Xiǎo Wǔ Yì 小五義
The Five Younger Gallants by 石玉昆 (attributed)
About the work
Xiǎo Wǔ Yì 小五義 (“The Five Younger Gallants”) is a sequel to the chivalric-detective novel Sānxiá Wǔyì 三俠五義 / Qīxiá Wǔyì 七俠五義, attributed in the catalog and title page to 石玉昆 Shí Yùkūn. It is a very long work — the Kanripo text (KR4k0257) runs to 248 chapters — and constitutes the first of several sequels that extend the adventures of the gallants from the Sānxiá Wǔyì into a new generation. The narrative centers on the “copper-mesh trap” (tóngwǎng zhèn 銅網陣) at Xiāngyáng 襄陽 and the struggle to expose and defeat Prince Xiāngyáng 襄陽王, a rebel prince who threatens the Sòng dynasty.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
Xiǎo Wǔ Yì 小五義 continues the plot of Sānxiá Wǔyì (first printed 1879) and its sequel Xù Xiáyì 續俠義 (also called Xiǎo Wǔ Yì), focusing on the new generation of gallants — the sons and successors of the original five (wǔ yì 五義). The opening chapters concern the investigation of a copper-mesh trap (tóngwǎng zhèn 銅網陣) set by Prince Xiāngyáng, into which the white-jade rodent Bái Yùtáng 白玉堂 (the “White Jade Hall”) has disappeared. The ensuing narrative follows the efforts of Zhì Huà 智化 (Intelligence-and-Change), Jiǎng Píng 蔣平, Lú Fāng 盧方, and other heroes to rescue their comrades, dismantle the trap, and defeat the rebel prince.
The attribution to Shí Yùkūn 石玉昆 (fl. ca. 1840s–1860s) is traditional and appears on the Kanripo title page but is likely nominal or at most indicates that the text was generated from the same storytelling tradition he originated. Xiǎo Wǔ Yì was almost certainly composed by anonymous professional writers or storytellers in the late Qīng, working from oral tradition and the existing Sānxiá Wǔyì / Qīxiá Wǔyì texts. It formed part of a wave of sequels that Lu Xun estimated at around two dozen by 1924.
Wikipedia’s entry on The Five Younger Gallants (which gives the title as a direct sequel to The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants) describes it as continuing the adventures with 248 chapters in the Kanripo text, consistent with the source file. The text has been published in modern popular editions and has attracted a following among enthusiasts of traditional chivalric fiction.
The Kanripo source file (135,246 lines) is by far the longest in this batch, consistent with its 248-chapter extent.
Translations and research
The work has not been translated into English or other European languages.
For the parent text Sānxiá Wǔyì, see:
- Shí Yùkūn (attributed), rev. Yú Yuè. Three Heroes and Five Gallants. Trans. Susan Blader. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2023. (Scholarly translation of the parent novel.)
No substantial secondary literature specifically on Xiǎo Wǔ Yì located.