Yan Qing
| Yan Qing | |
|---|---|
| Water Margin character | |
| Nickname | "Wanderer" / "Prodigal" 浪子 |
| Rank | 36th, Skilful Star (天巧星) of the 36 Heavenly Spirits |
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| Infantry leader of Liangshan | |
| Origin | Lu Junyi's steward |
| Ancestral home / Place of origin | Daming Prefecture (in present-day Handan, Hebei) |
| First appearance | Chapter 60 |
| Weapon | Crossbow |
| Names | |
| Simplified Chinese | 燕青 |
| Traditional Chinese | 燕青 |
| Pinyin | Yàn Qīng |
| Wade–Giles | Yen Ch'ing |
Yan Qing is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He ranks 36th of the 36 Heavenly Spirits of the 108 Liangshan heroes and is nicknamed "Langzi", which translates to "Wanderer" or "Prodigal".
Non-scholarly and fictional sources indicate that Yan Qing was a grand-student of Zhou Tong.
The novel describes Yan Qing's appearance as such: a handsome youth over six chi tall, with red lips, thick eyebrows, broad shoulders and a narrow waist. He sports flowery tattoos all over his upper torso, which appear prominently due to the contrast of his pale complexion. He loses his parents at an early age and is raised by the wealthy squire Lu Junyi, who lives in Daming Prefecture (大名府; in present-day Handan, Hebei). In return, Yan Qing serves as one of Lu Junyi's stewards and is very loyal to his master.
Apart from being an accomplished martial artist and wrestler, Yan Qing is also a talented musician who plays a variety of instruments and sings ballads and songs. With his personal charisma and expertise in various fields, he blends well into society and is seen as the perfect candidate to go on stealth and espionage missions.
Lu Junyi falls for a ruse by Wu Yong and is tricked into meeting the Liangshan outlaws. The outlaws detain Lu but release his chief steward Li Gu and falsely inform Li that Lu has decided to join them. Wu Yong had also left a poem containing a hidden message on Lu Junyi's wall after their initial meeting (see Lu Junyi#Wu Yong's poem). The outlaws eventually allow to Lu to leave after seeing that he is reluctant to join them. When Lu returns home, he is framed by Li Gu, who has an adulterous affair with his wife. Li Gu reports his master to the authorities for collaborating with outlaws and brings soldiers to arrest Lu. Yan Qing tries to stop them but Li Gu orders the servants to chase him out of the house.
Lu Junyi is sentenced to exile on Shamen Island (沙門島; present-day Changdao County, Yantai, Shandong). The guards escorting him there have been bribed by Li Gu to finish him off along the way. Yan Qing follows Lu Junyi secretly and kills the guards when they are about to murder his master. He rescues Lu Junyi but they are surrounded by soldiers and Lu is captured again. Yan Qing flees to seek help and runs into Shi Xiu, who agrees to help him save Lu Junyi and tells him to rush to Liangshan Marsh to seek help from the outlaw band. Shi Xiu fails to save Lu Junyi when he storms the execution ground alone and is captured as well. Yan Qing brings the Liangshan outlaws to attack Daming Prefecture and they defeat imperial forces and rescue Lu Junyi and Shi Xiu.
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