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Blog EntryApr 25, '06 3:13 AM
for everyone

This information was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka and is very useful for those of you who wishes to know more about Hakka Chinese. My father happens to be Hakka while my mother's a Hokkien (Fujian) so it's a great pride for me to put this here. Even if you are not interested in the topic, at least you'll be surprised after looking at the "Entertainers" section.

Here we go...

Hakka Chinese

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hakka (Traditional Chinese: 客家; Simplified Chinese: 客家; Pinyin: kèjiā, lit. "guest families") are a Han Chinese people whose ancestors are said to originate from around Henan and Shanxi in northern China over 2,700 years ago. Their ancestors migrated southwards several times in history because of social unrest, upheaval, or by invasion of foreign conquerors since the Jin Dynasty (265-420). Subsequent migrations occurred at the end of the Tang Dynasty when China fragmented, during the middle of the Song Dynasty which saw a massive depopulation of the north, and a flood of refugees southward when the Jurchens captured the northern Song capitol, and the fall of the Song to the Mongols in the Yuan Dynasty and when the Ming Dynasty fell to the Manchu who formed the Qing Dynasty.

The term Hakka is thought to be comparatively recent. During the reign of the Qing Kangxi Emperor, the coastal regions were evacuated by imperial edict for almost a decade, due to the influence of the remnants of the Ming court who fled to what is now Taiwan. When the threat was eliminated, Kangxi issued an edict to repopulate the coastal regions once again. To aid the move, each family were given an amount of money to begin their new lives and registered as "Guest Families" (客戶, kèhù). The indigenous settlers who returned to their original lands saw the influx of newcomers. The original inhabitants were protective of their own more fertile lands, and the newcomers were pushed to the outer fringes of fertile plains, or settled in more mountainous regions to eke out a living. As time went by, local antagonisms grew, and it is thought that "Hakka" became a term of abuse used by indigenous settlers aimed at the newcomers. Over time, this muted down, and became adopted as term of self reference for Hakka peoples. The Hakka farmers were known to have used their feet while standing upright to pull weeds off rice paddies, as their cultural pride would not allow them to kneel and crawl on land belonging to the Manchus.

There is an interesting outcome to this scenario, that the newcomers themselves may not all be the ancestors of the Hakka language speakers, since it was a blanket term. Through studies into both Cantonese and Hakka genealogies, some surnames have the same ancestors, though they would not identify with the other's dialect grouping.

The Hakka ancestors are thus but one group amongst many, who migrated southwards. Hakka people are now found in the southern Chinese provinces, cheifly in Guangdong, south western Fujian, southern Jiangxi, southern Hunan, Guangxi, southern Guizhou, south eastern Sichuan, Hainan and Taiwan islands. The Hakka dialects across these various provinces differ phonologically, but the Meixian (Meizhou) dialect of Hakka is considered as the paradigm example of Hakka dialects. An example of the difference includes that of the Changting Hakka dialect found in south western Fujian Province.

A number of theories have been put forward as the the origins of Hakka people, amongst which was that they are non-Chinese or non-Han peoples. Historical sources shown in census statistics only relate to general population without the control of certain districts, provinces, or regions. These were taken during imperial times, but do not relate to how and what language the population spoke. Therefore, it does not directly document Hakka peoples migrations. The study by Luo Xianglin's work published in 1933 (K'o-chia Yen-chiu Tao-Liu [An Introduction to the Study of the Hakkas] . Hsin-Ning and Singapore) used genealogical sources of family clans from various southern counties. With population movement, it is reasonable to assume that there are population mixing between newcomers and the indigenous. A recent study showed that there is in fact strong evidence of genetic diversity in the general Han Chinese population. This suggest that southward migration of people is borne out in DNA studies, consistent with genealogical data. Further, two main groups of modern Han Chinese are observed, a northerly Han group with genetic affinity with northerly Mongoloid, and a southerly Han group which have genetic affinity with the Gin Vietnamese, and this again is consistent with migrations experienced during the history of the Hakka, from the north to the south of China. However even though this study is not a direct study of Hakka ancestry using DNA data, it does show that all modern southern Chinese have non-Han genes due to a history of intermarriage with indigenous aboriginal peoples in the places they came to settle in.

Although they are frequently distinctive in culture and language from the surrounding population, they are not considered a separate ethnic group by Chinese and are seen as part of the majority Han Chinese. In these conflicts, indigenous settlers thought that Hakka were not Chinese at all, but due to common ancestry as traced in clan genealogies, Hakka descendants are as Chinese as their neighbours.

Hakka were active in the Taiping Rebellion led by the failed Qing scholar Hong Xiuquan who claimed he was the younger brother of Jesus, and led a movement which formed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (Taiping Tian Guo).

During the first centuries, the migration of Hakka groups generally trailed behind the whole Han Chinese southern expansion. As a result, Hakkas had to settle on the less desirable lands (mountains etc.). With limited prospects in agriculture, Hakka men have turned more often than other Chinese toward careers in the military or public function. Consequently, Hakka society puts an extra emphasis on the working abilities of women, who had to take up a bigger load of work on the farms while their menfolks were studying or at war. Unlike most Chinese the Hakkas did not practice any Foot-binding.

Hakkas in Guangdong

In Guangdong, the Hakkas comprised about 60% of total population of Hakka. Worldwide, over 95% of the oversea descended Hakkas came from this region, usually from Huizhou, the Hakkas here live mostly in the eastern part of the province, particularly the so-called Xing-Mei (Xingning-Meixian) Area. Guangxi is the next second large Hakka communites followed by Guangdong. Unlike their kin in Fujian, the Hakkas in the Xingning and Meixian area developed a non-fortress like unique architectural styles, most notably the weilongwu (Chinese: 围龙屋, wéilóngwū) and sijiaolou (Chinese: 四角楼, sìjǐaolóu).

Hakkas in Fujian

The Hakkas who settled in the mountainous region of south western Fujian province in China, developed a unique form of architectural building known as tu lou (土樓), literally meaning earthen structures. The tu lou are either round or square, and were designed as a large fortress and multi-apartment building complex in one. The structures typically had only one entrance-way and with no windows at ground level. Each floor served a different function -- the first hosts a well and livestock, the second is for food storage and the third and higher floors contain living spaces. Tu-lou were built to withstand attack from bandits and marauders.

