The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants

The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants

Chapter 26: Bao Zheng judges a court case. (From a 1892 reprint published by Shanghai's Zhenyi shuju, collection of Fudan University.)
Author	Shi Yukun (attributed)
Country	Qing dynasty
Language	Written Chinese
Genre	Wuxia fiction Gong'an fiction Historical fiction
Set in	11th century (Song dynasty)
Published	Juzhen tang (聚珍堂): 1879 (as The Tale of Loyal Heroes and Righteous Gallants) Wenya zhai (文雅齋): 1883 (as The Three Heroes and Five Gallants) Guangbaisong zhai (廣百宋齋): 1889 (as The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants)
Media type	Print
Followed by	The Five Younger Gallants (1890)

The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Qī Xiá Wǔ Yì Wade–Giles Ch'i1 Hsia2 Wu3 I4 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Cat1 Haap6 Ng5 Ji6 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Chhit Kiap Gō͘ Gī
The Three Heroes and Five Gallants
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sān Xiá Wǔ Yì Wade–Giles San1 Hsia2 Wu3 I4 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Saam1 Haap6 Ng5 Ji6 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Sam Kiap Gō͘ Gī
The Tale of Loyal Heroes and Righteous Gallants
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōngliè Xiáyì Zhuàn Wade–Giles Chung1-lieh4 Hsia2-yi4 Chuan4

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 a 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).

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 and served as the thematic model of numerous wuxia 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.

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):

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?