modi,modh vaishyas,Sudi, Halwai, Roniyar, Pansari,Patidar ,soni,sunar,patel,borwa,rao,reddy, SC bania are Garg,teli,kasyap,birttal bania Ambanis are Vaishyas. small> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.23.151.247 (talk • contribs)

 * It seems that you haven't yet stopped trolling.
 * Singhania is not Rajput, but Vaishya. Read Lakshmipat Singhania: his concepts and creations by P. Chentsal Rao (University of Michigan).
 * Ambani is also a Vaishya caste. Read The concept of rājadharma by Dr. Michael (ISBN: 8175741570, 9788175741577).
 * It is a well-known fact that Dhoot belongs to Maheshwari caste, not Jatt caste.
 * You haven't provided a single source to back your above claims.

 * Due to the fact that you have a dynamic ip, no action can be taken against you for your repeated disruptive edits. As a consequence, the only option left was to temporarily protect the article. Continue with your antics, and this article will be protected indefinitely. --King Zebu (talk) 17:51, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

lohana are not vishya.by Y cromozome lineage and bita thalasemiya DNA test report lohana,bhatiya,meena rajput syryavanshi,jats,sindhi panjabi,percian are same lineage people so please remove lohana as a vaishya. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.47.114.6 (talk) 17:11, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

lohana prove their connection with rathod(jaychand of kanoj),and prove that they are suryavanshi kshatriya,so i suggest to remove it from this page.Bhavinkundaliya (talk) 09:41, 16 October 2011 (UTC)

90% of Vaish subcaste originate from kshatriya. Agarwal : Maharaj Agrasen Maheswari:God Shiva Khandelwal:Raja Khandel Barnwal:Raja Aherwarn Porwal:Raja Puru The list is very long. Prominent Vaish King : Chandragupt, Ashok, Vikrmaditya, Harshvardhan,Hemu etc — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kuarun (talk • contribs) 12:07, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

 * Sources? - Sitush (talk) 12:13, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Indian ancient society was a group of different tribes or clans. The important Clans were Lunar Dynasty ( the Chandra Vansa), Solar Dynasty ( the Surya Vansa.) etc. Vaishya also originate  from above clans. Reference: 1)The Tribes and Castes of the Central, Provinces of India,By R.V. Russell, Macmillan and Co., Limited St. Martin’s Street, London. 1916. Chapter 6. The Banias derived from the Rājpūts. 2) Mittal, J.P. (2006), History of Ancient India (4250 BC to 637 AD) 3) Bharatendu Harishchandra, Agrawalon ki Utpatti, 1871.etc — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kuarun (talk • contribs) 10:22, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

 * Russell is a poor source and anything from 1871 is too old (as well as most likely exactly the sort of stuff that Russell, Rose etc relied upon). We have to be extremely careful regarding sanskritisation, which really muddied the waters. I have a vague feeling that Mittal has been criticised as unreliable but I'll look into it. - Sitush (talk) 14:07, 21 June 2012 (UTC)
 * BTW, can you give me an ISBN for Mittal. And a page number where he refers to 90% etc. - Sitush (talk) 14:09, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

Banyan merchants
Banyan merchants redirect here, but only Banyan (clothing) mentions them. Whyzat?--Pawyilee (talk) 16:45, 9 May 2012 (UTC) Banyan merchants no longer redirect here, but may drop by to visit. --Pawyilee (talk) 12:44, 14 May 2012 (UTC)

Naming Vaishya groups
There are a few communities named in the article and the text clearly says that it is not an inclusive list. Nor should it be, since it would be long. I suppose that there might be an argument for creating List of Vaishya communities but we do have Category:Vaishya community and that should suffice. - Sitush (talk) 22:57, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

dvija
Vaisyas do not claim the dvija status,but all scriptures mention then as dvijas,the reference sources used needs to be changed. Nijgoykar (talk) 10:17, 3 April 2015 (UTC)

 * Are you saying that the existing source is unreliable? What source do you propose instead? Why should we not show both opinions? - Sitush (talk) 11:00, 3 April 2015 (UTC)

Pronunciation
Guides on pronunciation (phonetic) would be useful for each of the varnas, either/and here or in their respective articles. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.159.200.25 (talk) 14:45, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Hospitals
The History of hospitals article lists a Vaishya as an early type of hospital. That is why I added the Category:Hospitals to this article. -- Talk to G Moore 00:41, 23 December 2020 (UTC)