Hakkas in Taiwan

In Taiwan, Hakka people contribute to about 15% of the population descended largely from Guangdong, and form a significant minority in the island. Hakkas emigrated from Guangdong where they escaped conflicts such as the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars. In the 18th and 19th century, there were numerous armed conflicts between the Hakka from the south and Hoklo people from the north; some for economic reasons, some for political reasons. This resulted in mistrust between the two dialect groups for a long time. However, there was still communication of individuals between the two group. For example, in the Hakka language, the word "ho-ló-mà," literally "Hoklo girl," means mistress, and in the Hoklo language, the word "kheh-hiaⁿ," literally "Hakka guy," means a woman's partner in an affair.

Taiwan's Hakka are concentrated in Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, and around Jhongli in Taoyuan County and Meinong in Kaohsiung County. In recent decades, many Hakka have moved to Taipei City and Kaohsiung City.

Former President Lee Teng-hui is of Hakka descent.

Hakkas worldwide

The Hakkas have emigrated to many regions worldwide, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia (West Borneo), Thailand and East Timor.

Hakka people have also emigrated to Australia, Canada, the United States of America, and many countries in Europe, including Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Hakka people are also found in South Africa, Tahiti (French Polynesia), Mauritius and the islands of the Caribbean, particularly Jamaica. Most expatriate Hakka in Great Britain have ties to Hong Kong, and may have emigrated when Hong Kong was still a colony of Great Britain. There has been a Hakka community in Calcutta, India of previous, considerable size, but most have migrated to Canada, the United States, Australia, and Taiwan. Today there are about 90-100 million Hakka speakers around the world.

Prominent Hakkas

The Hakkas have had a disproportionate influence on the course of Chinese and Overseas Chinese history particularly in the field of revolutionary and political leaders. This continues to be true in modern Chinese history where some of the most prominent Chinese leaders have been Hakkas. In the 1980s-90s, the Hakkas had the unique distinction of having all three political heavyweights of all three Chinese-led countries Hakkas at the same time: People's Republic of China's Deng Xiaoping, Republic of China's Lee Teng-hui and Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew.

In addition, Dr Sun Yat-sen, Deng Xiaoping and Lee Kuan Yew, all Hakkas, are three of the four Chinese named as 20th Century's 20 most influential Asians by Time magazine.

Revolutionaries and politicians

Government officials

Literary figures

  • Guo Moruo (1892-1978), famous Chinese literary figure
  • Han Suyin (1917-; Xinyang, Henan), famous author of books on modern China
  • Luo Xianglin (Xingning, Guangdong), the most renowned scholar on Hakka culture and language

Artists

  • Lin Fengmian (1900 - 1991; Meizhou, Guangdong), aka Lim Foong Min in Hakka - first to harmoniously combine Western and Chinese painting techniques.
  • Jimmy H. Woo (aka Chan Siu Dek, Sanba Town, Taishan, Guangdong, c1915 - 1991), immigrated to America in the early 1930's and taught the five family Chinese martial art, Tsoi Li Ho Fut Hung, more popularly known as Kung Fu San Soo. His lineage is traceable through the Chinese art, Choy Li Fut, and he was noted as one of the four most important individuals to immigrate from the Taishan area.

Entrepreneurs

  • Yong Koon, founder of Royal Selangor, Malaysia, the largest pewter manufacturer in the world
  • Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par (Yongding, Fujian; born in Burma), philanthropists of Tiger Balm fame
  • Cheong Fatt Tze (1840-1916; Dapu, Guangdong), well-respected business tycoon in South-east Asia who contributed greatly to the interests of Overseas Chinese during China's Qing and Republican era
  • Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah (born in Malaysia), founder and chairman of The Sunway Group of Companies, Malaysia
  • Alan Yau, founder of the Wagamama restaurant chain, Hakkasan, and Yauatcha. Hakkasan and Yauatcha are the only Chinese restaurants in the UK to be awarded a Michelin star.
  • Jimmy Choo, renowned designer of shoes and handbags.
  • Michael Lee-Chin, Chairman and CEO of AIC Limited - one of Canada's largest mutual fund companies.

Entertainers

  • Hong Kong
    • Leslie Cheung (Meixian, Guangdong; born in Hong Kong), late Hong Kong singer/actor
    • Chow Yun-Fat (1955-; Bao'an, Guangdong; born in Hong Kong), Hong Kong and Hollywood actor
    • Leon Lai (1966-; Meixian, Guangdong; born in Beijing), one of the "Four Great Heavenly Kings" of Chinese pop music
    • Alex Man (Bao'an, Guangdong; born in Hong Kong), Hong Kong actor
    • Cherie Chung, Hong Kong actress
    • Jordan Chan (Huiyang, Guangdong; born in Hong Kong), Hong Kong actor
    • Eric Tsang (Wuhua, Guangdong; born in Hong Kong), Hong Kong actor-comedian
    • Francis Yip (Huiyang, Guangdong; born in Hong Kong), Hong Kong singer
    • Deanie Yip (Huiyang, Guangdong; born in Hong Kong), Hong Kong singer/actress
  • Republic of China (Taiwan)
    • Hou Hsiao-Hsien (1947-; Meixian, Guangdong), award-winning Taiwanese film director
    • Lin Feng Qiao, famous Taiwanese actress in 70s-80s, wife of Jackie Chan
    • Luo Dayou, godfather of Taiwan pop music
    • S.H.E, Taiwanese female pop group
      • Hebe Tien
      • Ella Chen
    • Shino Lin, Taiwanese singer
  • People's Republic of China
  • Singapore
  • Malaysia

See also

Sources

The Hakka Dialect. A Linguistic Study of its Phonology, Syntax and Lexicon. Mantaro J. Hashimoto. Cambridge University Press. 1973.

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Blog EntryFeb 12, '06 5:26 AM
for everyone

Taken from http://condorheroes.silverthreads.net/loch_kangnianci.php

(Photo) Yang Kang is the guy on the far right & Mu Nianci beside him while the couple on left was Guo Jing & Huang Rong.

Even though Yang Kang is a despicable man who betrayed his country, his love for Mu Nianci has moved the hearts of all.

Yang Kang is a proud man and has only one purpose: money and power. In fact he is obsessed with helping the Jin Empire rule the world. Yang Kang is very intelligent and cunning, though not a man of his words. Aside from his mother and foster father, he is only loyal to one other and that is Mu Nianci.

The only sign of regret the Yang Kang shows for all his wrong doing is when he is about to die. The only good Yang Kang ever does is marrying Mu Nianci and having a son like Yang Guo. In the end Yang Kang dies and is buried in the dust behind an old temple. For all his attempts to achieve fame and glory in the end, he was buried as a common man.

