Wu Dalang

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Wu Dalang(武大郎) is a character in the epic Chinese novel, the Water Margin.

Wu Dalang is best known as the elder brother of Wu Song. He was short in stature and was not very good-looking, thus earning him the nickname "Three-inch nail". In contrast, his younger brother was a strong and powerful warrior with good looks.

The brothers' parents died when they were quite young and Wu Dalang shouldered the responsibility of raising his younger brother. Wu Song once got into a fight and knocked out his opponent. He thought he had killed his opponent and fled to avoid arrest by the authorities. The brothers were later reunited after a long period of time.

Wu Dalang was married to Pan Jinlian and the two were known to be quite close in the early days of their marriage. The neighbours usually referred their marriage as "a rose placed atop a pile of cow dung", and eventually the couple could not stand it and moved to Yanggu County.

In Yanggu, Wu made a living by selling pancakes while his wife stayed at home and managed domestic affairs. By coincidence, the brothers were reunited in Yanggu after Wu Song had killed the tiger. The brothers lived together and were quite close. Once, Pan Jinlian was attracted to the handsome Wu Song and tried to seduce him, but Wu Song shoved her away and left.

Once, the county magistrate sent Wu Song out for an errand which took two months. During that time, Pan Jinlian had an adulterous affair with Ximen Qing, and Wu Dalang did not know about it. The adulterous pair were making love when Wu Dalang returned home and caught them in the act. Ximen Qing hit Wu Dalang so hard that Wu Dalang was injured and fell ill.

Pan Jinlian and Ximen Qing were worried that Wu Dalang might report their affair to Wu Song, who was serving as a constable head in the county office. Thus, they decided to finish Wu Dalang by poisoning his medicine. Wu Dalang drank the medicine and realised it was poison but was too late. He struggled but was eventually smothered to death with a pillow by his wife. Then, Ximen Qing had Wu Dalang's body cremated, and he tried to bribe the neighbours and the coroner to keep the affair a secret.

Eventually, Wu Song returned from his errand and was shocked to hear about his brother's death. He started an investigation and found out about the adulterous affair and reported it to the magistrate. The magistrate had been bribed and he dismissed the case with the lack of evidence as an excuse. Eventually, Wu Song managed to force a confession from Pan Jinlian and he killed her to avenge his brother. He then went to find Ximen Qing and after a fierce fight, he killed Ximen and cut off his head as a sacrifice to his brother's spirit.