The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants

"The Three Heroes and Five Gallants" redirects here. For other uses, see The Three Heroes and Five Gallants (disambiguation).
The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants

The twins Ding Zhaolan and Ding Zhaohui and their mother watch as Zhan Zhao crosses swords with Ding Yuehua. A Yangliuqing New Year picture, collection of Waseda University.
Author Shi Yukun
Original title 1. The Tale of Loyal Heroes and Righteous Gallants
2. The Three Heroes and Five Gallants
Country Qing dynasty
Language Written Chinese
Genre
Set in 11th century (Song dynasty)
Published
  • Juzhentang (Beijing):
  • 1879 (The Tale of Loyal Heroes and Righteous Gallants)
  • 1883 (The Three Heroes and Five Gallants)
  • Guangbaisongzhai (Shanghai):
  • 1889 (The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants)
Media type Print
Followed by The Five Younger Gallants
The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants
Traditional Chinese 七俠五義
Simplified Chinese 七侠五义
The Three Heroes and Five Gallants
Traditional Chinese 三俠五義
Simplified Chinese 三侠五义
The Tale of Loyal Heroes and Righteous Gallants
Traditional Chinese 忠烈俠義傳
Simplified Chinese 忠烈侠义传

The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants (七俠五義), also known by its earlier title The Three Heroes and Five Gallants (三俠五義), is a 120-chapter Chinese novel from 19th-century Qing dynasty, generally attributed to pingshu (storytelling) performer Shi Yukun. Based on a transcript of Shi's oral performances, the novel was first published in 1879 as The Tale of Loyal Heroes and Righteous Gallants (忠烈俠義傳), before the title changed to The Three Heroes and Five Gallants in 1883. The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants was first published in 1889, following minor revisions by scholar Yu Yue.

Set in 11th-century Song dynasty, the story detailed the rise of legendary official Bao Zheng from humble beginnings to high office, and how a group of youxia (knights-errant)—each with exceptional martial arts talent—helped him fight crimes and corruption. It is considered the first novel to combine the popular gong'an (crime fiction) and the nascent wuxia (chivalrous fiction) genres,[1] as well as the first mature wuxia novel.[2][3]

Textual Evolution

Shi Yukun's Storytelling and Transcripts

Shi Yukun was a public storyteller who performed mostly in Beijing between 1810 and 1871.[4] He gained particular fame during the reigns of Xianfeng Emperor (1821–1851) and Tongzhi Emperor (1851–1874) telling the legends of Song dynasty official Bao Zheng (999–1062), also known as Bao Longtu (包龍圖; "Dragon-Pattern Bao"). Shi's performances, accompanied by sanxian (lute) playing, would attract audience of thousands.[5] This story proved so popular that publishing houses began acquiring manuscript copies to be circulated and sold.[6] One such copy, apparently a transcript of another storyteller's oral narratives, contained this reference of Shi (translated by Susan Blader):[7]

Let's just take Third Master Shi Yukun as an example. No matter what, I cannot outdo him in storytelling. At present, he no longer makes appearances. But, when he would go to that storytelling hall, he would tell three chapters of a story in one day and collect many tens of strings of cash. Now today his name resounds in the nine cities and there is no one who has not heard of him. I, myself, collect only one or two strings of cash a day for my storytelling, and what can they buy these days?

These early handwritten copies were known as Bao Gong An (包公案; The Cases of Lord Bao) or Longtu Gong'an (龍圖公案; The Cases of Longtu or The Cases of the Lord of the Dragon Pattern), sharing titles with 16th-century Ming dynasty collections. A later version, known as Longtu Erlu (龍圖耳錄; Aural Record of Longtu), lacked the singsong verses and nonsense remarks, and was clearly written down from memory by someone who heard Shi's live performances.[8][9]

The Tale of Loyal Heroes and Righteous Gallants (1879) and The Three Heroes and Five Gallants (1883)

