| Bai Yutang (白玉堂) | |
|---|---|
| Wuxia character | |
 from an 1890 print of the novel | |
| Created by | Shi Yukun |
| In-universe information | |
| Aliases | Jin Maoshu (金懋叔) |
| Nicknames | Sleek Rat or Brocade-Coated Rat (錦毛鼠; Jǐnmáoshǔ) |
| Family | Bai Jintang (白錦堂), brother |
| Home | Jinhua, Wu Prefecture |
| Bai Yutang | |||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 白玉堂 | ||||||||||||||
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Bai Yutang, nicknamed "Sleek Rat" or "Brocade-Coated Rat" (錦毛鼠), is a fictional Song dynasty knight-errant from the 19th-century Chinese novel The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants.
Handsome, brave, clever and charismatic, Bai Yutang is the youngest sworn brother and the best fighter of the "Five Rats", whose other members are Lu Fang, Han Zhang, Xu Qing, and Jiang Ping. Though very righteous, he is also cruel, arrogant, reckless and stubborn. After fellow knight-errant Zhan Zhao receives the title "Imperial Cat" from the emperor, Bai Yutang becomes jealous and hurries off to the capital Kaifeng to challenge him. Using his extraordinary martial arts skills to intrude into respectively the government headquarters of Prefect Bao, the residence of Imperial Tutor Pang, and even the imperial palace, he performs a number of spectacular acts and crimes. He also succeeds in capturing Zhan in a trap, but is in turn captured by his sworn brother Jiang Ping, after which he reluctantly submits to the government. The emperor forgives his many crimes and assigns him to assist his sworn brother Judge Yan Chasan (顏查散) to foil Prince of Xiangyang's (襄陽王) rebellion. Overconfident in his abilities, Bai heedlessly ventures into the prince's deadly Sky-Scraping Tower and suffers a tragic death in the Brass Net Trap.