Mu Nianci falls in love with Yang Kang at first sight. However, she is not the smartest woman in this story and is too easily fooled by the lies of Yang Kang. It is because she is kind-hearted that she believes that Yang Kang will one day change. The happiest day in her life is when she marries Yang Kang. In the end however, her attempts to change Yang Kang are fruitless.

Mu Nianci has the same traits as Yang Kang's mother, Bao Xiruo. Both are kind hearted and easily fooled by evil men. Her traits makes her a perfect match for Yang Kang. Yang Kang is smart and selfish and Mu Nianci is dumb and unselfish. She would rather have an average husband, live in an ordinary home, rather than marrying a Jin Prince and live in the palace.

Their love story began when Mu Nianci was having a tournament to find a husband. When Yang Kang participated she was only too happy to accept the challenge. However, after winning the competition, instead of marrying her, he kept her shoe that he took during battle as a trophy, insulted her and left. This caused Mu Nianci to be heart-broken.

Days gone by after the little incident, and Yang Kang realized how much he missed seeing Mu Nianci and how much her beauty had captivated him. Times and again he looked at her shoe, which he had always kept with him since he took it, while mesmerizing about her. He then realized that he really did like Mu Nianci, and decided to win her back.

However, Mu Nianci didn't need to be won back, for her heart had already been won by him since the beginning. Her only request of Yang Kang was that he left the Jin Empire to fight for the Song Empire, and to leave all wealth and luxury of Jin to be a common Han and live happily ever after with her. Yang Kang was torn between the woman he loved and the comfort of wealth and luxury. He wanted to have both.

When his foster father, the Jin King Wanyan Honglie, found out about Mu Nianci, he had ordered his men to secretly kill her. This was found out by Yang Kang, who prompted to threaten his father that he would kill himself if Mu Nianci was hurt. He did not want any other princesses or noblewomen that his father offered... he only wanted Mu Nianci, who was reluctant if he was still in the Jin Empire.

Not once, but more than many times Yang Kang lied to Mu Nianci that he was willing to throw his title away, just to keep her by his side. And all those times, Mu Nianci fell for it, and each time got her heart broken.

Mu Nianci decided that she'd had enough and left Yang Kang one day. Fate must have brought them back together when Yang Kang was poisoned by the Mongolians and collapsed at Mu Nianci's house. However strong her will to leave Yang Kang, she still couldn't bear to see him suffer, so she sucked out his poison into her own body and was ready to die so that he might live. Fortunately, Guo Jing brought the antidote just in time to prevent Mu Nianci from killing herself.

Yang Kang, who was awaken to find Mu Nianci gone, prompted to look for her, wanting to be with her and touched that she had sacrificed herself for him. However, Guo Jing came back bearing a message from Mu Nianci. He said that should Yang Kang decided to leave his title and all wealth and luxury behind, then he could go and look for her. Otherwise, he was told to just forget her.

Yang Kang was contemplating about this a lot, and just when he decided that he loved Mu Nianci and went to see her, he saw his father and his army looking for him, and without thinking twice, he ran to his father, instead of the other direction to where Mu Nianci was. Meanwhile, Mu Nianci was waiting for him in a little pavillion. She waited patiently until she realized its futility and dropped a tear. Again, her heart was broken.

After Yang Kang was saved by Mu Nianci, his days at the palace though full of luxury and wealth, was missing something. So day by day he ordered his men to search for Mu Nianci, and each time his men returned bearing nothing, he'd always retreated in desperation.

Fate, however, was in their favor again as Mu Nianci and Yang Kang was again brought together when Mu Nianci encountered Mei Chaofeng, Yang Kang's teacher, who after hearing the entire story, decided to put the two couple together. After much persuasions from both Mei Chaofeng and Yang Kang, and after Mu Nianci realized the futility of refusing and how much she loved him, she finally accepted his marriage proposal. No sooner than that, they got married; witnessed by Mei Chaofeng.

A day into their marriage however, Yang Kang left her to do an important mission for Wanyan Honglie, and left Mu Nianci saddened. When he returned a couple of days later and begged Mu Nianci to follow him, she reluctantly agreed only after he promised he would stop his evildoings and give up his title. Once again, she believed him.

Yang Kang showed his love when he stabbed his close friend Ouyang Ke for trying to rape Mu Nianci. He was forgetting that he was the son of the powerful Ouyang Feng and momentarily enraged when he stabbed him. Even though this would cause much trouble from Ouyang Feng, Yang Kang was not afraid of defending Mu Nianci.

When Mu Nianci found out about Yang Kang plan to kill Guo Jing and Huang Rong, she couldn't take it anymore and was very angry at him. She finally left him when she'd had enough. This caused Yang Kang to be miserable and alone, but then he was free to do whatever he want without having to be careful that Mu Nianci would know.

Out of his own ruthlessness, Yang Kang finally reached his final hours. He was dying at the old temple when he told Guo Jing that he wanted to see Mu Nianci once more before he left. Out of pity, Guo Jing persuaded Mu Nianci to come see him for one last goodbye. Alas, Mu Nianci was still very much in love with Yang Kang, and immediately hurried to see him. She was angered once again when Yang Kang put up an act that he was very healthy and not dying. He only said he was dying so that she would come.

When Mu Nianci ran out, angry at his lies, she realized that he really was fatally injured. So she immediately ran back in to see that he had collapsed. She was crying then and scolded Yang Kang because on his dying day he could still tell a lie to her. When she knew he couldn't survive, she sang him a song, whilst the both of them mesmerized about the times they shared together. The hardships, the happy times, the sad times... and only then Yang Kang was regretful of all his actions. He apologized to Mu Nianci for having lied to her so many times, and he wished that he could fulfil her wishes to live as commoners side by side with a child in Mu Nianci's arm, while he attends to the crops. They would live in a small cottage in the country away from the world...

As she finished her song, Yang Kang breathed his last breath and closed his eyes forever. Mu Nianci was already pregnant with Yang Kang's son when he left her. Without support, Mu Nianci died when her son Yang Guo was 11. Her only fault was not telling Yang Guo what his father was like. Luckily Yang Guo posses the best traits of these two, smart and unselfish, and worked out in the end that Guo Jing and Huang Rong did not kill his father.


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Blog EntryFeb 12, '06 2:32 AM
for everyone

The following were taken from http://condorheroes.silverthreads.net/hsds_summary.php & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heavenly_Sword_and_the_Dragon_Saber (since the other page's character list is inadequate)

Although I would like to put this in my review, I realize that I need to do so once I rewatch the whole series, so I just post whatever info it has from there for fans to enjoy.