At the beginning of the reign of Guangxu Emperor (1875-1908), a certain "Bamboo-Inquiring Master" (問竹主人; believed to be Shi Yukun himself by some scholars[10]) deleted some supernatural parts of Longtu Erlu and recompiled the material into a 120-chapter book, renaming it The Tale of Loyal Heroes and Righteous Gallants.[11] Minimal revisions by a "Captivated Daoist" (入迷道人) and other efforts by a "Thought-Retiring Master" (退思主人) led to the book being printed by a movable type at the Juzhentang (聚珍堂) in 1879, which caused a sensation in Beijing.[12]

In 1883,[13] the novel was renamed The Three Heroes and Five Gallants,[12] with the "three heroes" being actually four people, namely Zhan Zhao the "Southern Hero", Ouyang Chun the "Northern Hero", and the Ding Zhaolan & Ding Zhaohui twins or "Twin Heroes".[14]

The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants (1889)

Initially skeptical, Yu Yue was so fascinated by the novel that he set out to revise it.

Suzhou-based scholar Yu Yue obtained the book about a decade later from his friend Pan Zuyin. As he explained in the preface of his revised version (translated by Paize Keulemans):[15]

On first looking it over, I had to laugh. "Why, this is The Cases of the Lord of the Dragon Pattern, that's all! How can it be worthy of even a single glance by Pan Zuyin?" However, after I had finished reading it, I came to recognize that the heroic events described in it were new and marvelous, that the feel of its writing was free and unrestrained, that its descriptions were drawn down to the finest detail, and the turns and twists of its plot were tightly structured... Only a plain-narrative novel like this can be considered a truly unique piece of writing in the world.

Being a philologist, most of Yu's edits were textual and superficial, including:

The only major change from Yu Yue was that he completely rewrote Chapter 1, which was previously titled "The Crown Prince is Substituted at Birth by a Scheme; the Imperial Concubine is Rescued by a Heroic and Gallant Martyr" (設陰謀臨產換太子 奮俠義替死救皇娘) and tells of a fictional story that does not follow history. Yu found the story absurd and rewrote the chapter according to the standard history book History of Song, also changing its title to "Using Official History to Refer Longtu's Crime Cases; Lord Bao Begins the Book Full of Heroes and Gallants" (據正史翻龍圖公案 借包公領俠義全書). However, he did not change later chapters which follow up on that substory, resulting in slight inconsistencies.[17]

Despite his pedantry, his revised version, which was published by Shanghai's Guangbaisongzhai (廣百宋齋), became the predominant version throughout China, particularly in South China.[18]

Plot Outline

The novel can be roughly divided into 2 parts, with the first 27 chapters focusing on Bao Zheng and his legal cases[19] (gong'an genre) and the remaining 93 chapters focusing on the heroes and gallants (wuxia genre). Stories from the first part were largely taken from literary and oral traditions and as such contain supernatural materials (what "Bamboo-Inquiring Master", possibly Shi Yukun himself, described as "the occasional strange and bizarre event"[20]). In comparison, the second part exclusively represents Shi's creative genius[10] and is completely devoid of superstition. (The only bizarre story in the second part is similar to the European "Lady with the Ring" tale — a girl waking up in her coffin after a visit by a grave robber. However, accidental premature burial has been documented even in modern days.)

Lord Bao's Legal Cases (Chapters 2-27)

Palace maid Kou Zhu was ordered to strangle the newborn crown prince at the Gold Water Bridge (金水橋). An illustration from a 1890 print of the novel published by Guangbaisongzhai, collection of Fudan University.

Bao Zheng was abandoned by his superstitious father right after birth and persecuted by his second sister-in-law as a child, but he grew up to be a highly educated scholar. On the way to the capital Kaifeng for the imperial examination, Bao was trapped by murderous monks but "Southern Hero" Zhan Zhao saved him. Bao was appointed a magistrate and solved the cases of the bloody handprint, the fan pendant, and the black crock. Later he became the prefect of Kaifeng and with the help of strategist Gongsun Ce and 4 bandits-turned-constables, solved the cases of the woundless corpse, the headless corpse, and the corpseless head.

