The Tale of Loyal Heroes and Righteous Gallants (忠烈俠義傳), also known by its 1883 reprint title The Three Heroes and Five Gallants (三俠五義), is an 1879 Chinese novel based on storyteller Shi Yukun's oral performances. The novel was later revised by philologist Yu Yue and republished in 1889 under the title The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants (七俠五義), with the story essentially unaltered.
Set in 11th-century Song dynasty, the story detailed the rise of legendary judge Bao Zheng to high office, and how a group of youxia (knights-errant)—each with exceptional martial talent and selfless heroism—helped him fight crimes, oppression, corruption and rebellion. It was one of the first novels to merge the gong'an (court-case fiction) and the wuxia (chivalric fiction) genres.
Praised for its humorous narration and vivid characterizations, the novel has enjoyed huge readership: it spawned two dozen sequels by 1924 (according to Lu Xun) and served as the thematic model of allegedly over 100 novels in the late Qing dynasty. Even in the modern era, the tales have been continuously reenacted in popular cultural mediums, including oral storytelling, operas, films and TV dramas.
Textual evolution Shi Yukun's storytelling and transcripts Shi Yukun was a storyteller who performed in Beijing, the Qing dynasty capital, between 1810 and 1871. He gained particular fame 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. This story proved so popular that publishing houses and sellers began acquiring hand-written manuscripts to be circulated and sold. One such copy, apparently a transcript of another storyteller's oral narratives, contained this reference of Shi (translated by Susan Blader):
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), dating as early as 1867 and without singsong verses and nonsense remarks, was clearly written down from memory by someone who heard Shi's live performances. Longtu Erlu was not published until 1982, according to Another source mentions a (祥樂亭) and a Wen Liang (文良) who "would every day go and listen to the telling of the story and after returning home together write it down comparing notes." Wen Liang was one of the biggest book collectors in 19th-century Beijing and clearly an elite member of the society.
The Tale of Loyal Heroes and Righteous Gallants (1879) Based on Longtu Erlu, the 120-chapter The Tale of Loyal Heroes and Righteous Gallants was printed by a movable type at the Juzhen tang (聚珍堂) in 1879, which caused a sensation in Beijing. Unprecedentedly for a print Chinese novel, the oral storyteller's name Shi Yukun appeared on the title page. The book also included 3 prefaces, written respectively by:
"Bamboo-Inquiring Master" (問竹主人) who claimed to be the main contributor. He deleted some supernatural parts of Longtu Erlu. Some scholars believe this claim indicated that he was Shi Yukun himself. "Captivated Daoist" (入迷道人), most likely a principal writer or editor. He has been identified as Wen Lin (文琳) by some scholars. "Thought-Retiring Master" (退思主人), probably the owner of Juzhen tang or someone close.
In an 1883 reprint by Wenya zhai (文雅齋) the novel was renamed to The Three Heroes and Five Gallants, with the "three heroes" being actually four people, namely Zhan Zhao the "Southern Hero", Ouyang Chun the "Northern Hero", and the Ding twins or "Twin Heroes". 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."
The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants (1889) Years later, Suzhou-based scholar Yu Yue received the book from his friend Pan Zuyin, president of Qing's Board of Works, who recommended it as "quite worth reading". Initially skeptical, Yu Yue was eventually so fascinated by the novel that he set out to revise it.
A meticulous philologist, Yu ensured that the writing conformed to the highest standards of scholarship. Most of his changes were textual and superficial, including:
He changed the title to The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, because he reasoned that the Ding twins being two people could not be considered just one hero. He also considered Ai Hu, Zhi Hua and Shen Zhongyuan "heroes", even though Zhi and Shen do not have the word "hero" in their nicknames. He changed a character's name from Yan Chasan (顏查散) to Yan Shenmin (顏眘敏, notice how much the Chinese characters resemble each other) because he found "Chasan" too "uneducated" for someone of a scholar-official background.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
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 "Basing Official History to Revise Longtu's Crime Cases; Employing Lord Bao to Begin the Whole Book 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.
Despite his pedantry, his revised version, which was published by Shanghai's Guangbaisong zhai (廣百宋齋), became the predominant version throughout China, particularly in South China.
Later reprints By the end of the 19th century, the novel was republished at least 13 times.
In the 1920s, Lu Xun considered it necessary to reprint this novel. In a letter to Hu Shih dated December 28, 1923, Lu suggested using the version before Yu Yue's editorship while including Yu's Chapter 1 as an appendix. The reprinting project was undertaken by Yu Yue's great-grandson Yu Pingbo, who nevertheless consulted his great-grandfather's version during his editorship. When East Asia Library (亞東圖書館) published the reprint in 1925, Hu wrote the preface and greatly praised the original.Hu Shih, "Preface to The Three Heroes and Five Gallants (三俠五義序), 15 March 1925. This reprint significantly revived The Three Heroes and Five Gallants version.
