So I’ve been toying with the idea of translating a Gu Long novel for a while now. Started on one in the past but never did much to it. I even began translating this novel at one point but only finished 1/3 of a section. I don’t know if I will take this one all the way to completion this time either. But on a whim I decided to translate some of it.

This is The Jade Tiger 白玉老虎 (lit. White Jade Tiger), by Gu Long. Published in 1976, this novel belongs to Gu Long’s later period. I’ve never read this one, nor have I seen the 1977 Shaw Bros. film of the same name, which was directed by Chor Yuen and co-written by Gu Long himself. It stars Ti Lung.

All I know is it’s a revenge story featuring clashes between three factions. Supposed to be a really good novel, so I wanted to see for myself. And Gu Long is so fun to translate. He really has a unique voice, lots of good dialogue, and he always creates such interesting, bizarre characters.

It’s nine chapters long, but each chapter has several different parts, which themselves are broken into numbered sections. So here is the first part of Chapter 1. I will add more whenever I have the fancy to translate more. So follow this or not at your own risk. I don’t know if I will translate the whole thing or not.