In the 1978 Shaw Bros. film, The Avenging Eagle, Ti Lung’s character, Qi Mingxing, uses a three-sectioned staff. In two key scenes in the film, he uses it to stab people. As in thrusting the end of a section of the staff into someone’s body. That’s pretty weird, especially since the ends of the staff aren’t sharp or pointed.
Perhaps it’s because in the novel it was adapted from,《冷血十三鷹》Thirteen Cold-Blooded Eagles, by Taiwan wuxia author Qin Hong 秦紅, Qi Mingxing uses a sword. Much better for stabbing. The screenplay for the film version was written by Hong Kong wuxia and science fiction author Ni Kuang 倪匡. Presumably it was he who changed the weapon for the film, as well as changing Vagrant’s weapon from judge’s brushes to sleeve knives. Ni Kuang also happened to write the adaptation of another of Qin Hong’s novels,《怪客與怪鏢》The Stranger and the Strange Cargo, which became the film Rendezvous with Death (In Chinese called 請帖, The Invitation). There the protagonist’s weapon was changed from a sword to an umbrella.
From October 22, 1981 to May 21, 1982, Gu Long published what would be his final novel, The Sound of a Sabre Among the Windchimes《風鈴中的刀聲》in the United Daily News in Taiwan. But the last two chapters of the novel were ghostwritten by Yu Donglou 于東樓. It was not very much, only around 7,500 characters, so it’s curious he didn’t finish it himself. In a 2015 interview with Ding Qing 丁情, one of Gu Long’s “disciples”, Ding Qing said that at the time Gu Long was busy, so Ding Qing wrote a bit in his place, but then he got busy, and so Yu Donglou came in to finish the novel so that publication wouldn’t be interrupted.1 In that interview, Ding Qing also indicated that Gu Long dictated Windchimes while he copied down the dictation.
When it comes to wuxia authors, there are two names that are often bandied about: Jin Yong and Gu Long. And with good reason, because it is these two authors who have received the most critical acclaim and the best reader response. Nowadays, wuxia is more or less a dead genre. There are still wuxia novels being published, but they are few and far beween. In the West, of course, it’s even worse. In the rare event you do find an article about wuxia in English, nine times out ten (and that’s a conservative estimate) it’s going to be about Jin Yong. Gu Long might get a namedrop. One article I saw not too long ago on the “history and politics” of wuxia didn’t even mention the Republican period or wuxia in Taiwan at all!1
But Gu Long had quite an influence and impact on the development of wuxia fiction as a genre. More than anyone else, Gu Long strove for change, for “breakthroughs” as he called them, trying to come up with a new way to write an old genre. Sometimes he was successful, sometimes not, but he kept trying to the end. He began writing his own wuxia novels in 1960 with Divine Sky Sword, at first imitating the major writers of his day, such as Jin Yong, Wolong Sheng, Sima Ling, and Zhuge Qingyun.
Gradually his style changed. With Cleansing Flowers, Refining the Sword in 1964, Gu Long was already experimenting with his fight scenes, moving away from the detailed descriptions of moves with flowery names that was (and remained) common in wuxia. By the 1970s, he had already found his own voice. At the same time, more and more of his novels were being adapted to film and TV, bringing him more readers. viewers, and notoriety. The rise of film and TV in Taiwan also led to more and more wuxia authors switching to screenwriting, which Gu Long dabbled in as well. And so wuxia as a genre of literature began to decline.
I collect old wuxia novels, and so I have a bunch on my shelves I haven’t gotten around to reading yet. Sometimes I like to just peruse the endings of ones I haven’t read, hoping to find one that doesn’t have the generic, happy, protagonist + female lead walking into the sunset and laughing ending. Cause that’s how a lot of wuxia novels end. Most of them are happy endings. I like endings with a bit more pathos myself, so it’s always nice to find one.
A couple months ago I was doing this, reading the endings of some Yun Zhongyue novels, and I stumbled upon one that was quite a bit different than the normal happy ending. That novel is Sword at Sky’s End《劍在天涯》(1989). This one has both a happy and a tragic (sort of) ending, but what’s notable about it is that the novel does not end with the protagonist.
Instead, after the hero’s story is wrapped up, there’s another denouement that follows a secondary character. I won’t call it an epilogue because it’s not, it’s just another scene at the end of the last chapter, chapter 40.
Anyway, I thought I’d translate the ending because it’s pretty satisfying. First some setup:
I recently acquired a new (old) novel, Rusty Sword, Scrawny Horse《銹劍瘦馬》by Gao Yong. Here’s a look at the first couple chapters.