Main characters

  • Zhang Wuji

Zhang Wuji is the main male character in the novel. He was born on Ice and Fire Island in 1337, his father was Zhang Cuishan, and mother was Yin Susu. Living together with them on the island was his godfather, Xie Xun. Zhang Wuji was named after Xie Wuji, who was Xie Xun's baby son that was killed by Cheng Kun and was called Xie Wuji before he was 10 years old. When he was 10, Zhang Wuji returned to mainland China with his parents. His parents died at Mt. Wudang, and Zhang Wuji lived there for two years.

Zhang Wuji traveled to Hu Qingniu's after he was poisoned, and he lived at Hu Qingniu's for another two years. After the death of Hu Qingniu and his wife, he went to see Yang Xiao with Yang Buhui. On the way back from Yang Xiao's, he encountered Zhu Changling.

He spent five years studying the martial arts from the manual, Jiuyang Zhenjing, healing his poisoned body in the process. When he was 20, he went to Guangming Peak where he became Ming Cult's 34th leader by helping the Cult resolve its animosities with the six other major Sects. He met Zhao Min, who became his wife later, at Lüliu Shanzhuang. He then went to Shaolin and Wudang. At Wudang, he met Zhang Sanfeng and Zhao Min again.

  • Zhao Min

Zhao Min was another main female character in the novel. In the initial version of the novel, she was known as Zhao Ming. Her Mongolia name was Minmin Temür, or Mingming Temür in the original version of the novel. She was born around 1340, and her father was Chaghan Temür. She has an older brother Köke Temür, Chinese name Wang Baobao.

  • Zhou Zhiruo

Zhou was the girl Zhang Wuji first met her when she was a 10 year old. She became the 4th leader of Emei. Zhou Zhiruo loved Zhang Wuji passionately and almost married him despite her master Mie Jue's vehement admonishment.

Once Zhang Wuji fell for Zhao Min, Zhou Zhirou became jealous. She learnt only the martial arts from the Jiuying script, while neglecting inner energy cultivation, so although she resembled a powerful pugilist on the surface, she had no real substance.

  • Yin Li

Yin Li was Zhang Wuji's younger female cousin. Her father was Yin Yewang. Yin Li was also known as Zhuer.

  • Xiaozhao

Xiaozhao was Purple Dragon and Han Qianye's daughter. Among the women Wuji would encounter she was the most beautiful. Louis Cha had said, on occasions, that Xiaozhao is his personal favorite female characters, out of all whom he had created for his novels.

  • Xie Xun

Xie Xun or Golden Haired Lion King, is one of the 4 guardians of Ming Sect and godfather of Zhang Wuji. He had at one stage on Ice and Fire Island, went into one of his berserk moods and was thus blinded by Yin Su Su as a last resort. He is hated by the Wuxia society in this story was because Cheng Kun, his shifu, had killed his family to exact revenge on the Ming Sect, he had killed others in the name of Cheng Kun to lure him out. It was actually a plot by Cheng Kun, as he knew the temper of his student well, so by killing his family, he had provoked Xie Xun to go around killing people in his name so as to lure him out. Thus, Xie Xun's name was hated by Wuxia world and also Ming Sect was also hated by the Wuxia world.

Antagonists

One of the reasons why Jin Yong is such a great writer is that he creates villains that are not evil for evil's sake. The reader can often empathize, if not outright agree, with their motivations even though their methods may be despicable.

  • Cheng Kun

Cheung Kun is the primary villain of the novel. Because he lost his one true love to the leader of the Ming Sect, he has vowed to destroy the Ming Sect in China. He has no compunction whatsoever in who he has to deceive, implicate, or murder in order to accomplish his goal.

  • Chen Youliang
See main article Chen Youliang

Chen Youliang is a disciple of Cheng Kun. He convinces Song Qingshu to betray Wudang Sect and join the Beggar's Sect. Although his evil deeds benefit him personally, he's just obeying his Master's orders.

  • Miejue
See main article Miejue

Mie Jue is the dogmatic leader of Emei sect. She wishes to eradicate evil and to prevent her disciples from falling under evil influences by any means necessary. Since the Ming sect has been pre-judged as an evil sect, Mie Jue will not be swayed to allow them or anything associated with them to exist.

Mie Jue killed Ji Xiao Fu because she allowed herself to be deceived by the 'evil' Yang Xiao and would not repent by killing him. Mie Jue ordered Zhou Zhirou to kill Wuji and never fall in love with him because she had already lost one disciple to the evil sway of the Ming sect and didn't want to lose another good disciple to them.

  • Song Qingshu

Song Qingshu was madly in love with Zhou Zhi Rou. He would do anything to please her and to have her become his wife. He's the very epitome of forsaking all others for the one he loves.

Kung Fu Sects

Ming Cult

光明二使:

Four Kings:

  • Dai Qisi Purple Dragon, also known as Granny Golden Flower and Madam Han
  • Xie Xun Golden Lion, Godfather of Zhang Wuji
    • Xie Wuji: Son of Xie Xun. He was killed by Cheng Kun when he was a baby. Zhang Wuji was later named after him.
  • Yin Tianzheng White Eagle
    • Yin Yewang: Son of Yin Tianzheng
      • Yin Li: Daughter of Yin Yewang, also known as Zhu'er
    • Yin Susu: Daughter of Yin Tianzheng, wife of Zhang Cuishan, mother of Zhang Wuji
      • Zhang Wuji: Son of Yin Susu and Zhang Cuishan，34th leader
  • Wei Yixiao Green Bat

Five Flag Separatists:

Shaolin sect

"Kong"s:

"Yuan"s:

Wudang sect

The 7 Swordsmen of Wudang

Emei sect

Kunlun sect

Kongtong sect

Huashan sect

Minor sects

Minor sects in the novel include Gaibang (Beggars' sect), Haishapai (Haisha sect), Jujingbang, Shenquanmen etc

 

Story Summary

HSDS is the final part in the Condor Trilogy following LOCH and ROCH. This story focuses on two generations, but mainly the second one. The first generation focuses on Zhang Chuisan and Yin Susu and the second generation focuses on their son, Zhang Wuji.

Zhang Chuisan is a student of the great kungfu master, the founder of Wudang Bai Zhang Sanfeng and Yin Susu is a member of the Ming Jiao, which the orthodox sects consider an Evil Cult. Since they are from two different backgrounds and their people are enemies, this couple has gone through many hardships to be together.

