Ou Peng

Ou Peng
Water Margin character
Nickname	"Golden Wings Brushing Against the Clouds" (摩雲金翅)
Rank	48th, Wide Star (地闊星) of the 72 Earthly Fiends
Tiger Cub Scouting General of Liangshan
Origin	Bandit leader from Mount Yellow Gate
Hometown	Huangzhou, Hubei
First appearance	Chapter 41
Names
Simplified Chinese	欧鹏
Traditional Chinese	歐鵬
Pinyin	Ōu Péng
Wade-Giles	Ou P'eng

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ou.

Ou Peng is a fictional character in the Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He ranks 48th of the 108 Liangshan heroes and 12th of the 72 Earthly Fiends. He is nicknamed "Golden Wings Brushing Against the Clouds".

Background

The Water Margin describes Ou Peng as a tall and muscular man who walks at a fast pace. He is highly skilled in martial arts and renowned for his ability to catch projectiles, such as arrows, in mid flight. He earns himself the nickname "Golden Wings Brushing Against the Clouds".

Ou Peng is from Huangzhou, Hubei. He works as a military officer in the county office. Once, he offends an official and becomes afraid of being punished. He resigns and leaves. He becomes a bandit leader on Mount Yellow Gate together with Jiang Jing, Ma Lin and Tao Zongwang.

Joining Liangshan

The outlaws from Liangshan Marsh rescue Song Jiang and Dai Zong from Jiangzhou (present-day Jiangxi) and make their journey back to Liangshan. They pass by Mount Yellow Gate along the way. The four bandit leaders stop Song Jiang's party and request to join them. Song Jiang agrees and they return to Liangshan together.

After Huyan Zhuo surrenders and joins Liangshan, Ou Peng and nine others follow Huyan Zhuo to Qingzhou (in present-day Shandong). They trick Governor Murong Yanda into opening the city gates and the outlaws swarm in and capture the city.

Campaigns and death

Ou Peng becomes one of the leaders of the Liangshan calvary after the Grand Assembly. He follows the heroes on their campaigns against the Liao invaders and rebel forces after they have been granted amnesty by the emperor.

During the Fang La campaign, Ou Peng is assigned to attack the enemy city of Shezhou (present-day She County, Anhui). He fights with the enemy general Pang Wanchun. Pang Wanchun feigns defeat and retreats, luring Ou Peng to follow him. Ou Peng is desperate to gain the top credit for victory and he pursues Pang Wanchun, but Pang turns around suddenly and fires an arrow at him. Ou Peng catches the arrow in mid flight. Pang Wanchun then releases a string of arrows consecutively. Ou Peng is unable to catch all of them in time and eventually he is shot down and killed.

References

• (Chinese) Li, Mengxia. 108 Heroes from the Water Margin, page 97. EPB Publishers Pte Ltd, 1992. ISBN 9971-0-0252-3.