 * No, Vaishya is an Indian social class. While a few Vaishyas may have created hospitals, their traditional occupation was mercantile. Chariotrider555 (talk) 01:16, 23 December 2020 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 17:17, 2 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Sage Jajali is honoured by the Vaishya Tuladhara.jpg

Is vaishya Newar?
I wanna know that is vaishya Newar?? 2407:1400:AA19:6720:B069:8539:1147:1F72 (talk) 14:02, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Vaishya


text:
Frances Willard

Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard (September 28, 1839 – February 17, 1898) was an American educator, temperance reformer, and women's suffragist. Willard became the national president of Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 1879 and remained president until her death in 1898. Her influence continued in the next decades, as the Eighteenth (on Prohibition) and Nineteenth (on women's suffrage) Amendments to the United States Constitution were adopted. Willard developed the slogan "Do Everything" for the WCTU and encouraged members to engage in a broad array of social reforms by lobbying, petitioning, preaching, publishing, and education. During her lifetime, Willard succeeded in raising the age of consent in many states as well as passing labor reforms including the eight-hour work day. Her vision also encompassed prison reform, scientific temperance instruction, Christian socialism, and the global expansion of women's rights.

Early life and education
Willard was born in 1839 to Josiah Flint Willard and Mary Thompson Hill Willard in Churchville, near Rochester, New York. She was named after English novelist Frances (Fanny) Burney, the American poet Frances Osgood, and her sister, Elizabeth Caroline, who had died the previous year. She had two other siblings: her older brother, Oliver, and her younger sister, Mary. Her father was a farmer, naturalist, and legislator. Her mother was a schoolteacher. In 1841 the family moved to Oberlin, Ohio, where, at Oberlin College Josiah Willard studied for the ministry, and Mary Hill Willard took classes. They moved to Janesville, Wisconsin in 1846 for Josiah Willard's health. In Wisconsin, the family, formerly Congregationalists, became Methodists. Frances and her sister Mary attended Milwaukee Normal Institute, where their mother's sister taught.

In 1858, the Willard family moved to Evanston, Illinois, and Josiah Willard became a banker. Frances and Mary attended the North Western Female College (no affiliation with Northwestern University) and their brother Oliver attended the Garrett Biblical Institute.

Teaching career
After graduating from North Western Female College, Willard held various teaching positions throughout the country. She worked at the Pittsburgh Female College, and, as preceptress at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in New York (later Syracuse University). She was appointed president of the newly founded Evanston College for Ladies in 1871. When the Evanston College for Ladies became the Woman's College of Northwestern University in 1873, Willard was named the first Dean of Women at the university. However, that position was to be short-lived with her resignation in 1874 after confrontations with the University President, Charles Henry Fowler, over her governance of the Woman's College. Willard had previously been engaged to Fowler and had broken off the engagement.

Activist (WCTU and suffrage)

After her resignation, Willard focused her energies on a new career: the women's temperance movement. In 1874, Willard participated in the founding convention of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) where she was elected the first Corresponding Secretary. In 1876, she became head of the WCTU Publications Department, focusing on publishing and building a national audience for the WCTU's weekly newspaper, The Union Signal. In 1885 Willard joined with Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Mary Ellen West, Frances Conant, Mary Crowell Van Benschoten (Willard's first secretary) and 43 others to found the Illinois Woman's Press Association.

In 1879, she sought and successfully obtained presidency of the National WCTU. Once elected, she held the post until her death. Her tireless efforts for the temperance cause included a 50-day speaking tour in 1874, an average of 30,000 miles of travel a year, and an average of 400 lectures a year for a 10-year period, mostly with the assistance of her personal secretary, Anna Adams Gordon.

Meanwhile, Willard sought to expand WCTU membership in the South, and met Varina Davis, the wife of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who was secretary of the local chapter of the Women's Christian Association in Memphis (where one daughter lived). Willard had tried and failed to convince Lucy Hayes (wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes) to assist the temperance cause, but writer Sallie F. Chapin, a former Confederate sympathizer who had published a temperance novel, supported Willard and was a friend of the Davises. In 1887, Davis invited Willard to her home to discuss the future of her unmarried daughter Winnie Davis, but both Davis women declined to become public supporters, in part because Jefferson Davis opposed legal prohibition. In 1887, Texas held a referendum on temperance, in part because former Confederate postmaster John Reagan supported temperance laws. When newspapers published a photograph of Willard handing Jefferson Davis a temperance button to give to his wife, Jefferson Davis publicly came out against the referendum (as contrary to states' rights) and it lost. Although Varina Davis and Willard would continue to correspond over the next decade (as Varina moved to New York after her husband's death, and Willard spent most of her last decade abroad); another temperance referendum would not occur for two decades.