Zhang Chuisan and Yin Susu are trapped in an island with Jinmo Shiwang Xie Xun and they became good friends. Zhang Chuisan and Yin Susu got married in the island and gave birth to a son they named Zhang Wuji. Since they are afraid that their son will be alone in the island after they age and die, they decided to find ways to get out of the island.

Xie Xun decided to stay in the island and Zhang Chuisan and Yin Susu left the island with their son. A lot of power-greedy martial arts people are looking for Xie Xun because he's got the Dragon Sabre that everyone wants. Both Zhang Chuisan and Yin Susu killed themselves because of their past and they want to keep the secret of where Xie Xun is.

Zhang Wuji becomes one of the best kungfu fighters at a young age since he accidentally uncovers Jiu Yang Zhen Jing and studies it for five years. Unlike his father who was sure of the woman he loves, Zhang Wuji is not sure which woman he likes the most. Zhou Zhiruo is his childhood friend and she's grown to be a beautiful girl who likes him. Yin Li, her cousin, is not a pretty woman but she has been in love with him since they first met. Zhao Ming, a Mongolian princess, is also in love with her even though at first he dislikes her a lot he though she was evil. And then there is mysterious Xiao Zhao, who's smart and the most beautiful of all.

Zhang Wuji's life is always put in danger by greedy people who want to know where Xie Xun is. They try many ways to make Zhang Wuji tell them where his godfather is. Of course the righteous Zhang Wuji never told anyone but he decides to go back to the island to warn his godfather. He goes to the island with Zhao Ming, Xiao Zhao, and Zhou Zhiruo.

When they get on the island, some people already found his godfather. Yin Li and her master Jinhua Bobo are also on the island. A lot of things happen afterwards. Xiao Zhao's real identity is revealed and Yin Li is dead mysteriously. When the Persion Ming Cult came to take back Jinhoa Bobo, who is actually one of the four protectors of Ming Cult, the Purple Dragon, Xiao Zhao is actually revealed as her daughter, and so she decides to go back to Persia and become their "saint woman" so they won't kill her mother and release Zhang Wuji and the others.

While asleep on the island, someone killed Yin Li and when they awaken the next morning, Zhao Ming is gone, and so is the Dragon Sabre and the Heaven Sword. So they all suspect that Zhao Ming killed Yin Li and stole the sabre and sword. Zhang Wuji swears to avenge his cousin.

While trapped on the island, Xie Xun comes to like Zhou Ziruo a lot and tells Zhang Wuji to marry her. But when they get back to the mainland, Xie Xun suddenly disappears and he immediately assumed that Zhao Ming has something to do with this. However, when he meets Zhao Ming, he can't bear to kill her because he has feelings for her.

When Zhou Zhiruo and Zhang Wuji are about to marry, Zhao Ming tells Zhang Wuji that she knew where his godfather was. He leaves the wedding ceremony, which leads Zhou Zhiruo into great embarrassment and vowing that she'll get revenge. She became cold-hearted and uncaring.

Meanwhile, Zhang Wuji and the others try to rescue Xie Xun, who is held captive by Shaolin. After much fighting and explanations, they finally find out that Cheng Kun is behind all this, and so after Xie Xun kills Cheng Kun, he becomes a monk in Shaolin.

After winning agaist the Mongols, Zhang Wuji abdicates his leadership of Ming Cult and gives it Yang Xiao. He then goes to find Zhao Ming and they live happily ever after.


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Blog EntryFeb 12, '06 2:22 AM
for everyone

The following were taken from http://condorheroes.silverthreads.net/loch_summary.php & http://condorheroes.silverthreads.net/loch_characters.php

Although I would like to put this in my review, I realize that I need to do so once I rewatch the whole series, so I just post whatever info it has from there for fans to enjoy.

 
 
Main Characters

Guo Jing
Raised in Mongolia by his mother, all his life his purpose was to avenge his father Guo Xiaotian by killing Wanyan Honglie, and then to find his sworn brother Yang Kang to have a duel. He is betrothed to the Mongolian princess Hua Zheng, but only in love with Huang Rong. He's very naive and dumb but very couragous and a patriot to his country.

Huang Rong
The daughter of Dong Xie Huang Yaoshi. She accidentally met Guo Jing while disguising herself as a beggar. She falls in love with him throughout their journey together. Even though she's very smart and quick-witted, and an excellent match for the dumb and slow Guo Jing, being raised without a mother and by a father like Huang Yaoshi, she grew up to be a non-submissive, rude and uncaring toward others but those she loved.

Mu Nianci
The foster daughter of Yang Tiexin. She fell in love with Yang Kang at first sight, and continued on loving him despite his evildoings. Stayed loyal to Yang Kang to the end, believing Yang Kang could change one day. She married him and at the end bore his son Yang Guo.

Zhou Botong
Nicknamed Lao Wantong and indeed he has no worries for any other matter except for playing and asking everybody to play with him. In fact, his "playfulness" recklessly caused Ying Gu pregnant, as witnessed in a flashback. He's the eldest Quanzhen Jiao member still alive; the younger brother of Wang Zhongyang. He's sworn brothers with Guo Jing.

Ying Gu
Formerly Duan Zhixing's Empress Lau Ying, but out of neglectfulness, she and Zhou Botong had a passionate affair leading to pregnancy. When Duan Zhixing refused to save the newborn baby from a fatal injury, Ying Gu's hair turned white overnight and she vowed revenge on the now Yideng Dashi, but inside still longing to be with Zhou Botong.

Guo Xiaotian
Guo Jing's father, who was assasinated by the Jin soldiers and died defending his country. He only appears in the beginning for a short while.

Li Ping
Guo Jing's mother, who was saved by Mongolians and gave birth to Guo Jing there. When Guo Jing was forced to fight for the Mongolian Empire, she killed herself in Mongolia to help remind Guo Jing of where he was from and who he was and who he was supposed to fight for.

Yang Tiexin
Yang Kang's father, who's sworn brothers with Guo Xiaotian. He's been searching for his wife Bao Xiruo for 18 long years and finally found her to be Queen of Jin. He killed himself.

Bao Xiruo
Yang Kang's mother, who was deceived by Wanyan Honglie that Yang Tiexin was already dead. She killed herself right after watching Yang Tiexin kill himself.

Hua Zheng
Guo Jing's childhood friend, a Mongolian princess who's very much in love with him. But her love was never returned as Guo Jing only loves Huang Rong, and so she retreated understandingly at the end and was never heard of again.

