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War, love, and betrayal: The epic tale of the “Legend of the Condor Heroes” - Gladys Mac
War, love, and betrayal: The epic tale of the “Legend of the Condor Heroes” - Gladys Mac
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Legendas (77)
0:06
In the late 1950s, Hong Kong citizens flocked to newsstands
0:11
to pick up the latest edition of the Commercial Daily.
0:14
But not all readers were looking for timely news.
0:17
Many were following a story set hundreds of years in the past—
0:21
a tale of adventure and war, romance and intrigue,
0:26
brotherhood and betrayal.
0:28
Serialized from 1957 to 1959, Jin Yong’s “Legend of the Condor Heroes”
0:34
is the first book in Jin’s beloved Condor Trilogy.
0:39
This multigenerational epic
0:41
is considered one of the most important works of Chinese fiction—
0:44
and one of the finest wuxia stories ever written.
0:49
Wuxia, roughly translated as “martial hero,”
0:53
is a popular genre of Chinese fiction with roots in folktales over 1,500 years old.
0:59
Wuxia stories generally focus on nomadic martial artists
1:03
bound to an honorable code of chivalry.
1:06
These heroes travel through a mythologized version of ancient China called jianghu,
1:11
full of powerful leaders, roaming bandits, and mystical artifacts.
1:17
To face these challenges,
1:18
wuxia heroes must learn superhuman feats of martial arts
1:22
from ancient scrolls and reclusive immortal masters.
1:25
“Legend of the Condor Heroes” blends this martial arts action
1:29
with pivotal Chinese history.
1:32
The book is set in the 13th century,
1:34
amidst a century-long war between the Jurchen Jin dynasty
1:38
and the Han Chinese Song Dynasty.
1:41
Roughly 70 years into the conflict,
1:43
a new enemy has joined the fray: Genghis Khan.
1:47
The Mongols threaten to topple both empires,
1:49
and raids by all parties wreak havoc across the continent.
1:53
The novel begins in a Han village,
1:56
where two expecting fathers are binding their unborn children as blood brothers.
2:00
The children’s names— Guo Jing and Yang Kang—
2:04
were engraved on a pair of daggers.
2:06
But a sudden Jurchen raid scatters the families.
2:10
Guo Jing grows up amongst the Mongols, yet remains loyal to his Han heritage.
2:15
Meanwhile, Jurchen royalty raise Yang Kang as a scheming prince—
2:20
setting the stage for the brothers’ tragic conflict.
2:23
Jin’s novel follows the naive but kind-hearted Guo Jing
2:28
and his clever lover Huang Rong.
2:30
Their journey takes them to the bustling Song capital of Hangzhou,
2:34
the harsh Mongol steppes, and the fabled market city of Samarkand.
2:39
Our heroes traverse through jianghu,
2:41
encountering colorful characters, and witnessing key historical events.
2:46
As they battle enemies, discover treasure, and help solve local crimes,
2:51
their martial arts skills grow more legendary—
2:54
preparing Guo Jing for his fated confrontation.
2:57
The novel showcases over 80 unique styles of martial arts,
3:01
ranging from realistic techniques to almost mystical maneuvers.
3:06
But even seemingly simple moves have surprising depth.
3:10
To master a technique that will allow him to perform two attacks at once,
3:14
Guo Jing must first learn to simultaneously draw a circle with one hand
3:18
and a square with the other.
3:20
This kind of deceptively difficult tutelage
3:23
torments wuxia students and readers alike.
3:26
Jin Yong was the pen name of Louis Cha,
3:29
a journalist and founder of Ming Pao Daily News.
3:33
In the 1960s and 70s, wuxia was banned for its feudal associations.
3:38
But in Hong Kong, a British colony at the time,
3:41
Cha could write fiction and cover news about the Cultural Revolution freely.
3:46
He even worked to add depth and complexity
3:49
to a genre often considered formulaic and lowbrow.
3:52
“Legend of the Condor Heroes” celebrates Chinese identity
3:56
by exploring China’s culture and history with intimate humanity.
4:00
Even though Jin’s books were banned in China,
4:03
his work still found Chinese readers around the globe,
4:06
and bootleg versions even made their way to the mainland.
4:09
When the Chinese government relaxed its policies in the 1980s,
4:13
his novels found an eager audience.
4:15
Today, Jin Yong’s works have been adapted into film, television, and video games.
4:21
His novels are so beloved it has been said,
4:24
“where there are Chinese people, there must be Jin Yong’s fiction.”
4:27
However, this literary titan remains relatively unknown in the West,
4:32
due to the difficulties of translation
4:34
and the high level of Chinese cultural knowledge his works demand.
4:38
Fortunately, recent English translations of the “Legend of the Condor Heroes”
4:42
are helping a new generation of readers
4:45
experience the sweeping saga of the rivers and lakes.
