The Legend of the Condor Heroes 👊🏽 Jin Yong's Wuxia World
The Martial Arts of Louis Cha: The Legend of the Condor Heroes
When we talk about Chinese TV series, one genre I am pretty certain every Chinese person has watched is Wuxia (武侠 wǔxiá) TV (Martial Arts). The Legend of the Condor Heroes is a great example of that which we’ll discuss today.
A name you need to be familiar with before we start is Jin Yong.
The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Jin Yong
The Legend of the Condor Heroes: What’s it about
The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Main Characters
The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Versions
The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Vocab to know
The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Where to watch
The Legend of the Condor Heroes: FAQ’S
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The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Jin Yong
For Chinese people between the ages 20 to 60, almost all of them will be familiar with the name Jin Yong (金庸 jīnyōng).
Jin Yong is in fact his nickname, his real name is Louis Cha Leung-yung (查良镛 zhā liáng yōng.)
Louis Cha is a Hong Kong novelist who was born in 1924, and died in 2018. His novels are full of martial arts or wuxia (武侠 wǔxiá).
He is so talented at writing wuxia novels that his books are even translated into other languages.
In 2004, Jin Yong was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge.
He wrote so many famous novels that many of them were adapted into movies or TV shows.
Today we are recommending one of the most popular ones: The Legend of the Condor Heroes (射雕英雄传 shè diāo yīngxióng zhuàn).
The Legend of the Condor Heroes: What’s It About
The Legend of the Condor Heroes is set during the end of Song (宋) Dynasty.
Two best friends live happily in a small town. One is called Yang Tiexin (杨铁心 yáng tiěxīn), the other is called Guo Xiaotian (郭啸天 guōxiàotiān).
They find out that their wives are both pregnant. They make a promise that if the babies are a boy and a girl they will be married.
If they are both boys or both girls then they will be like brothers or sisters. The two babies both end up being boys and are named Yang Kang 杨康 and Guo Jing 郭靖.
The prince of Jin Country was saved by a beautiful married woman (Yang Tiexin’s wife) during a battle.
His name is Wanyan Honglie (完颜洪烈 wányán hóngliè) and Wanyan 完颜 is his family name.
He falls in love with Yang Tiexin’s wife (the woman who saved him) so uses excuses to try to have Yang Tiexin killed.
Guo Xiaotian dies as a consequence of this and Yang Tiexin disappears…
Because of this tragedy caused by Wanyan Honglie, the best friends families have to part. Yang Tiesin’s wife became Wanyan Honglie’s wife and Guo Xiao tian’s wife ran away to Mongolia (大漠 dàmò).
Yang Kang’s name (杨康) is changed to Wanyan Kang (完颜康) and he grows up as Wanyan Honglie’s son. He is very clever and handsome.
Meanwhile Guo Jing 郭靖 is brought up in Mongolia and is quite a dull person. What fate will these two face?
What will be their choice when they are faced with love, revenge, power or saving the country?
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The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Main Characters
Guo Jing (郭靖 guōjìng). A dull guy who doesn’t start to speak until he is aged four. He grows up in Mongolia and was raised alone by his mother.
He saved a person from being killed and in return that person taught him archery. He also has six masters to teach him Kongfu. However he makes little progress.
His masters are so angry at him. The good part is that he works so hard to learn.
A mysterious person comes to teach him kungfu secretly for two years and finally starts to make an improvement.
He has two missions, one is to avenge for his father, the other is to find his brother Yang Kang 杨康 to compete.
On his way to finishing these two missions, he meets the love of his life.
With the help of her, he becomes the apprentice of Hong Qigong (洪七公 hóng qī gōng), one of the greatest Kungfu masters.
However Guo Jing’s six masters don’t agree with him being together with the love of his life because of who her father is.
Faced with the choice of his masters, or his true love, what will he choose?
Guo Jing is the typical Confucian representative. He loves his country and fights for what he believes, he listens to his mother and the six masters. However he is also stubborn.
Huang Rong 黄蓉huángróng. A really smart girl who is also good at cooking.