Main characters Kaifeng Prefecture Bao Zheng, also known as Judge Bao Gongsun Ce, Judge Bao's secretary Zhan Zhao, one of the Seven Heroes Wang Chao (王朝), Ma Han (馬漢), Zhang Long (張龍), and Zhao Hu (趙虎), the four loyal constables serving Judge Bao.
The Seven Heroes Ouyang Chun (歐陽春), nicknamed "Northern Hero" (北俠) Zhan Zhao, nicknamed "Southern Hero" (南俠), also known as "Imperial Cat" Ding Zhaolan (丁兆兰) and Ding Zhaohui (丁兆蕙), nicknamed "Twin Heroes" (雙俠) Zhi Hua (智化), nicknamed "Black Demon Fox" (黑妖狐) Ai Hu (艾虎), nicknamed "Young Hero" (小俠). He is also part of the Young Five Gallants. Shen Zhongyuan (沈仲元), nicknamed "Little Zhuge" (小诸葛)
The Five Gallants / Five Rats Lu Fang (卢方), nicknamed "Sky Rat" (鑽天鼠) Han Zhang (韩彰), nicknamed "Earth Rat" (徹地鼠) Xu Qing (徐庆), nicknamed "Mountain Rat" (穿山鼠) Jiang Ping (蒋平), nicknamed "River Rat" (翻江鼠) Bai Yutang (白玉堂), nicknamed "Sleek Rat" (锦毛鼠)
The Young Five Gallants Bai Yunsheng (白芸生), nicknamed "Jade-faced Zhuan Zhu" (玉面專諸), Bai Yutang's nephew. Lu Zhen (盧珍), nicknamed "Powder-faced" (粉面子都), Lu Zhang's son. Han Tianjin (韓天錦), nicknamed "Thunder Ogre" (霹靂鬼) Han Zhang's adopted son. Ai Hu, one of the Seven Heroes Xu Liang (徐良), nicknamed "Shanxi Goose" (山西雁), Xu Qing's son.
Other allies Yan Chasan (顏查散) or Yan Chunmin (顏春敏), Judge Bao's protégé The Eighth Prince or Eighth Wise Prince (八王家/八賢王), the emperor's uncle (inspired by Taizong's 8th son Zhao Yuanyan, sometimes given the name Zhao Defang). Prime Minister Wang (王丞相)
Major antagonists Pang Ji (龐吉), also known as Imperial Tutor Pang (龐太師) Pang Yu (龐昱), the Marquis of Anle (安樂侯), Pang Ji's depraved son Guo Huai (郭槐), evil eunuch who helped Empress Liu to exchange Consort Li's son with a wild cat Hua Chong (花沖), nicknamed "Colorful Butterfly" (花蝴), serial rapist Prince of Xiangyang (襄阳王/襄陽王), the emperor's rebellious uncle. Sometimes known by the name Zhao Jue (趙爵). Deng Che (车盗) Chen Shimei (陳世美)
Structure Discussing the plot, researcher Paize Keulemans concluded, "there is no main plot. Rather, the novel's structure consists of a bewildering number of events that defy easy and succinct summary". Still, the novel can be roughly divided into 2 parts, with the first 27 chapters focusing on Bao Zheng and his legal cases (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"). In comparison, the second part exclusively represents Shi's creative genius and is 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 (Chapter 37). However, accidental premature burial has been documented even in modern days.
Sequels and imitators
The Five Younger Gallants and The Sequel to the Five Younger Gallants The 1879 novel does not complete by the 120th and final chapter. Instead, in the final page, readers are referred to a sequel book titled The Five Younger Gallants (小五義), which was said to be "close to a hundred chapters". In 1890, a novel with that title was published by another Beijing publisher, Wenguang lou (文光樓). It was edited by Shi Duo (石鐸) and a "Wind-Captivated Daoist" (風迷道人)—calling to mind "Captivated Daoist", the editor of the original novel. None of the "previewed" plotlines at the end of the original appeared in the sequel. The editors did not deny that the two novels had different origins: Shi Duo claimed that their novel was published after acquiring the complete three-hundred-some-chapter "authentic" draft by Shi Yukun, "without begrudging the great cost". According to their draft, which contained three parts, "Wind-Captivated Daoist" believed the 1879 original must have been a fake.