Bao traveled to Chenzhou to investigate marquis Pang Yu's corruption allegations. Pang, who not only embezzled relief funds but also kidnapped numerous women, sent assassins to stop Bao. Zhan, wandering in the region on his own, foiled Pang's plot by notifying Bao, and Pang was executed by Bao.

On his way back to Kaifeng, Bao met a woman who claimed to be the mother of the reigning Emperor Renzong. Dozens of years ago, she had been Consort Li, an imperial concubine of Emperor Zhenzong's, before falling out of favour for supposedly giving birth to a bloody dead wild cat, when in fact her newborn son was secretly swapped by a jealous Consort Liu plotting with eunuch Guo Huai. The infant was rescued by maid Kou Zhu, eunuch Chen Lin and the Eighth Prince to eventually become Emperor Renzong. As Kou had died, Gongsun ingeniously had a woman dressed as Kou's ghost to retrieve a confession from Guo.

Zhan was summoned before Emperor Renzong and given the title "Imperial Cat".

Five Rats In the Capital (Chapters 28-58)

Zhan traveled to Jasmine Village, home of the twins Ding Zhaolan and Ding Zhaohui, and got engaged to Ding Yuehua. He also met Lu Fang the "Sky-Penetrating Rat" of Hollow Island, and learned that Lu's youngest sworn brother Bai Yutang the "Brocade-Furred Rat" was traveling to Kaifeng to challenge him, taking offense at the "Imperial Cat" nickname.

Meanwhile, a poor scholar Yan Shenmin (Yan Chasan in The Three Heroes and Five Gallants version) was also traveling to Kaifeng to marry his fiancee Liu Jinchan. He met Jin Maoshu, a man dressed in rags who sponged on him for food and lodging to the point that Yan had to pawn his clothing to pay their bills, with Jin paying nothing. Despite protests by his servant, Yan saw Jin as a friend and became his sworn brother. He reached his destination, but his father-in-law-to-be saw his destitution and wanted to call off the engagement. Liu Jinchan, however, despised her father's attitude and secretly sent a maid to provide Yan with money. When the maid was murdered, Yan, although innocent admitted to the crime to protect Liu's reputation. Jin, who was in reality Bai in disguise, secretly notified Bao to look into the case. Bao executed the real murderer and freed Yan, who married Liu.

After an unsuccessful duel with Zhan, Bai went into the imperial palace and killed an evil eunuch. Back home in Hollow Island, Lu sent his other 3 sworn brothers — Han Zhang the "Earth-Piercing Rat", Xu Qing the "Mountain-Boring Rat" and Jiang Ping the "River-Overturning Rat" to Kaifeng to stop Bai's misdeeds. These 3 "rats" instead robbed the birthday gifts intended to celebrate the birthday of Pang Ji, the treacherous grand tutor and Pang Yu's father. Bai also created havoc in Pang's mansion on his birthday.

Lu, also arriving in Kaifeng, was arrested when a never-do-well was accidentally killed. Han, Xu and Jiang attempted to rescue him at night, and Xu was captured. Eventually, Lu, Xu and Jiang all became officials after Emperor Renzong saw their talent, but Han and Bai continued to be on the loose.

Bai stole three treasures from Bao and specifically asked for Zhan to retrieve them. Zhan followed him to Hollow Island but fell into Bai's trap. Ding Zhaohui, Lu, Xu and Jiang together saved Zhan and captured Bai. Bai surrendered to Bao.

Translations

Two English translations are available:

Song's book is an abridged translation of all 120 chapters. Blader translated roughly a third of the chapters, relatively more faithfully. As Blader used the version before Yu Yue's editorship, Chapter 1 is noticeably different from Song's book.