Her father is one of her four kungfu masters.
She loves Guo Jing and helps Guo Jing to become a better man.
However she has been spoiled by her father and always does whatever she wants and cares less about other people.
Huang Rong has been played by many different actresses. However the one Jin Yong liked best was Barbara Yung Mei-Ling in the 1983 version.
Barbara Yung Mei Ling acted vividly as the character Huang Rong
Yang Kang (杨康 yáng kāng). His real family name actually is Yang although he is renamed Wanyan Kang.
He is a Song person (宋人), but was raised in Jin country (金国) and identifies himself as one of the Jin people.
He is known as a prince with the name Wanyan Kang (完颜康).
When he grows up, he is suddenly told that he is actually the son of a Song person. Just an ordinary person, instead of a prince.
He is smart, handsome and loved by a girl called Mu Nianci (穆念慈 mù niàncí) who was adopted by his real father.
He also likes the girl, however he has to choose between being a prince with power and money in Jin country or a nobody in Song country.
He has a brother (according to his real father’s will) named Guo Jing.
Guo Jing and Mu Nianci both think that Yang Kang should choose to be a Song person and kill his adopted father, Wanyan Honglie.
However, he chooses to keep his status and carry on being a prince. He does a lot of horrible things in order to empower himself.
Although disappointed with Yang Kang, Guo Jing and Mu Nianci save him anyway when he is in danger and hope that he will change his behaviour.
There are also many other vivid characters. The main reason why The Legend of the Condor Heroes is so great is that it shows so many vivid characters.
Except for these three, there are also great characters like the great four Kongfu masters. Why not discuss with us which one is your favourite.
The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Versions
The TV show is adapted from the novel of the same name.
The novel is so famous that there have been many TV adaptation of it.
The first one was released in 1976 in Hong Kong, the next one was released in 1983 and that one became a classic.
In 1994 another adaptation was released. In 2003, it was released again, and then in 2017, it is released yet again!
All are different versions, of course, and each version has its pros and cons.
People say that the 2017 version has the best scenes because of the advanced technology.
However, people will always remember the 1983 version because Barbara Yung Mei-Ling tragically died when she was only 26.
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The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Vocab To Know
- 九阴真经 jiǔ yīn zhēn jīng
“Nine yin true scriptures” – the highest Kung fu book. - 华山论剑 huàshān lùn jiàn
To compete in Hua shan mountain - 东邪西毒 dōng xié xī dú
East devil and west poison, two of the best four Kung fu masters - 比武招亲 bǐwǔ zhāoqīn refers to Yang Kang and Mu Nianci
To have a husband through competing Kung fu - 金刀驸马 jīn dāo fùmǎ refers to Guo Jing in the show
A son in law of the emperor in Mongolia - 武穆遗书 wǔ mù yíshū Yue Fei Martial Arts
A booked left by a general Yue Fei - 桃花岛 táo huā dǎo
An island full of peach flowers where Huang Rong lived - 牛家村 niú jiācūn
A small town where Guo Jing’s parents and Yang Kang’s parents lived
The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Where To Watch
Today we will recommend two versions of The Legend of Condor Heroes to you.
One is the 2017 adaptation which has English subtitles, check below.
The other one is in Cantonese and was released in 1983.
Please let us know which version you prefer and drop us a comment below!
The Legend of the Condor Heroes: FAQ’s
Which version of The Legend of the Condor Heroes is the best?
It really depends on the viewer, but according to most audiences, the one released in 1983 is the most popular.
Who is Jin Yong?
Jin Yong 金庸 jīnyōng is the nickname of Louis Cha Leung-yung 查良镛 zhā liáng yōng and he is a Hong Kong novelist.
He was born in 1924 and died in 2018. His novels are full of martial arts or wuxia.
What is Wuxia?
Wuxia 武侠 wǔxiá are types of martial arts in Chinese
Whose Kung fu is the best in The Legend of the Condor Heroes?
Wang Chong yang 王重阳 wánɡchónɡyáng, the founder of Quanzhen Taoism.
Edited by Katie Coy
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