Yang Qilang (; literally "Yang's seventh son") is a fictional character in the ''

Generals of the Yang Family ''The Generals of the Yang Family'' is a collection of Chinese folklore, plays and novels on a military family from the earlier years of imperial China's Song dynasty (960–1279). The stories recount the unflinching loyalty and the remarkable ...

'' legends, the seventh eldest and youngest son of

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

general

Yang Ye Yang Ye (楊業) or Yang Jiye (楊繼業)According to he changed his name directly from Liu Jiye to Yang Ye in 979, changing both the surname and the given name. If this is to be believed, the name Yang Jiye is technically incorrect, but shows ...

. In these largely fictionalized stories, he was shot to death with countless arrows by the vengeful Song commander

Pan Renmei Pan Mei (潘美) ( 925From his date and Chinese age at death we can deduct that he was born some time between 27 January 925 and 14 February 926. – 20 July 991) was a military general and statesman in the early years of imperial China's Song ...

while seeking reinforcement for his trapped father in battles against the Liao dynasty army. "Qilang", which means "seventh son", is a

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

rather than an official

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

. His official name is usually given as Yang Yansi (楊延嗣).

Biography

Born in a military family, Yang Qilang practiced

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

from an early age after his parents

and

She Saihua She Saihua (佘賽花) is a legendary heroine from ancient China's Northern Song Dynasty. The wife of Yang Ye and the mother of their 7 sons, she is a prominent figure in the stories on ''Generals of the Yang Family''. The elderly and widowed Sh ...

, as well as his six elder brothers. The novel ''Records of the Two Songs, South and North'' (1593) portrayed him as young, impulsive and reckless, and mentioned a time in battle where he without notifying anyone decided to lead 3000 men for a night raid of the enemy's

camp Camp may refer to: Areas of confinement, imprisonment, or for execution * Concentration camp, an internment camp for political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or minority ethnic groups * Extermination ...

. He was

ambush An ambush is a surprise attack carried out by people lying in wait in a concealed position. The concealed position itself or the concealed person(s) may also be called an "". Ambushes as a basic military tactics, fighting tactic of soldi ...

ed and returned with only half the men, and was ordered to be executed by his father. He eventually received a severe beating of 40 blows which left him bloodied.

Killing Pan Bao in competition

One day a martial arts competition was held in the Tianqi Temple (天齊廟) in the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

Kaifeng Kaifeng ( zh, s=开封, p=Kāifēng) is a prefecture-level city in east-Zhongyuan, central Henan province, China. It is one of the Historical capitals of China, Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and ...

, featuring Pan Bao (潘豹) from the powerful Pan family. With no sense of

sportsmanship Sportsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, and with proper consideration for wikt:fairness, fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors. A "sore loser" r ...

, Pan had made the rules "to the death", confident that nobody dared to kill him considering his background: his sister had married Emperor Taizong, while his father

was a high-ranking minister and military commander. Yang Qilang who had sneaked out of the house was angered by Pan's arrogance and joined the competition, defeating and eventually killing Pan when the latter continued to dare him and insult his family. Realizing what he had done, Yang Qilang voluntarily submitted to the local police. A grief-stricken

pleaded to Emperor Taizong to have the entire Yang family executed, for "murdering the

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

's relative should be treated as

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

". However, realizing the competition rules set by Pan Bao, Emperor Taizong merely sentenced Yang Qilang to three years in prison. Later, when Yang Qilang was

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

ed by the emperor in face of an imminent war with the Liao dynasty and reinstated to the military to "expiate crimes by good deeds", Pan Renmei decided to carry out "justice" himself.

Death by hundreds of arrows

Facing an invading Liao dynasty army, commander-in-chief

still focused on revenge against the Yangs, and sent Yang Ye and his seven sons to a trap without aid or food. During the battle of Golden Beach, only Yang Qilang, his sixth brother Yang Yanzhao, their father and a few soldiers were left, as the enemy forces closed in. Yang Yanzhao asked his younger brother to fight a way out to the headquarters for aid. When a badly injured and tired Yang Qilang finally arrived, Pan Renmei had him arrested, tied up on a pole, and ordered his soldiers to shoot arrows at him. For whatever reason, the first round of arrows all missed, so Pan Renmei picked up a bow and did the job himself. With dozens of arrows piercing his chest, Yang Qilang kept cursing at Pan Renmei until his death. Pan Renmei had the corpse thrown into the

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

which was later discovered by Yang Yanzhao's remaining men downstream.

