Jiao Ting is a fictional character in ''

Water Margin ''Water Margin'' (), also called ''Outlaws of the Marsh'' or ''All Men Are Brothers'', is a Chinese novel from the Ming dynasty that is one of the preeminent Classic Chinese Novels. Attributed to Shi Nai'an, ''Water Margin'' was one of the e ...

'', one of the

Four Great Classical Novels Classic Chinese Novels () are the best-known works of literary fiction across pre-modern Chinese literature. The group usually includes the following works: Ming dynasty novels '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', '' Water Margin'', ''Journey to t ...

Chinese literature The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with the earliest recorded inscriptions, court archives, building to the major works of philosophy and history written during the Axial Age. The Han dynasty, Han (202 ...

. Nicknamed "Faceless", he ranks 98th among the

108 Stars of Destiny The 108 Heroes are the main characters of the Ming dynasty classic Chinese novel the ''Water Margin'', which was written in the 14th century and usually attributed to Shi Nai'an. The heroes are divided into the 36 Heavenly Spirits and 72 Earthly ...

and 62nd among the 72 Earthly Fiends.

Background

Jiao Ting, a native of Zhongshan Prefecture (中山府; around present-day

Dingzhou Dingzhou, or Tingchow in Postal Map Romanization, and formerly called Ding County or Dingxian, is a county-level city in the prefecture-level city of Baoding, Hebei, Hebei Province. As of 2020, Dingzhou had a population of 1.1 million. Dingzhou ...

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

), is skilled in wrestling, having mastered a set of techniques developed by his grandfather and taught only within the family. As he has no distinguished background and connection, he could not find anyone willing to shelter him when he becomes a drifter. For that reason he is nicknamed "Faceless".

Joining Liangshan

Jiao Ting intended to join the bandits on Mount Deadwood () in Kouzhou (寇州; believed to be present-day

Guan County, Shandong Guan County () is a county of western Shandong province, People's Republic of China, bordered by Hebei province to the west. It is administered by Liaocheng City. The population was in 1999. History As an isolated county, with relatively low ...

) led by Bao Xu. On his way there, he runs into

Li Kui Li Kui may refer to: *Li Kui (legalist), government minister in the Wei state *Li Kui (chancellor), chancellor of the Tang Dynasty *Li Kui (Water Margin), fictional character in the ''Water Margin'' {{hndis, Li, Kui