Friday, September 19, 2008

Jiao Ting

Jiao Ting is a character in the ''Water Margin''.

Jiao Ting was from Zhongshanfu, and inherited a set of martial arts from his ancestors, who laid down a law that this set of skills should only be passed from father to son in the Jiao family. Thus, Jiao Ting excelled in martial arts, but was forbidden to take in any students. He also led an anonymous life, with no one knowing his real name or identity, earning himself the nickname 'Unnamed one' .

Once, Jiao Ting wished to join the bandits on Kushu Mountain in Kouzhou. On the way there, he met , who was on his way to Lingzhou to kill Shan Ting-gui and Wei Ding-guo. The hot-tempered Li Kui was unhappy when Jiao Ting kept staring at him and raised his fists, wanting to fight Jiao Ting. Jiao Ting was unfazed by both Li Kui's bravado or his fearsome beastly appearance. Jiao Ting proceeded by punching Li Kui in the face then easily knocked Li Kui to the ground after wrestling for a short while. Li Kui was so impressed with Jiao Ting and asked for his name, then invited Jiao Ting to join the Liangshan band.

Later, Guan Sheng lost the first battle at Lingzhou, which ended with the capture of Xuan Zan and Hao Si-wen, Guan's deputy generals. The guards were then assigned to escort Xuan and Hao as prisoners back to Dongjing, but Jiao Ting, Li Kui and Bao Xu intercepted them on the way, killed the guards and rescued the two men. Eventually, the Liangshan heroes managed to subdue Shan Ting-gui and Wei Ding-guo, and Li Kui, Jiao Ting and Bao Xu went back to Liangshan along with them.

Jiao Ting became one of the leaders of the Liangshan infantry and one of the 72 Earthly Fiends. After the heroes had obtained amnesty from the emperor, Jiao Ting followed them on their campaigns against the Liao Tartars and southern rebels. During the Fang La campaign, he was assigned to attack Runzhou but died in the battle.

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