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The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants
One of the most enduring and popular folk legends of China has been the story of Lord Bao and his seven heroes and five gallants, whose exploits were sung of in ballads, opera and song for over a thousand years.
The tales have now been translated into English for the first time. The central hero is Lord Bao, who rises from humble beginnings to high office at the imperial court, gathering around him a group of Robin Hood-type men to fight crime and corruption.
The seven heroes of the imperial court form a musketeer-like relationship - all for one and for all - with the five gallants, and roam around rescuing maidens in distress, succoring the old and weak, using their exceptional fighting talents to kill evil-doers. Corrupt officials are brought before Lord Bao who deals out justice without fear or favour.
The thread running through all the adventures is the problems of ordinary people incurred by the corruption of those in power.
The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants reveals why a social system defined by strict Confucian rules was able to exert such a strong influence, found in attitudes and life in China even to this day.
The adventures of the seven heroes and five gallants provide much insight into traditions that have formed the Chinese character through the ages.
- GenresChina
522 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1879
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 28, 2013
Heroes of the world, unite!
Most of the older Chinese novels are admittedly episodic. Some are loosely connected, as 儒林外史 (The Scholars), others more tightly knit, as 水浒传 (The Marshes of Mount Liang). But, while the episodes of the great classics begin to coalesce into a greater whole, 七俠五義 ("Seven Heroes and Five Gallants") remains piecemeal. The novel's origin, a prompt book for a famous story teller, is extremely apparent on all levels - most of the presented scenes don't have anything to do with the other scenes and the only common feature is a protagonist wandering from one place to another. A new scene then introduces new characters, which will be forgotten in the next scene - or they appear dozens of chapters later suddenly out of the nowhere with flimsy excuses, as if China only had 20 inhabitants. The writing style leaves much to be desired: choppy sentences, often without subordinate clauses, very prosaic in general. You get the feeling that you're reading a summary of a novel instead of the novel itself, and that takes a lot of the fun away. Maybe it's the translation that ruins the text.
The first third of the book tells the story of the famous and revered Judge Bao on his way from unloved child to Prime Minister of China. The second third then recounts the adventures of the "Five Gallants", the Rat brothers, and of the "Seven Heroes" wandering around getting in and out of messes. The final third is about the suppression of the Prince of Xiangyang's planned revolt by the combined might of the 12 heroes - Judge Bao is forgotten after chapter 27 or so. As in many old Chinese texts, the chapters are not semantic units - an episode usually begins and ends in the middle of a chapter.
The chapters themselves are very short, often between 1 and 3 pages, longer in the first set of scenes, shorter in the later. Regardless of the shortness, each chapter gets its own chapter heading on a page of its own, and with even more additional white space at the beginning and ending of each chapter. I like white space, but that really stretches it and is annoying for the reader. The used paper is of mixed quality, sometimes smooth, sometimes awkwardly scratchy, but always extremely thin and very translucent. The binding is very strong, forcing you to force the book open to be able to read the inner text parts. Many typographic errors and strange wording let me have doubts about the quality of the editors (who have been treated to a picture and CV on the flaps of the dust jacket). The positive: A readable introduction and a nicely designed dust jacket.
If you know the stories around Judge Bao, for example Exchanging A Leopard Cat For A Prince or Die Leiche im Strom, you do not really need to buy this book. Wuxia readers will be turned off by the sorry writing style, as mentioned above. Maybe I'm too harsh in my judgment, but ultimately, only die-hard Chinese literature fans like me will be able to savour this bit of Qing entertainment.
Most of the older Chinese novels are admittedly episodic. Some are loosely connected, as 儒林外史 (The Scholars), others more tightly knit, as 水浒传 (The Marshes of Mount Liang). But, while the episodes of the great classics begin to coalesce into a greater whole, 七俠五義 ("Seven Heroes and Five Gallants") remains piecemeal. The novel's origin, a prompt book for a famous story teller, is extremely apparent on all levels - most of the presented scenes don't have anything to do with the other scenes and the only common feature is a protagonist wandering from one place to another. A new scene then introduces new characters, which will be forgotten in the next scene - or they appear dozens of chapters later suddenly out of the nowhere with flimsy excuses, as if China only had 20 inhabitants. The writing style leaves much to be desired: choppy sentences, often without subordinate clauses, very prosaic in general. You get the feeling that you're reading a summary of a novel instead of the novel itself, and that takes a lot of the fun away. Maybe it's the translation that ruins the text.
The first third of the book tells the story of the famous and revered Judge Bao on his way from unloved child to Prime Minister of China. The second third then recounts the adventures of the "Five Gallants", the Rat brothers, and of the "Seven Heroes" wandering around getting in and out of messes. The final third is about the suppression of the Prince of Xiangyang's planned revolt by the combined might of the 12 heroes - Judge Bao is forgotten after chapter 27 or so. As in many old Chinese texts, the chapters are not semantic units - an episode usually begins and ends in the middle of a chapter.
The chapters themselves are very short, often between 1 and 3 pages, longer in the first set of scenes, shorter in the later. Regardless of the shortness, each chapter gets its own chapter heading on a page of its own, and with even more additional white space at the beginning and ending of each chapter. I like white space, but that really stretches it and is annoying for the reader. The used paper is of mixed quality, sometimes smooth, sometimes awkwardly scratchy, but always extremely thin and very translucent. The binding is very strong, forcing you to force the book open to be able to read the inner text parts. Many typographic errors and strange wording let me have doubts about the quality of the editors (who have been treated to a picture and CV on the flaps of the dust jacket). The positive: A readable introduction and a nicely designed dust jacket.
If you know the stories around Judge Bao, for example Exchanging A Leopard Cat For A Prince or Die Leiche im Strom, you do not really need to buy this book. Wuxia readers will be turned off by the sorry writing style, as mentioned above. Maybe I'm too harsh in my judgment, but ultimately, only die-hard Chinese literature fans like me will be able to savour this bit of Qing entertainment.
November 19, 2021
The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants is a story about kung fu fights and how there is a moral definition between each story. And it shows a fictional story and plot of Chinese warriors fighting and describing the setting and the story of their lives. I recommend this book for those who like books with fighting and lots of action.
May 9, 2009
Funny kung fu stories. Not a difficult plot, and not saying anything of real importance, but fun and a neat view into old chinese ideas.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews