Jin Dajian

Jin Dajian (金大坚) is a character in the "Water Margin".

Jin Dajian was a craftsman from Jizhou, and a good friend of Wu Yong. He was an excellent sculptor who could carve stone tablets, official seals etc. He was also good in martial arts as well and due to excellent skills in carving jade rocks, he was nicknamed the 'Jade-armed Craftsman' (玉臂匠).

Once, Song Jiang wrote a poem which defamed the government and was thrown into prison. Dai Zong went to Jizhou to trick Xiao Rang and Jin Dajian to Liangshan under Wu Yong's instruction. Xiao Rang forged a letter from Cai Jing, telling the governor of Jiangzhou to have Song Jiang escorted to the capital city, while Jin Da-jian completed the picture by adding a fake seal on the letter which he carved.

The letter seemed too real that even the governor was fooled, but Huang Wenbing spotted a mistake. Jin Da-jian had used the wrong seal on the letter. The governor was furious and ordered both Song Jiang and Dai Zong to be executed but the Liangshan heroes had realised their mistake in time and stormed the execution ground, rescuing Song and Dai.

Jin Da-jian became the person in charge of carving military seals in Liangshan and one of the 72 Earthly Fiends. After the heroes had obtained amnesty from the emperor, Jin Da-jian followed the heroes on their campaigns against the Liao Tartars and southern rebels. During the Wang Qing campaign, Jin Da-jian, Xiao Rang and Pei Xuan tried to sneak into Jingnan, but was captured by the enemy leader Liang Yong. Despite facing severe torture from the enemy, the three heroes refused to surrender and expressed their will to die rather than suffer humiliation. In the end, Liang's surbordinate rebelled against him and killed him and freed the heroes.

On the eve of the Fang La campaign in which many heroes perished, Jin Da-jian was summoned back to the capital city by the emperor and did not participate in the campaign. Jin Da-jian then remained in the capital city and served the emperor.