Tuo Lei
Hua Zheng's older brother, a sworn-brother of Guo Jing. Their relationship became estranged since Guo Jing left Mongolia. Nevertheless, he was still good to Guo Jing.

Zhe Bie
A Mongolian general, professional with archery. Guo Jing's archery teacher.

Sha Gu
The daughter of Qu Lingfeng, Huang Yaoshi's crippled student. She became mentally disturbed after watching her father get killed. Out of pity and guilt, Huang Yaoshi agreed to take her with him to be his disciple.

Yin Zhiping
One of the third generation Taoists of Quanzhen Bai, student of Qiu Chuji.

Villains

Yang Kang
The birth son of Yang Tiexin, Guo Xiaotian's sworn brother, and Bao Xiruo. He was raised in the luxury of the Jin empire by his foster father Wanyan Honglie. He is purely evil and treacherous to the core; killing everyone who is in his way, except for Mu Nianci. He repeatedly tried to kill Guo Jing and Huang Rong despite the fact that Guo Jing had spared his life numerous times. He helped kill the 6 Weirdoes from the South, leaving the eldest Ke Zhen'e. He dies because of his own fault towards the end.

Ouyang Ke
The only son of Ouyang Feng. A natural playboy who likes to seduce women and take advantage of them. Numerous times he tries to fulfil his desires of Huang Rong, but ultimately failed. Even though he's a Han, he dedicated his services for the Jin Empire by helping Yang Kang. When his hormonoes got the better of him and he tries to rape Mu Nianci, Yang Kang stabbed him to death.

Qiu Qianren
The leader of Tiezhang Bai, who's very evil and helps Yang Kang try to overthrow the Song Dynasty. He's the murderer of Ying Gu and Zhou Botong's baby. He regretted himself in the end and became Yideng Dashi's follower.

Qiu Qianran
The twin brother of Qiu Qianren, who looks exactly alike. This one is good-for-nothing and can't do anything but pretend to be his brother. He was killed by his own stupidity.

Wanyan Honglie
The Jin prince who wreaked havoc the peaceful lives of the Yang and Guo Family. He regarded Yang Kang as his own flesh and blood and loved Bao Xiruo til the end. He planned on overthrowning the Song Dynasty and ruling China. Guo Jing finally killed him, avenging his father.

Sha Dongdian
One of Wanyan Honglie's guards. The leader of the demons from Yangtze River.

Liang Zhi'ong
One of Wanyan Honglie's guards whose snake blood Guo Jing accidentally drank, and so he's been wanting drink Guo Jing's blood.

The Five Greats (Wu Gao Shou)

Zhong Shen Tong Wang Zhongyang
The most powerful of all five and the winner of the Hua Shan Luen Jian, and therefore winner and rightful owner of Jiu Yin Zhen Jing. He fights for the good side and dedicated his life to being a Taoist by building the Chunjen Bai and abandoning his love Lin Chaoying.

Dong Xie Huang Yaoshi
Lives with his wife and five disciples in the solitude of Dou Hua Dao. Vowed never to learn from Jiu Yin Zhen Jing and destroy anyone who learns it when his wife died after giving birth to Huang Rong because of it. Crippled the legs of his three remaining students when two of them stole the Jiu Yin Zhen Jing. He's not entirely on the good side, and yet, cannot be called evil. He's neither. He doesn't abide by common rules and traditions.

Xi Du Ouyang Feng
The most evil and ruthless of the five. His only obssession is getting the Jiu Yin Zhen Jing so he can be the most masterful of all, and he would do just about anything to gain control of it. He lives in solitude with son Ouyang Ke, whom was produced after having raped his sister-in-law.

Nan Di Duan Zhixing
A powerful Dali Emperor famous for his Yi Yang Ji, with four great guards by his side and a beautiful Empress Lau Ying.

Bei Gai Hong Qigong
The 18th leader of Gai Bang who likes to eat and drink wine. He once failed an important mission because of gluttony and therefore punished himself by cutting off his pinky. He accepted Guo Jing as pupil and appointed Huang Rong as the 19th leader of Gai Bang.

Yideng Dashi's Four Guards/Disciples

Diancang Yuyin
The first disciple. Good at manipulating energy stream with exceptionally great physical strength. Prohibited Guo Jing and Huang Rong from meeting Yideng Dashi.

Wu Santong
Prohibited Guo Jing and Huang Rong from meeting Yideng Dashi.

Zhu Ziliu
Integrated with calligraphy, his skills of martial arts are fantastic. Prohibited Guo Jing and Huang Rong from meeting Yideng Dashi.

Fourth
???

Jiang Nan Qi Guai (Seven Weirdoes from the South)

Ke Zhen'e
The eldest and the leader, known as the Flying Bat. A bitter old blind man who scolded and punished Guo Jing repeatedly for being dumb and not studying right.

Zhu Cong
The second brother, known as Magical Hands Scholar for his ability to steal discreetly. He could steal anything from anybody just by touching that person. Killed by Yang Kang.

Han Baoju
The third brother, known as Horse God. Killed by Ouyang Feng.

Nan Xiren
The fourth brother, known as Wood Chopper of the Southern Mountains. Killed by Ouyang Feng.

Zhang Ahsheng
The fifth brother, known as Smiling Dhuda. Killed by Mei Chaofeng.

Quan Jinfa
The sixth brother, known as Hidden Hero of the Bustling City. Killed by Ouyang Feng.

Han Xiaoying
The only female in the group, the seventh sister nicknamed Yue Sword Maiden. She cared for Guo Jing the most and was also killed by Ouyang Feng.

Quanzhen Seven Disciples

Ma Yu
The eldest sect brother. He's the one who taught Guo Jing his inner power in Mongolia.

Tan Chuduan
The second sect brother. Killed by Ouyang Feng.

Liu Chuxuan
The third sect brother. He's not mentioned very much.

Qiu Chuji
The fourth sect brother who named baby Guo Jing and baby Yang Kang. He also accepted Yang Kang as pupil. Yin Zhiping's teacher.

Wang Chuyi
The fifth sect brother who saved Guo Jing once. Zhao Zijing's teacher.

Hao Datong
The sixth sect brother who's rarely mentioned or seen.

Sun Bu'er
The only female sect sister. An old Taoist priestess with a very bad temper. She easily holds grudges and is very conservative.

Huang Yaoshi's Five Disciples

Lu Chengfeng
The master of Returning Clouds Manor and the father of Lu Guanying.

Qu Lingfeng
The father of Sha Gu, whose house Guo Jing and Huang Rong stayed during Guo Jing's near-death injury. Only his name was mentioned.

