Bao Xu

Bao Xu is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He ranks 60th of the 108 Liangshan heroes and 24th of the 72 Earthly Fiends. He is nicknamed "God of Death".

Background

The novel describes Bao Xu as an ugly-looking man with a face shaped like the bottom of a wok, fierce bulging eyes and lips like a wolf's. He has a thunderous voice that strikes fear in the hearts of his enemies. Ye excels in martial arts and wields a sword in combat. As his passion in life is to kill and plunder, he earns himself the nickname "God of Death". He leads a group of bandits on Mount Deadwood (枯樹山) in Kouzhou (寇州; believed to be present-day Guan County, Liaocheng, Shandong).

Joining Liangshan

During the battle at Lingzhou (凌州; present-day Ling County, Dezhou, Shandong) between the outlaws from Liangshan Marsh and imperial forces, the outlaws Xuan Zan and Hao Siwen are captured by the imperial generals Shan Tinggui and Wei Dingguo. They are then escorted as prisoners back to the imperial forces' base in Daming Prefecture (大名府; in present-day Handan, Hebei).

Bao (mancala game)

Bao is a traditional mancala board game played in most of East Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros, Malawi, as well as some areas of DR Congo and Burundi. It is most popular among the Swahili people of Tanzania and Kenya; the name itself "Bao" is the Swahili word for "board" or "board game". In Tanzania, and especially Zanzibar, a "bao master" (called bingwa, "master"; but also fundi, "artist") is held in high respect. In Malawi, a close variant of the game is known as Bawo, which is the Yao equivalent of the Swahili name.

Bao is well known to be a prominent mancala in terms of complexity and strategical depth, and it has raised interest in scholars of several disciplines, including game theory, complexity theory, and psychology. Official tournaments are held in Tanzania, Zanzibar, Lamu (Kenya), and Malawi, and both mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar have their Bao societies, such as the Chama cha Bao founded in 1966.

In Zanzibar and Tanzania there are two versions of Bao. The main version, which is also the most complex and most appreciated, is called Bao la kiswahili ("Bao of the Swahili people"). The simplified version is called Bao la kujifunza ("Bao for beginners"). There are a variety of other mancalas across East Africa (and part of Middle East) that are related to Bao. One of them is the Hawalis game of Oman; it is also known in Zanzibar, where it goes by the name "Bao la kiarabu" ("Bao of the Arabs"). Another major relative of Bao is Omweso (played in Uganda), which employs an equipment similar to Bao, and has some similar rules.

Bao (disambiguation)

Bao may refer to:

See also

List of The King of Fighters characters

The King of Fighters fighting game series, produced by SNK Playmore, includes a wide cast of characters, some of which are taken from other SNK games. The story takes place in a fictional universe in which an annual series of 3-on-3 or 4-on-4 fighting tournaments are held.

The first game in the series introduces the initial main character of the series, Kyo Kusanagi, a young Japanese fighter who is the heir to a powerful group of martial artists having pyrokinetic abilities. Kyo fights against the Kusanagi clan's enemies, his rival Iori Yagami, and the god Orochi and its human followers, among others. The first four games in the series revolve about these fights, while The King of Fighters '99 introduces a new story arc, revolving around K′, a young man who seeks to destroy the mysterious NESTS organization because they kidnapped him at an early age and stripped him of his past memories, so that they could force him to be a fighter under their control. In The King of Fighters 2003, a new character named Ash Crimson enters the tournament, to steal the powers of the clans who sealed the Orochi in the past for an unknown reason. A new group of antagonists, known as Those From the Past, also appears in the series; they want to obtain Orochi's power for the purpose of giving it to their unknown master.