In addition, two other books contain (largely rewritten) stories from the novel's first 19 chapters:

The novel has been translated into other languages, such as Japanese (by Torii Hisayasu), Vietnamese (by Phạm Văn Điều), Malay (by Oey Kim Tiang), French (by Rébecca Peyrelon), and Russian (by Vladimir Andreevich Panasyuk).

Themes

The novel places great emphasis on Confucian values, such as yi (righteousness) and ren (altruism), which characterize all heroes and gallants. In Chapter 13, the storyteller added a short commentary on the definition of "hero" (translated by Susan Blader):[21]

Zhan Zhao is truly a practitioner of good deeds and righteous acts. He feels at ease everywhere. It isn't really that he must eradicate all evils, but once he sees an injustice he cannot leave it alone. It is as though it becomes his own personal affair and that, precisely, is why he is worthy of the name "Hero".

In addition, the novel also champions personal freedom. In Chapter 29, for example, Zhan Zhao confessed (as translated by Song Shouquan): "As to my promotion to the imperial guard, I find it prevents me from doing what I like best and that is travel around enjoying the beauties of nature. Now I'm tied down by officialdom. If it wasn't for the high regard I have for Prime Minister Bao I would have resigned long ago." His "northern" counterpart Ouyang Chun even shunned Bao and other officials altogether, preferring to help the government on his own, even anonymously. In imperial China, when officialdom was particularly prized and coveted, such statements and actions speak volumes of the author's beliefs.

The last 42 chapters[19] focus on the suppression of a fictitious rebellion. The inclusion of this segment conveyed the author's desire for peace and tranquility, as mid-19th century Qing dynasty was ravaged by numerous bloody rebellions, including the Taiping Rebellion, the Nien Rebellion, and the Panthay Rebellion, which together took tens of millions of lives.[22]

Reception and Influence

Lu Xun (left) and Hu Shih discussed the novel's reprinting in the 1920s through letters. When East Asia Library (亞東圖書館) reprinted the novel in 1925 under the editorship of Yu Pingbo (Yu Yue's great-grandson), Hu wrote the preface.[23]

Reception

Many 20th-century literary critics also held the novel in high regard. Lu Xun considered the book "outstanding" among "storytelling tales",[24] praising the novel: "Though some of the incidents are rather naive, the gallant outlaws are vividly presented and the descriptions of town life and jests with which the book is interspersed add to the interest."[25] Hu Shih, who favorably compared the characterizations of Jiang Ping and Zhi Hua to those of Aramis and d'Artagnan in Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers,[23] even included this novel among his "National Book List of the Lowest Level" (最低限度的國學書目; i.e. must-read list) for Tsinghua University students.[26] C. T. Hsia commended the language as "a vivid colloquial style that deserves the appellation of 'real pai-hua'..."[27]

Sequels

The Five Younger Gallants (小五義), first published in 1890, proved to be the most popular sequel. Almost immediately afterwards, A Sequel to the Five Younger Gallants (續小五義) appeared, also enjoying wide readership. Both claim authorship of Shi Yukun, although that had been controversial and difficult to prove. Lu Xun believed "these works were written by many hands... resulting in numerous inconsistencies."[28]

These are followed by Another Sequel to the Five Younger Gallants (再續小五義) and a myriad of other sequels created by enthusiasts, with Lu Xun in 1924 counting no less than 24 sequels.[28] These sequels were not popular and are not reprinted today. Jin Yong, who read all the way until The Ninth Sequel to the Five Younger Gallants (九續小五義), wrote: "Other than eroticism and nonsense, nothing else could be found in these sequel books."[29]

Similar novels

In the 1890s, following the publication of The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, many similar novels appeared. Popular ones include:

Adaptations

The following is an incomplete list of films and television series featuring fictional characters from The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants. Some also feature characters from its sequels, related Bao Zheng legends such as Chen Shimei, legends from the same historical period such as Generals of the Yang Family, or Chinese mythology.