Feng Mofeng
Only mentioned and doesn't actually appear.

Chen Xuanfeng
He stayed loyal to the end and only because of wanting to help Mei Chaofeng did he help steal the Jiu Yin Zhen Jing. He was killed in Guo Jing's hands.

Mei Chaofeng
The only female in the group and was very much in love with Chen Xuanfeng. Wanting to perfect her skills, she stole the Jiu Yin Zhen Jing from her master. Died saving her teacher and was forgiven.

 

Story Summary
Part I (Tie Xie Dan Xin)

The beginning of LOCH opened with the story of Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin. These two men are best friends and live right next door to each other. They were so close in fact, that they had sworn to be brothers and their pregnant wives, sworn sisters. They made a pact that if their children are one boy and one girl, they would be betrothed to get married, if both are girls or boys, they would be sworn brothers or sisters. One night, they ran into a taoist named Qiu Chuji, who had the honor of naming their future children. He thought of the song about a tragic Han general Yue Fei who died for his country: "Jing Kang." The purpose was so that when these two children grow up, they will abdicate themselves to their country. And so he named Guo's baby Guo Jing and Yang's baby Yang Kang.

Their peaceful lives were wreaked havoc when a Jin prince, Wanyan Honglie, fell in love with Yang Tiexin's wife, Bao Xiruo. He was determined to have her as his wife, and so ordered all of them to be assasinated. Believing that her husband was dead, and that the Jin prince was her savior and none other, Bao Xiruo agreed on marrying him, though she insisted on living in a small cottage built just like her home in the palace. She would not live in the same room as Wanyan Honglie. Wanyan Honglie could only adhere to her every whim because of his desperate love for her. He even regards her son, to be his own and raised him as his own flesh and blood.

Meanwhile, Li Ping, with the death of her husband Guo Xiaotian, managed to flee and was saved by Mongolian soldiers. Guo Jing was then born and raised in sufferance in Mongolia. When Guo Jing grew up to be a little boy, he saved Zhe Bie from getting killed by Genghis Khan, and so he was accepted as pupil by Zhe Bie and was honored by Genghis Khan, who came to regard him as his own son. He made friends with Genghis Khan's youngest children Tuo Lei and Wah Jang. Tuo Lei and him became sworn brothers and Wah Jang eventually fell in love with him.

Playing with Tuo Lei, Guo Jing ran into the Jiang Nan Qi Guai, who were in hot pursuit of Mei Chaofeng and her husband Chen Xuanfeng. The fight led to Guo Jing killing Chen Xuanfeng with his blade and the leader of Jiang Nan Qi Guai, Ke Zhen'e to blind Mei Chaofeng. Having made a bet previously with Qiu Chuji that they would find Guo Jing and teach him kungfu to later duel with Yang Kang, whose master would be Qiu Chuji, Ke Zhen'e and his pact agreed to take Guo Jing as pupil and started to teach him kungfu. Guo Jing however was very dumb and slow and couldn't keep up, causing him to be punished repeatedly by the bitter old blind man Ke Zhen'e.

In his sixteenth year, though Guo Jing was still dumb and useless and couldn't help his 5th master from being killed by Mei Chaofeng, he'd managed to save Genghis Khan from an attack from the other Mongolian kings. Genghis Khan then rewarded him for saving his life by giving his daughter Wah Jang's hand in marriage. He gave Guo Jing a blade as a symbol of the engagement. Guo Jing however, only regarded Wah Jang as a sister, but too dumb and slow to oppose and kept quiet instead.

Wanting to delay the wedding, Guo Jing set out to leave Mongolia and back to the mainland with his teachers to find Wanyan Honglie to avenge his father and to find Yang Kang for the duel on his eighteenth year. To teach Guo Jing about how China differed from Mongolia, his masters left him to wander by himself. Not long into his journey, Guo Jing ran into a mischevious little beggar who managed to be a bother to him and causing him problems along the way. Unbeknownst to him, the beggar was actually a beautiful girl, disguising herself.

When Guo Jing gave up on trying to get rid of the beggar, he decided that travelling with him wasn't so bad and so they set out together. Later on they met a pretty girl called Mu Nianci, who was captured by the perverted Ouyang Ke. They both rescued her afterwards. In truth, Ouyang Ke let them all go because of the beggar. He knew that the beggar was actually related to one of the five top martial artists Dong Xie Huang Yaoshi. When the beggar saw that Guo Jing was treating the unconscious Mu Nianci delicately, she got jealous and ran off.

When later Guo Jing went to fetch some water for Mu Nianci's face, a beautiful girl emerged from a boat and called out his name. He went yonder even though he didn't know who she was. He finally realized that the girl was actually the little beggar! Strolling down the beach together, Guo Jing asked her name, which is Huang Rong. She told him that she lived in a beautiful island called the Peach Blossom Island and that her father kicked her out because of an argument.

When they got back to see Mu Nianci, the enraged Yang Tiexin, who was Mu Nianci's foster father, having heard the news that his daughter was kidnapped, attacked Guo Jing and the beggar endlessly until Mu Nianci got her consciousness and told her father that they were actually their saviors. Yang Tiexin then looked carefully at the young man, and realized he looked exactly like his sworn brother Guo Xiaotian. When asked for his name, Huang Rong replied that he had no name.

Not long after parting ways with Yang Tiexin and Mu Nianci, Guo Jing and Huang Rong ran into them at a restaurant. Yang Tiexin finally realized that Guo Jing was indeed Guo Xiaotian's son and decided to travel together with Guo Jing. Immediately he wanted to marry Mu Nianci off to Guo Jing, which prodded Huang Rong to sharpen a knive to try and kill Mu Nianci even though Guo Jing had politely refused.

Meanwhile, nearby, Yang Kang bumped into Mu Nianci and was immediately taken by her beauty. So when Yang Kang heard of the marriage competition to marry off Mu Nianci to whomever that can beat her, Yang Kang entered and defeated her. Of course he had no intention on marrying her, instead, he kept her that he took during battle as a trophy, insulted her and left.

Having heard the news that his wife Bao Xiruo was still alive and was the Jin Queen, Yang Tiexin became disillusioned and wondering why his wife betrayed him. However, with Huang Rong's help, the two of them met and everything was explained. When they attempted to tell Yang Kang the truth, though, he was taken aback. Instead of a Jin prince, he'd turn into a Han dog in a day. And so he couldn't take it. Even though he knew the truth, he wouldn't go back to being a Han dog and wanted to keep living in luxury and wealth. His decision eventually led his real father Yang Tiexin to kill himself and then Bao Xiruo killed herself.

