This post was originally published on murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com.
This is the White-Browed Eagle King–he appears in Jin Yong’s “The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber,” as one of the leaders of the Ming Cult who later establishes the Heavenly Eagle Cult.
“A Path to Glory—Jin Yong’s World of Wuxia” the exhibition Ren Zhe’s sculptures celebrating the centennial of Jin Yong’s birth, is visiting Singapore!
Jin Yong—pen name of Dr. Louis Cha—had an early life was as dramatic as his stories. After surviving the Japanese invasion of China as a child—he was forced to walk 60 to 70 miles a day, then expelled and made homeless for writing a piece that exposed members of the Kuomintang for abusing students—he was saved by his school principal who entered him early for college entrance exams.
Then after the war, his father Zha Shuqing (who’d sparked his love of wuxia stories by reading them to him as a child) was executed by the Chinese Communist Government in 1951 for being a counterrevolutionary. (A verdict that was posthumously reversed in the ’80’s). Yet out of this, like his own Eagle King, Jin Yong created an wuxia “cult” as a storyteller.
Jin Yong’s 15 martial arts novels, translated into fourteen languages, have sold more than 100 million copies. It’s said that wherever there are Chinese people, Jin Yong’s ‘wuxia‘ is known–yet the last two people who mentioned them to me weren’t Chinese!
Wuxia is Chinese martial arts fiction, usually set in ancient China and featuring wanderers with superhuman skills. Kind of like Jack Reacher with martial arts. Given what Jin Yong lived through, I wonder if these stories serve partly as carthasis—and whether we could write such stories without living through what he did?
But they aren’t just horror of war stories–these are Xiao Long Nu (she with the face mask) and Yang Guo, characters from The Return of the Condor Heroes.
The romance between Xiao Long Nu and Yang Guo is disapproved of because of their master-apprentice relationship.
What I like about it is Xiao Long Nu (literally the ‘Little Dragon Maiden’) is the master who trains Yang Guo.
(Spoiler: they end up together at the end of the book, after lots of tests and tribulations and a sixteen year separation, hopefully to live happily ever after)
Maybe it’s because of all the upsetting world news right now that makes the wuxia emphasis on individual integrity and resilience feel all the more relevant.
Though of course the media does distort things— The top photo shows the movie version of Duan Yu… quite a romantic figure!
The photo below is the Duan Yu sculpture in the exhibition.
In the books, Duan Yu was an earnest student of Buddhist teachings and against all bloodshed. Wanting to be a monk, he unfortunately happened to be heir to a royal family with a tradition of practising martial arts… so naturally he ran away from home. Homeless, Duan Yu joined the Beggars’ Guild and became romantically involved with three women… only to discover all three of them were his father’s illegitimate daughters and thus his half-sisters! (Please don’t laugh—royalty in the mythical old days got up to all kinds of things!) Despite or because of his aversion to killing, Duan Yu masters powerful skills as well as immunity to poison—and in addition, his uncle eventually passes him the Duan family’s neigong (literally ‘internal force’) powers.
But not all monks in the books are runaway royals. Some, like the Sweeper Monk (from Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils) are just monks.
The Sweeper Monk is a librarian at the Shaolin Temple with extraordinary martial arts skills that he uses to protect and maintain his library. He doesn’t kill those who attack him—he puts them in a trance and clears their delusions and they’re often grateful to him when they come round.
(Yes, too, he’s a bit like Lu-Tze from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, who also sweeps, but only as a cover)
The Librarian Sweeping Monk might just be my favourite character / position in the wuxia world!
Then there’s Dong Fang Bu Bai (from The Smiling, Proud Wanderer) who castrated himself and has since become a gay martial arts icon…
… as a prerequisite for learning the techniques in the Sunflower Manual and becoming leader of his cult. He becomes a formidable fighter, but his personality becomes more feminine and his obsession with his male lover, Yang Lianting has him leaving the cult’s management to Yang.
But he’s still considered one of the good guys, unlike Ouyang Feng or ‘Western Venom’.
When we meet Ouyang Feng in The Legend of the Condor Heroes, he’s a ruthless villain who steals the Nine Yin Manual, but gets a corrupted version of the manual—so though his martial arts strength and skills grow hugely he also goes mad.
His signature martial arts technique is the Toad Roar and he is an expert in using poisons.
Growing up in Singapore in the 70’s, fears of communism meant China culture was kept at a distance, so I’m kind of surprised how much made it through! And I wish I’d paid more attention to it (which might also have improved my Chinese reading skills!) I’m hoping to make up for lost time now.
If you’re interested (and in Singapore) ‘A Path to Glory—Jin Yong’s Centennial Memorial’ exhibition at MOCA, 39 Keppel Road, from June 22 to August 31.