Jiang Ping (character)

{{Infobox character

| name = Jiang Ping (蔣平)

| series = Wuxia

| image = Jiangping 1896.jpg

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| caption = From an 1896 print of The Five Younger Gallants

| creator = Shi Yukun

| nicknames = {{Unbulleted list|River Rat or River-Overturning Rat (翻江鼠)|The Patient (病夫)}}

| aliases = {{Unbulleted list|Priest Zhang (張道士)|Old Gan (甘老兒)}}

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| home = Jinling, Jiangnan East Circuit

}}

{{Infobox Chinese|t={{linktext|蔣|平}}|s={{linktext|蒋|平}}|p=Jiǎng Píng|altname=Jiang Zechang|t2={{linktext|蔣|泽|長}}|s2={{linktext|蒋|泽|长}}|p2=Jiǎng Zécháng}}

{{family name hatnote|Jiang|lang=Chinese}}

Jiang Ping, courtesy name Zechang, is a fictional Song dynasty knight-errant from the 19th-century Chinese novels The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants and The Five Younger Gallants. Nicknamed "River Rat" or "River-Overturning Rat" ({{lang|zh|翻江鼠}}) for his amazing swimming and freediving skills, he is able to stay underwater seemingly forever. He is the fourth sworn brother of the "Five Rats", whose other members are Lu Fang, Han Zhang, Xu Qing and Bai Yutang.

Highly witty, Jiang Ping is one of the most colorful characters in the original novel. He is scrawny, and his appearance more of a sick patient than a fighter, yet he often outsmarts opponents with clever tricks, disguises or lies. Researcher Susan Blader considers him the only "gallant" "whose intellectual, emotional, and physical prowess compares favourably with that of any 'heroes'".{{cite book|last=Blader|first=Susan|title=Tales of Magistrate Bao and His Valiant Lieutenants: Selections from Sanxia Wuyi|year=1998|publisher=The Chinese University Press|isbn=962-201-775-4|ref={{harvid|Blader 1998}}}}