Portrayal in films and TV series

* Wang Weinian in ''Generals of the Yang Family'' (1983) (as Yang Yanci) * Yang Shoulin in ''Generals of the Yang Family'' (1984) * Yao Chih-hung in ''Jagged Generals of the Yang Family'' (1984) * Tony Leung in ''

The Yang's Saga ''The Yang's Saga'' () is a 1985 Hong Kong historical fantasy action miniseries based on a series of novels and plays titled '' The Generals of the Yang Family'' produced by TVB. It aired from 23 to 28 September 1985 on TVB Jade, during the stat ...

'' (1985) * Chang Hung-lun in ''A Courageous Clan: Mu Kuei-ying'' (1989) * Cao Qinghua & Sun Hong in ''Generals of the Yang Family'' (1991) * Yan Kun in ''

Warriors of the Yang Clan ''Warriors of the Yang Clan'' is a 2004 Chinese costume drama, based on the '' Generals of the Yang Family'' legends. Plot Though full of ideas and passion, the 4th son of the Song Dynasty general Yang Ye never seemed capable to satisfy his fat ...

'' (2004) *

Eddie Peng Edward Peng Yu-Yan ( zh, c=彭于晏, poj=Phêⁿ Û-àn, p=Péng Yúyàn; born 24 March 1982) is a Taiwanese actor, singer and model. He is best known for starring in the films '' Hear Me'' (2009), '' Unbeatable'' (2013), '' Fleet of Time'' (201 ...

in '' The Young Warriors'' (2006) *

Fu Xinbo BOBO is a Chinese boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls a ...

in ''

Saving General Yang ''Saving General Yang'' is a 2013 Hong Kong film directed by Ronny Yu. The story is based on the legendary Generals of the Yang Family. The film was selected as part of the 2013 Hong Kong International Film Festival. Plot The film is set in ...

'' (2013)

Historical basis

According to '' History of Song'',

's seventh eldest son Yang Yanbin (楊延彬), along with a couple brothers, was made a palace guard (殿直) after his father's death in 986. Since he was the only son whose appointment was delayed, historians believe he was less than 15 years old that year. Nothing is known about him otherwise. The name Yang Yansi probably came from general Yang Si (楊嗣), a military general who fought the Liao dynasty alongside

's most distinguished son Yang Yanzhao for much of

Emperor Zhenzong of Song Emperor Zhenzong of Song (23 December 968 – 23 March 1022), personal name Zhao Heng, was the third emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned from 997 to his death in 1022. His personal name was originally Zhao Dechang, but was change ...

's reign. Despite sharing the

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

, he came from a different hometown than Yang Yanzhao, but some commoners probably thought they were brothers, explaining the mix-up. Yang Qilang's

tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called '' immurement'', alth ...

was built in 1755 in today's

Dai County Dai County, also known by its Chinese name Daixian, is a county in Xinzhou, Shanxi Province, China. Its county seat at Shangguan is also known as Daixian. The county has an area of and had a population of 178,870 at the time of the 2020 c ...

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

along with the Yang family

ancestral hall An ancestral shrine, hall or temple ( or , ; Chữ Hán: ; ), also called lineage temple, is a temple dedicated to deified ancestors and progenitors of surname lineages or families in the Chinese tradition. Ancestral temples are closely lin ...

, and the name on the

headstone A gravestone or tombstone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. A marker set at the head of the grave may be called a headstone. An especially old or elaborate stone slab may be called a funeral stele, stela, or slab. The u ...

is Yang Yanxing (楊延興).山西代县杨七郎墓
/ref>

Notes and references

Sources

* * * * {{Generals of the Yang Family, state=expanded The Generals of the Yang Family characters