Jiang Ping (character)

Jiang Ping (蔣平)
Wuxia character
From an 1896 print of The Five Younger Gallants
Created byShi Yukun
In-universe information
Aliases
  • Priest Zhang (張道士)
  • Old Gan (甘老兒)
Nicknames
  • River Rat or River-Overturning Rat (翻江鼠)
  • The Patient (病夫)
HomeJinling, Jiangnan East Circuit
Jiang Ping
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinJiǎng Píng
Jiang Zechang
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinJiǎng Zécháng

Jiang Ping, courtesy name Zechang, is a fictional Song dynasty knight-errant from the 19th-century Chinese novels The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants and The Five Younger Gallants. Nicknamed "River Rat" or "River-Overturning Rat" (翻江鼠) for his amazing swimming and freediving skills, he is able to stay underwater seemingly forever. He is the fourth sworn brother of the "Five Rats", whose other members are Lu Fang, Han Zhang, Xu Qing and Bai Yutang.

Highly witty, Jiang Ping is one of the most colorful characters in the original novel. He is scrawny, and his appearance more of a sick patient than a fighter, yet he often outsmarts opponents with clever tricks, disguises or lies. Researcher Susan Blader considers him the only "gallant" "whose intellectual, emotional, and physical prowess compares favourably with that of any 'heroes'".[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Blader, Susan (1998). Tales of Magistrate Bao and His Valiant Lieutenants: Selections from Sanxia Wuyi. The Chinese University Press. ISBN 962-201-775-4.