Liang Chengyan (Lyahng Chung-yen, 梁承彥)1 is living with his wife and young daughter on a secluded cliff, having retired from the jianghu (jyahng-hoo, 江湖]). He has just returned home and is waiting for his junior brother,2 Tang Baizhou (Tahng B{eye}-joe, 唐百州), who is scheduled to make a rare visit. The two of them are fellow disciples of the Spirit Snake Swordplay 靈蛇劍法. Their master gave them each one half of the sword manual before he passed away.
But while he is waiting for his junior bro to arrive, two strangers show up instead: Diao Tianyi (Dyow Tyen-ee, 刁天義) and Diao Shuxian (Dyow Shoo-shyen, 刁淑嫺) of Diao Family Village, a famous sword school. They have come for the Spirit Snake Swordplay manual. A fight ensues, and just as Liang Chengyan is wounded, Tang Baizhou arrives and fends off the attackers, who flee. But the real danger is still close at hand.
Quicksand Valley《沉沙谷》is a wuxia novel by Shangguan Ding 上官鼎. Shangguan Ding1 is actually the pen name of three brothers: Liu Zhaoli, Liu Zhaoxuan, and Liu Zhaokai. Liu Zhaoli wrote the romance parts, Liu Zhaokai wrote the fight scenes, and Liu Zhaoxuan wrote everything else, being the principal writer of the three. When Quicksand Valley was published in 1961, Liu Zhaoxuan was only eighteen years old, Liu Zhaokai only sixteen. And this was their fourth novel.
They wrote their first novel in 1960, thinking to try their hand at writing the kind of novel they were so fond of reading. Their first novel was well-received and they were asked to complete a novel that Gu Long had stopped writing, Poisonous Sword, Fragrant Plum Blossom《劍毒梅香》. This was Gu Long’s second novel, but he only wrote four volumes before quitting.2 The story goes that he had asked his publisher for more money and was rebuffed, so he just quit writing it. The novel sat for several months before the Liu brothers (Shangguan Ding) were commissioned to finish it. They wrote volumes five through fifteen and finished the novel. It was a big hit and the brothers wrote seven more novels together between 1960 and 1966 before they all went overseas to study.
Jin Yong once said that Shangguan Ding was his second-favorite wuxia author behind Gu Long.
Liu Zhaoxuan went on to be president of National Tsing Hua University and Soochow University. He was also Premier of the Republic of China from 2008-2009.
Liu Zhaoxuan returned to the jianghu in 2014 and released another wuxia novel, writing alone this time but still under the name Shangguan Ding. He has since continued to write other novels, including political thrillers.
Quicksand Valley is Shangguan Ding’s most lauded novel, and is also the one Liu Zhaoxuan is most proud of, according to a preface to the edition I own. A tale of three sworn brothers and a mystery of what happened to the top martial artists in the jianghu long ago at Quicksand Valley. That incident is the subject of the first chapter translated below. Shangguan Ding’s novels were different in that they were actually written by young men in their teens, which is the same age as most wuxia protagonists, so they were able to give their characters the realistic vigor and temperament of hot-blooded young men. Most wuxia novels were older and already past those formative years; Shangguan Ding was able to tap into that young energy and it shows in the writing.
“And you? It seems you two are in the right.” The white-faced woman glanced at Omnipresent Earth God, who had just returned. “I heard Lady Venom is a vicious woman despised by all within the wulin. Please tell me, are you two men of chivalry?”
“Hahaha!” Zhao Jiu guffawed. “What’s a man of chivalry? I can tell you, anyone who wields a sword or sabre thinking he can judge right and wrong is a swindler using the name of chivalry to commit all kinds of heinous deeds. Us four call ourselves ghost, god, demon, and goblin. We pay no heed to the business of heaven and earth or of the gods. We do what we consider heroic deeds regardless of the danger.
“Over these ten long years, we have come and gone through the gates of Hell, we have shed many tears, we have thrown our heads back to the sky laughing, we have played with our lives and used violence to violate the law… Stay out of our business, okay?”
“Have you committed heinous crimes?”
“Oh! Hard to say. Everyone has their own more or less different way of looking at things.” He raised his sword. “Miss, look at this sword here. It’s thin as a wire. Look at if from the side and it’s an inch and a half wide piece of metal. That Lady Venom secretly ambushed me with her poison needles, then viciously attacked me with a dagger. The way I see it, she tried to kill me so I have the right to kill her. The authorities would say I absolutely do not have the right to kill her, I can only let the law of the land punish her. Miss, what do you think?”
“Uhh…”
“Miss, you are young.”
“That… That’s nonsense.”
“I know I’m right, because you’re not using twisted words and forcing logic to refute me. We have to extract a testimony here. May we ask you, Miss, to withdraw?”
