FREE KINGS OF THE WATER PDF Mark Behr | 256 pages | 02 Sep 2010 | Little, Brown Book Group | 9780349122649 | English | London, United Kingdom Kings of the Water by Mark Behr The Kings of the Water Zunwang are five Taoist immortals worshipped as water and sea gods. Their worship seems to derive from a misunderstanding of one of Wu Zixu 's religious titles. They are believed to protect vessels in transit. The head of the five is Yu the Greatthe legendary first emperor of the Xia Kings of the Water in prehistoric China. Yu became regarded as a water deity through his involvement with controlling the Great Flood of Chinese myth[5] which may have preserved aspects of the Yellow River's massive flooding c. In such cases, it is usually identified with Yu alone. Wu Zixu [5] was a Chu noble who was forced into exile in Wu. He then played a role in Wu's invasion of his homelandexhuming the corpse of its former king to punish it for the earlier death of his father and brother. He was forced to commit suicide ; his body placed in a leather bag and then thrown into a river. He is usually said to have slit his throat and had his body torn to pieces by his enemies, but he became regarded as a water deity from a separate legend that his body miraculously remained standing in the waters of the Wu after his suicide. Qu Yuan was a poet and advisor to his relative the king of Chu. He was exiled upon supposedly slanderous reports of his fellow courtiers and committed suicide by walking into the Miluo while holding a Kings of the Water, out of frustration with either his exile [11] or with the direction of Chu's public policy. Lu Ban Kings of the Water, [1] also known by his Cantonese name Lo Pan, was a woodworker at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period who became revered as the Chinese god of carpentry and masonry. The great demand for Kings of the Water work during his life supposedly compelled him to invent or improve a number of carpenter's tools—the sawthe squarethe planerthe drillthe shoveland an ink marking tool—to complete his many projects more quickly. The worship of the Shuixian Zunwang as a quintet of kings appears to derive from a misunderstanding of one of Wu Zixu 's religious titles. Chinese generally lacks plural noun forms and his surname is a variant of the Chinese word for "five". Under Koxingathe Zheng dynasty defeated the Dutch on Taiwan and moved from a base at Xiamen to the area around Tainanwhich they ruled as the Kingdom of Tungning. They appear to have been responsible for the introduction of the worship of Fujian 's five kings there. The Shuixian Zunwang are worshipped as protectors of ships in transit. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Redirected from Five Kings of the Water Immortals. Categories : Water gods Chinese gods Deified Chinese people. Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit View history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent Kings of the Water Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version. Wikimedia Commons. Honorable King s of the Water Immortals. Shui-hsien Tsun-wang. Kings of the Water Series by Jasmin Miller Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Kings of the Water by Kings of the Water Behr. Kings of the Water by Mark Behr. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. Published February 1st by Abacus Software first published January 27th More Details Original Title. Other Editions 4. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Kings of the Waterplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Kings of the Water. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of Kings of the Water. May 28, Adam rated it really liked it Shelves: south-africa. This fascinating and informative novel by Tanzanian-born author Merk Behr is set in the Orange Free State of South Africa, the country in which he was brought up and where he studied. The chief protagonist, Michiel Steyn, who lives with his gay partner in San Francisco, returns to Paradys Farm, his childhood home in the Orange Free State somewhere near to the River Caledon and This fascinating and Kings of the Water novel by Tanzanian-born author Merk Behr is set in the Orange Free State of South Africa, the country in which he was brought up and where he studied. He has come to join the rest of his family to attend the funeral of his charismatic mother. This return to his past forces him to confront his own painful memories and dilemmas. During his brief return to his home, Michiel has to confront the girl whom he once loved and may still secretly loveher husband to whom he was also once attracted, his old father who holds Kings of the Water in low regard, his brother who harbours many a grudge against him, his disgrace during his military service, and the grave of his dead brother Peet. This is all handled beautifully and interwoven with a