Films

Bao Zheng's 3 imperial guillotines, featuring (left to right) the heads of a dog, a tiger and a dragon respectively, in display in Haiching Temple (海清宫) in Sihu, Yunlin County, Taiwan. They were designed by Gongsun Ce in the novel.

Note: Most of the early films were opera films.

Television series

An actor portraying Bao Zheng in Kaifeng Tribunal (開封府), a tourist attraction in Kaifeng, Henan, China.

In addition, two TV series set in the Qing dynasty imagined how the novel was created:

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Deng & Wang, p. 21.
  2. ↑ Wong, Timothy C., ed. (2003). Stories for Saturday: Twentieth-Century Chinese Popular Fiction. University of Hawaii Press. p. 89. ISBN 0-8248-2624-8.
  3. ↑ Cao Zhengwen (1994). "Gallant Fiction". In Wu Dingbo; Murphy, Patrick D. Handbook of Chinese Popular Culture. Greenwood Press. pp. 241–242. ISBN 0-313-27808-3.
  4. ↑ Blader 1998, p. xxiv.
  5. ↑ Deng & Wang, p. 13.
  6. ↑ Blader 1998, p. xx.
  7. ↑ Blader 1998, p. xxi.
  8. ↑ Deng & Wang, p. 14. Longtu Erlu was not published until 1982, according to Blader 1987, p. 153.
  9. ↑ Blader 1998, p. xxii.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Blader 1998, p. xvii.
  11. ↑ Deng & Wang, pp. 14–15.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Deng & Wang, p. 15.
  13. ↑ Keulemans, p. 70.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Deng & Wang, pp. 16–17, argued, "'Three... and five...' is idiomatic usage in Chinese. In its original sense, it denotes the numerals three and five, like the 'three sage kings and five emperors' of ancient China. Used connotatively, 'three... and five...' mean 'many' or 'numerous'... Even in its original sense, it is correct to count the Southern Hero, Northern Hero and Twin Heroes as three heroes instead of four. We have 'three virtuous kings' in ancient Chinese history: King Yu of the Xia Dynasty, King Tang of the Shang Dynasty and Kings Wenwang and Wuwang of the Zhou Dynasty. They are four kings, not three. But Kings Wenwang and Wuwang both belong to the Zhou Dynasty, so they are counted as one and not two... The usage of 'three... and five...' reveals the richness of Chinese culture. 'Seven Heroes and Five Gallants' is technically correct but less imaginative."
  15. ↑ Keulemans, pp. 67-68.
  16. ↑ Because "Shen" (眘) is a rare Chinese character not recognized by most people, Yan Shenmin is often mispronounced as Yan Chunmin (顏春敏) in operas, films (e.g. House of Traps) and TV series (e.g. the 1974 Taiwanese series Justice Pao), as "Shen" appears somewhat similar to the character "Chun" (春). He has also been called Yan Renmin (顏仁敏, as in the 1994 Chinese TV adaptation), also see Blader 1987, p. 154.
  17. ↑ Deng & Wang, p. 16.
  18. ↑ Lu, p. 418.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Deng & Wang, p. 18.
  20. ↑ Susan 1999, p. 168.
  21. ↑ Blader 1998, p. 47.
  22. ↑ Blader 1998, p. xiv-xvi.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Hu Shih, "Preface to The Three Heroes and Five Gallants" (三俠五義序), 15 March 1925
  24. ↑ Blader 1998, xxviii.
  25. ↑ Lu, p. 342-343.
  26. ↑ "胡適晚年讀書"不要命"：經搶救保命後看報" [Hu Shih's "Daredevil" Reading in His Later Years: Reading Newspapers After Life Saved]. International Daily News. 22 October 2014.
  27. ↑ Blader 1998, xxiv.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Lu, p. 349.
  29. ↑ Jin Yong, "On Book Sequels" (書的『續集』), Ta Kung Pao, 22 December 1956.

References