“No,” the white-faced woman flatly refused. “Even if you have the right to kill her, in the end killing is not a pleasant thing. People should not murder and eat each other up like wild animals do.”
“So you think we should…”
“Hand them over to the authorities to deal with.”
“Then there’s nothing for us to discuss. Miss, I’d like to ask you to leave.”
“You…”
“Miss, I’m serious.”
“I won’t allow you to use illegal torture.” The white-faced woman said resolutely, “I want to witness it with my own eyes, I want…”
from Mighty Dragon Crosses the River《強龍過江》by Yun Zhongyue 雲中岳
Yun Zhongyue’s novels eschew the classic concept of the righteous hero. More than that, he mocks the idea of it. In Yun Zhongyue’s jianghu, the line between good and evil is blurred and there is much crossover, and this morality is embodied in his characters.
This is the first entry in my first readthrough series. Hopefully it’s not too rough. I’m still trying to figure out how to write up one of these, how much detail to put in, how to write commentary, etc. I’ll do my best. I have not read ahead in the novel at the time of writing so as to keep my reactions spoiler-free.
Soaring Dragon of the Hinterlands《八荒飛龍記》was written by Wolong Sheng 臥龍生 and published in 1971. It can be considered one of his later works in that it features a lot of shorter paragraphs and a lot of dialogue, which is characteristic of his later work. Gu Long had just become really popular and wuxia authors began to copy his style, which was short paragraphs and a lot of dialogue. You could say the meta had changed. Wolong Sheng was good friends with Gu Long and his style changed seemingly in an attempt to play to the trend as well.
While he was writing this novel, Wolong Sheng was also writing Legendary Heroes of China《神州豪俠傳》, Flying Bell《飛鈴》, and I think one other novel all at the same time, serialized in different newspapers. Soaring Dragon is one of his shorter novels. The copy I have is in two volumes and a total of 443 pages, 17 chapters. The first three chapters are covered in this first part of our readthrough.
My goal with these readthroughs is to provide some examples of wuxia novels for those who are interested in the genre but can’t read Chinese. After all, there are many wuxia novels out there and most will never be translated into English. At least with plot summaries one can get an idea for the structure, tropes, and various writing styles of wuxia novels.
Mighty Dragon Crosses the River (hereafter Mighty Dragon) was published in 1984. It’s a pretty typical novel for Yun Zhongyue, as it is set in the Ming dynasty and features historical figures and/or organizations. Yun Zhongyue is known for his acute attention to historical detail. Thus, his novels are more “realistic” than most. He even pays attention to the travel permits required during the Ming dynasty to move from one place to another. The lack of such a permit often becomes a source of conflit his characters have to overcome. Because Yun Zhongyue’s characters are not supernaturally powerful; they can’t take out swathes of men by themselves. A mass of government troops is still formidable than even the strongest single martial arts expert.
And Yun Zhongyue’s protagonists are often not part of the martial fraternity or the jianghu at all at the beginning, but get drawn into that world for one reason or another. Mighty Dragon is a bit different in this regard because the main characters are already martial arts experts of the martial fraternity. But many of his novels feature regular people struggling to get by and survive the world they’ve been thrust into. And needing a job is something his characters have to deal with. His novels are not like most where characters wonder around without any money or belongings, yet somehow never find it difficult to pay for things or otherwise survive. Mighty Dragon is also the only one of Yun Zhongyue’s eighty novels (yes, you read that right, and he wrote every one himself without the help of a ghostwriter–by hand) to feature a group of main characters: The Retribution Gods of the Four Seas. His other novels feature a single protagonist.
The excerpt below is a small portion of the first chapter, starting from the beginning. I will post more about Yun Zhongyue in future releases. He’s one of my favorite wuxia authors, and unfortunately he is grossly underrated. But if you want good, detailed historical wuxia, no one does it better.
The Bandit was written by Dugu Hong and published by Spring and Autumn Publishing in 1970 in Taiwan. Dugu Hong’s novels are often set in the Qing dynasty, and he also uses a lot of Beijing dialect in his prose. I called the novel The Bandit, but the Chinese characters 響馬 actually mean whistling/screaming horse. It refers to mounted bandits who would shoot whistling arrows to announce their arrival before they robbed you. The protagonist of this novel, Fei Mushu, was one of these mounted bandits.
In this novel, Fei Mushu is broken out of jail on condition he complete an assignment. If he does then his rescuers will help clear him of all charges. Along with the mystery of his mission, which entangles him in Qing court intrigue, we also get to see the morals and behavior of a bandit working for a good cause. Below is a short excerpt I had translated previously. It’s the full prologue and a bit of Chapter 1. The synopsis below does contain spoilers.
