Lu Fang (character)
Lu Fang is a fictional Song dynasty hero from the 19th-century Chinese novels The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants and The Five Younger Gallants. He is nicknamed "Sky Rat" or "Sky-Penetrating Rat" (鑽天鼠) for his mast-climbing skills. Lu Fang owns an estate on Hollow Island (陷空島), where he and his younger sworn brothers Han Zhang, Xu Qing, Jiang Ping, and Bai Yutang — collectively known as the "Five Rats" — are based. As their leader, Lu Fang is magnanimous, respectful, patriotic and heroic. He is also very protective over his sworn brothers, especially Bai Yutang, and can come off as sentimental or nagging at times. Lu Fang eventually becomes a Rank 6 Commandant (校尉) under Judge Bao. Background Lu Fang's father had been a rich but generous squire on Hollow Island, whose estate Lu Fang inherited. Hollow Island is located in the middle of the Song River (松江, possibly today's Suzhou Creek in Shanghai), where his men catch fish. Once, when a boat's halyard broke, Lu Fang quickly climbed up the mast and knotted the loose ends together, earning himself the nickname "Sky Rat". Lu Fang is able to rapidly move up a pole "like a monkey" and like an