sensitive exploration of the problems and hopes of modern South Africa. In some conversations, the author writes in Afrikaans, and then immediately follows this with a translation. On the other hand, it seems a little superfluous. I cannot decide whether or not these bilingual inclusions Kings of the Water beneficial. I recommend this beautifully written novel to anyone with an interest in South Africa, and the scarring effects of Apartheid Kings of the Water those who emerged from it. Feb 21, Teresacooks rated it liked it. I found this book sometimes hard to follow, it was ok. The main character kept falling into almost free- associative tangents of memory, I started to lose interest about halfway through. Oct 14, Ana Ovejero rated it it was amazing. The protagonist Michel returns to his hometwon in South Africa because of the death of his mother. From the beginning, his journey back through the countryside represents an opportunity to enjoy the fruitful lanscapes towards the farm of his family, beatifully displayed by the author. Living in USA, as he meets with his past, we learn the circumstances why he fled his country. Now everything is changed. Apartheid has been finished years ago, however, the relationship between the white Afrikaneers The protagonist Michel returns to his hometwon in South Africa because of the death of his mother. Apartheid has been finished years ago, however, the Kings of the Water between the white Afrikaneers and the black people has not improved, His disabled father is waiting for him, their relationship never been good. Many of the black workers of the farm help him to continue his life but with the death of the mother everything becomes precaurious. Truths about his brother Peet's death and his own departure from the country come to light when all the members of the Kings of the Water reunite in the farm: Benjamin, the middle son, the only who has followed the father's wishes; Karien, Michel's ex-lover, being present as an icon of teenage love; Loreto, the black girl who achieves more than what has been expected of her. Berh portrays these complex characters under an unique light, with every flaw they have, and with the right and wrong decisions they have made, being as young as they were when Michel escaped South Africa. With a creative use of the language, the plot surrepticiouly unfolds in front of the readers, allowing them to build the story, putting each piece in the correct place, like a jigzaw puzzle. An intimate novel,it explores Kings of the Water dilemas people face when dealing with complicated family's structures, when race is a scent nobody can be ridden of, when History introduces itself and plays with the lives of those who are just trying to beat their destiny. Oct 16, Spondoolix rated it it was ok. A disappointment after the real triumph of Smell of Apples. Behr's first novel is very well-written, tightly constructed, with a powerful voice. Kings of the Water is poorly paced and slow -- overly descriptive without purpose. The tone is melancholy, elegiac, which fits the Kings of the Water matter, Kings of the Water makes for a plodding read. Re-read Smell of Apples instead. Jul 21, Nicole rated it liked it. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Enjoyable but far from perfect. The story was intriguing and Michiel's emotional reactions to coming back home were plausible, but some of the characters seemed too good to be true and the reference to the World Trade Center attacks seemed gratuitous. Mar 23, Guido Fierlbeck rated it it was amazing. A wonderful book. Two days of a return to South Africa, full of the memories of a lifetime. Emotional, political, entangled always. One of the protagonists mentions K. Sello Duiker, the next book on my novel reading list, the Quiet Violence of Dreams. Michael rated it really liked it Sep 15, Britt rated it really liked it Sep 17, Toby Ketley rated it really liked it Aug 06, Katrin rated it it was amazing Nov 09, Kathrin Schlup rated it it was amazing Jul 22, Virginie rated it it was amazing Apr 04, Diala Arslan rated it it was amazing Jul 27, Kings of the Water Harvey rated it it was ok Oct 09, Jeanie Morkel rated it it was amazing Apr 02, Genevieve rated it really liked it Mar 18, Virginia Rand rated it it was ok Mar 16, Linda rated it it was amazing Mar Kings of the Water, Allen Levine rated it liked it May 21, Willie Duvenage rated it really liked it Jan 05, Elmarie rated it liked it May 20, Sanda Wijeratne rated it liked it Mar 07, Jos rated it liked it Sep 12, Kings of the Water Delia rated it really liked it Nov 04, Eamon Somers rated it liked it Kings of the Water 16, Candice rated it it was amazing Sep 30, Claire rated it really liked it Nov 06, Annka rated it liked it Aug 03, Ian rated it really liked it Sep 18, Adam Perry rated it really liked it Kings of the Water 16, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.