As president of the WCTU, Willard also argued for female suffrage, based on "Home Protection," which she described as "the movement … the object of which is to secure for all women above the age of twenty-one years the ballot as one means for the protection of their homes from the devastation caused by the legalized traffic in strong drink." The "devastation" referred to violent acts against women committed by intoxicated men, which was common both in and outside the home. Willard argued that it was too easy for men to get away with their crimes without women's suffrage. The "Home Protection" argument was used to garner the support of the "average woman," who was told to be suspicious of female suffragists by the patriarchal press, religious authorities, and society as a whole. The desire for home protection gave the average woman a socially appropriate avenue to seek enfranchisement. Willard insisted that women must forgo the notions that they were the "weaker" sex and that they must embrace their natural dependence on men. She encouraged women to join the movement to improve society: "Politics is the place for woman." The goal of the suffrage movement for Willard was to construct an "ideal of womanhood" that allowed women to fulfill their potential as the companions and counselors of men, as opposed to the "incumbrance and toy of man."

Willard's suffrage argument also hinged on her feminist interpretation of Scripture. She claimed that natural and divine laws called for equality in the American household, with the mother and father sharing leadership. She expanded this notion of the home, arguing that men and women should lead side by side in matters of education, church, and government, just as "God sets male and female side by side throughout his realm of law."

Willard's work took to an international scale in 1883 with the circulation of the Polyglot Petition against the international drug trade. She also joined May Wright Sewall at the International Council of Women meeting in Washington, DC, laying the permanent foundation for the National Council of Women of the United States. She became the organization's first president in 1888 and continued in that post until 1890. Willard also founded the World WCTU in 1888 and became its president in 1893. She collaborated closely with Lady Isabel Somerset, president of the British Women's Temperance Association, whom she visited several times in the United Kingdom.

In 1892 she took part in the St. Louis convention during the formation of the People's (or Populist) Party. The convention was brought a set of principles that was drafted in Chicago, Illinois, by her and twenty-eight of the United States' leading reformers, whom had assembled at her invitation. However, the new party refused to endorse women's suffrage or temperance because it wanted to focus on economic issues.

After 1893, Willard was influenced by the British Fabian Society and became a committed Christian socialist.

Death
In 1898, Willard died quietly in her sleep at the Empire Hotel in New York City after contracting influenza while she was preparing to set sail for England and France. She is buried at Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois.

Frances Willard and her sister Mary Thompson Hill Willard are interred at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago. She bequeathed her Evanston home to the WCTU. The Frances Willard House was opened as a museum in 1900 when it also became the headquarters for the WCTU. In 1965 it was elevated to the status of National Historic Landmark.

Legacy

The famous painting, American Woman and her Political Peers, commissioned by Henrietta Briggs-Wall for the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition, features Frances Willard at the center, surrounded by a convict, American Indian, lunatic, and an idiot. The image succinctly portrayed one argument for female enfranchisement: without the right to vote, the educated, respectable woman was equated with the other outcasts of society to whom the franchise was denied.

After her death, Willard was the first woman included among America's greatest leaders in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol. Her statue was designed by Helen Farnsworth Mears and was unveiled in 1905.

Willard is commemorated on a US postage stamp released on March 28, 1940, as part of the Famous Americans series.

The Frances Elizabeth Willard relief by Lorado Taft and commissioned by the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union in 1929 is in the Indiana Statehouse, Indianapolis, Indiana. The plaque commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of Willard's election as president of the WCTU on October 31, 1879: "In honor of one who made the world wider for women and more homelike for humanity Frances Elizabeth Willard Intrepid Pathfinder and beloved leader of the National and World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union."

There's a small memorial at Richardson Beach in Kingston, Ontario, Canada put there by the Kingston Woman's Christian Temperance Union on Sept. 28, 1939.

Willard appears as one of two main female protagonists in the young adult novel Bicycle Madness by Jane Kurtz.

In 2000, Willard was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Namesakes
Willard Hall in Temperance Temple, Chicago, was named in her honor.

In 1911, the Willard Hall and Willard Guest House in Wakefield Street, Adelaide, South Australia were opened by the South Australian branch of the WCTU.

Frances E. Willard elementary school. Evanston, Illinois.

Frances E. Willard Elementary School, Pasadena, California.

Frances E. Willard Elementary School. Became Willard Junior High School, 1960. Tidewater Drive, Norfolk, Virginia.

The Frances Willard House Museum and Archives is located in Evanston, Illinois.

