The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants is an Chinese historical novel whose plot takes place during the Song Dynasty

Song Dynasty

The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...

 with Justice Bao as a main character. It was written by Yu Yue during the Qing Dynasty

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

; the stories are largely based on the pingshu

Pingshu

In Chinese culture, Pingshu , meaning “storytelling”, is one of forms of entertainment in mass culture in North China. Travelers in Beijing will often find taxi drivers listening to it...

 performed by Shi Yukun at that time. The book is one of the first novels in the wuxia

Wuxia

Wuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...

 genre.

The Seven Heroes

In the original pingshu there were only Three Heroes which are actually four people, namely Zhan Zhao, Ouyang Chun and the Ding brothers.

• Zhan Zhao (展昭), nicknamed Southern Hero (南俠)
• Ouyang Chun (Purple Beard) (歐陽春), nicknamed Northern Hero (北俠)
• Ding Zhaolan (丁兆蘭) & Ding Zhaohui (丁兆蕙), collectively nicknamed Twin Heroes (雙俠)
• Zhi Hua (智化), nicknamed Eastern Hero (東方俠)
• Ai Hu (艾虎), nicknamed Little Hero (小俠)
• Shen Zhongyuan (沈仲元), nicknamed Secret Hero (盜俠)

The Five Gallants

These five sworn brothers

Blood brother

Blood brother can refer to one of two things: two males related by birth, or two or more men not related by birth who have sworn loyalty to each other. This is usually done in a ceremony, known as a blood oath, where the blood of each man is mingled together...

 from Xiankong Island (陷空島) are also collectively known as The Five Rats or The Five Mice. They are in the order of their ages:

• Lu Fang (盧方), nicknamed Sky Rat (鑚天鼠)
• Han Zhang (韓彰), nicknamed Earth Rat (徹地鼠)
• Xu Qing (徐慶), nicknamed Mountain Rat (穿山鼠)
• Jiang Ping (蔣平), nicknamed River Rat (翻江鼠)
• Bai Yutang (白玉堂), nicknamed Brocade (Sleek) Rat (錦毛鼠)

Bao Zheng and his associates

• Bao Zheng (包拯)
• Gongsun Ce (公孫策)
• Wang Chao (王朝)
• Ma Han (馬漢)
• Zhang Long (張龍)
• Zhao Hu (趙虎)

The Five Little Gallants

These titular characters are featured in the popular sequel to the The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, also from the same period. Some have credited Shi Yukun for this work but the stories differ considerably. These five are also sworn brothers.

• Ai Hu
• Lu Zhen (盧珍), Lu Fang's son
• Han Tianjin (韓天錦), Han Zhang's adopted son
• Xu Liang (徐良), Xu Qing's son
• Bai Yunsheng (白芸生), Bai Yutang's nephew

Adaptations

Year	|Title	|Type	|Bao Zheng	|Zhan Zhao	|Bai Yutang
1993-94	Judge Bao	CTS Chinese Television System Chinese Television System is a broadcast television station in Republic of China .-History:Founded on October 31, 1971, CTS started off as a joint venture between the ROC's Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Education. At the time of its establishment, CTS was the only VHF-supported...  series (236 episodes)	Jin Chao-Chun	Kenny Ho Kenny Ho (actor) Kenny Ho Ka-King is a Hong Kong actor who is best known for his role as Zhan Zhao in the 1993 Taiwanese drama Justice Bao.-Career:Ho enrolled in the ATV's training institute in 1982 and officially became an ATV actor after signing a contract with the company the following year...	Chang Chen-Huan
2003	Cat and Mouse	Hong Kong film Cinema of Hong Kong The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...	Anthong Wong	Andy Lau Andy Lau Andy Lau MH, JP is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer, actor, and film producer. Lau has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maintaining a successful singing career at the same time...	Cecilia Cheung Cecilia Cheung Cecilia Cheung Pak-Chi is a Hong Kong actress and cantopop singer. She is the ex-wife of Nicholas Tse, thus being the daughter-in-law of Patrick Tse and Deborah Lee. She and Nicholas have two sons, Lucas and Quintus Tse...