A dormitory at Northwestern University, Willard Residential College, opened in 1938 as a female dormitory and became the university's first undergraduate co-ed housing in 1970.

The Frances E. Willard School in Philadelphia was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

The Frances Willard Schoolhouse in Janesville, Wisconsin was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

Willard Middle School, established in Berkeley, California in 1916, was named in her honor. Willard Park, also in Berkeley and adjacent to the middle school, was dedicated to Frances Willard in 1982.

Frances Willard Elementary School is a public school in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Frances Willard Avenue in Chico, California is named in her honor. She was a guest of John and Annie Bidwell, the town founders and fellow leaders in the prohibitionist movement. The avenue is adjacent to the Bidwell Mansion.

The Frances E. Willard Temperance Hospital operated under that name from 1929 to 1936 in Chicago. It is now Loretto Hospital in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago.

FEW Spirits, a distillery located in Evanston, Illinois, uses Willard's initials as its name.

Relationships
"The loves of women for each other grow more numerous each day, and I have pondered much why these things were. That so little should be said about them surprises me, for they are everywhere.... In these days when any capable and careful woman can honorably earn her own support, there is no village that has not its examples of 'two hearts in counsel,' both of which are feminine. – Frances Willard, The Autobiography of an American Woman: Glimpses of Fifty Years, 1889"

Contemporary accounts described Willard's friendships and her pattern of long-term domestic assistance from women. She formed the strongest friendships with co-workers. It is difficult to redefine Willard's 19th-century life in terms of the culture and norms of later centuries, but some scholars describe her inclinations and actions as aligned with same-sex emotional alliance (what historian Judith M. Bennett calls "lesbian-like").

Controversy over civil rights issues
In the 1890s, Willard came into conflict with African-American journalist and anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells. While trying to expose the evils of alcohol, Willard and other temperance reformers often depicted one of the evils as its effect to incite purported black criminality, thus implying that this was one of the serious problems requiring an urgent cure. The rift first surfaced during Wells' speaking tour of Britain in 1893, where Willard was also touring and was already a popular reformist speaker. Wells openly questioned Willard's silence on lynching in the United States and accused Willard of having pandered to the racist myth that white women were in constant danger of rape from drunken black males to avoid endangering WCTU efforts in the South. She recounted a time when Willard had visited the South and blamed the failure of the temperance movement there on the population: "The colored race multiplies like the locusts of Egypt," and "the grog shop is its center of power.... The safety of women, of childhood, of the home is menaced in a thousand localities."

Willard repeatedly denied Wells' accusations and wrote that "the attitude of the society [WCTU] toward the barbarity of lynching has been more pronounced than that of any other association in the United States," and she maintained that her primary focus was upon empowering and protecting women, including the many African-American members of the WCTU. While it is true that neither Willard nor the WCTU had ever spoken out directly against lynching, the WCTU actively recruited black women and included them in its membership.

After their acrimonious exchange, Willard explicitly stated her opposition to lynching and successfully urged the WCTU to pass a resolution against lynching. She, however, continued to use the rhetoric that Wells alleged incited lynching. In her pamphlets Southern Horrors and The Red Record, Wells linked rhetoric portraying white women as symbols of innocence and purity that black men could not resist, as facilitating lynchings.

Wells also believed that Willard condoned segregation by permitting the practice within WCTU's southern chapters. Under Willard's presidency, the national WCTU maintained a policy of "states rights" which allowed southern charters to be more conservative than their northern counterparts regarding questions of race and the role of women in politics.

Publications

 * Woman and Temperance, or the Work and Workers of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Hartford, Conn: Park Pub. Co., 1883.
 * How to Win: A Book For Girls. NY: Funk & Wagnalls, 1886. reprinted 1887 & 1888.
 * Nineteen Beautiful Years, or, Sketches of a Girl's Life. Chicago: Woman's Temperance Publication Association, 1886.
 * Glimpses of Fifty Years: the Autobiography of an American Woman. Chicago: Woman's Temperance Publishing Association, 1889.
 * A Classic Town: The Story of Evanston. Woman's Temperance Publishing Association, Chicago, 1891.
 * President's Annual Address. 1891, Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
 * A Woman of the Century (1893) (ed. Willard, Frances E. & Livermore, Mary A.) - available online at Wikisource-logo.svg Wikisource.
 * A Wheel Within a Wheel. How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle. 1895.
 * Do Everything: a Handbook for the World's White Ribboners. Chicago: Woman's Temperance Publishing Association, [1895?].

title: Frances Willard