The day of the duel of Guo Jing and Yang Kang had finally arrived. After being advised by Qiu Chuji, who doesn't want his evil pupil Yang Kang to win, Guo Jing won the duel and almost killing Yang Kang, when he stopped because he didn't have the heart. He swore to Wanyan Honglie that he would pay for what he did.

Qiu Chuji then wanted Guo Jing to marry Mu Nianci was promised before, but Guo Jing refused as he was in love with Huang Rong. They were all against that because Huang Rong is Dong Xie Huang Yaoshi's daughter. But Guo Jing didn't listen to any of them, and just left with Huang Rong, who wanted to go back to Dou Hua Dou.

Part II (Dong Xie Xi Du)

The second part opened with Guo Jing and Huang Rong's journey and how they met Bei Gai Hong Qigong. Not knowing who he was, Huang Rong kept bullying the old beggar over and over. But when she finally knew who he was, she wanted him to accept Guo Jing as his pupil. The reluctant Hong Qigong accepted after being bribed by Huang Rong's delicious recipes, and started to teach Guo Jing his famous Xiang Long Shi Ba Zhang.

Wanting to steal food from the palace for Hong Qigong, Huang Rong sneaked inside and ran into Toa Lei. They were both caught and was outnumbered. Yang Kang gave Huang Rong to girl-crazy Ouyang Ke and captured Toa Lei for his father. Luckily Mei Chaofeng was near and was able to save Huang Rong from Ouyang Ke.

Meanwhile, Wah Jang, who was looking for Toa Lei, ran into Guo Jing and Hong Qigong, who were looking for Huang Rong. Wah Jang secretly poisoned Hong Qigong for a trade of her brother. Inside a secret cellar in the palace where they were all being detained, Hong Qigong proceeded to teach Guo Jing the completion of his Xiang Long Shi Ba Zhang. Once he mastered it, they rushed out and escaped.

In the escaping process, Wah Jang was hit by Yang Kang's Jiu Ying Bai Gui Jiao, and dying. When they were at a safe place, Guo Jing begged Huang Rong to save her. She refused at first, but then decided to help when she saw Guo Jing suffering.

Meanwhile the recovering Hong Qigong was having a friendly duel with a masked man who turned out to be none other than Huang Rong's father Dong Xie Huang Yaoshi. After all were introduced, Huang Yaoshi was displeased to learn that Huang Rong was in love with the dumb Guo Jing with no skills. He became more enraged when Wah Jang showed up and hugged Guo Jing, which prompted him to want to kill him. But Huang Rong stopped her father by threatening to commit suicide if Guo Jing was harmed. Upon seeing that Wah Jang truly loved Guo Jing, Huang Rong decided to leave with her father.

Midway to Peach Blossom Island, Huang Rong changed her mind and when her father wouldn't go back, she jumped off the boat and swam back to the mainland. Guo Jing meanwhile were drinking heavily and missing Huang Rong. He mistook Wah Jang as Huang Rong and told her how he missed her so. Huang Rong overheard the conversation outside and when Guo Jing awoke, she had run off.

At the same time Yang Kang was captured, tortured and poisoned by the Mongolians. Somehow he had managed to escape and by some twist of fate arrived at Mu Nianci's house. Out of love for him, she saved and cared for him. She also begged Guo Jing not to kill him and instead Guo Jing left to ask for antidote from Toa Lei. When days passed by and Guo Jing had not returned, Mu Nianci finally sacrificed herself by transferring the poison to her body. That same day Guo Jing returned and prevented Mu Nianci from killing herself and gave her the antidote.

Instead of returning to the house where Yang Kang was, Mu Nianci sent Guo Jing to tell Yang Kang that he was willing to give up his title and all wealth and luxury, then come and meet her. Yang Kang thought for a long time and finally decided to look for Mu Nianci, when he ran into Wanyan Honglie and decided to follow him instead.

After a while, Guo Jing, who was looking for Huang Rong, finally found her being chased by Ouyang Ke. They managed to run away and then stayed with Lu Chengfeng, who were, unbeknownst to them, one of Huang Yaoshi's pupils. When Huang Yaoshi eventually arrived there, he forced Huang Rong to go home with him and told Guo Jing that he'd kill him if he dared to follow.

Meanwhile, Yang Kang was captured by Lu Chengfeng's men, and again was rescued by Mu Nianci. After having been sworn as brothers with Guo Jing, Yang Kang lied to him by saying he went to look for Mu Nianci, when in fact he went back to his father Wanyan Honglie's side.

After many days spent drinking, Guo Jing finally gathered the courage to go to Dou Hua Dou to win back Huang Rong. In the island however, Guo Jing was not welcomed by Huang Yaoshi, and he then proceeded to a cave where an old man was staying. The old man loved to play and he called himself Zhou Buotong. Entertained with Guo Jing's dumbness, Zhoo Buotong demanded that they become sworn brothers at once.

At the same time, Ouyang Ke and his uncle Ouyang Feng also set out to Dou Hua Dou to ask for Huang Rong's hand in marriage to Ouyang Ke. Huang Rong immediately called for Hong Qigong to be Guo Jing's representative in asking her hand in marriage. After consulting with his dead wife, Huang Yaoshi decided to have a contest to see who would marry his daughter. Both Guo Jing and Ouyang Ke were tested on kungffu, inner power, and memory. And Guo Jing won two out of three.

Displeased at the loss, Ouyang Feng and Ouyang Ke went off, leaving Guo Jing and Huang Rong engaged. Cunning Ouyang Feng however, before leaving, wanted Guo Jing to tell him the inside of Jiu Ying Zhen Jing, which he had memorized in his head earlier. Fighting off Ouyang Feng, Guo Jing and Huang Rong broke into the secret room where Huang Yaoshi was trying to revive his dead wife and was interrupted. He broke in a huge rage when his concentration was broken and drove off Ouyang Feng.

Having lost all hope of healing his wife, Huang Yaoshi prepared a beautiful ship with a hole in the bottom to die with her. He was enraged when later he found out that Guo Jing possessed a copy of Jiu Ying Zhen Jing and swore to kill him. So he gave the broken ship to the group of Hong Qigong, Zhou Buotong, and Guo Jing in hopes to drown Guo Jing. Huang Rong was forced to stay behind.

When Huang Rong found out that the big ship had a hole in it, she set out on a small boat to attempt to rescue them. They were all however were already rescued by Ouyang Feng's ship. Evil Ouyang Feng poisoned Hong Qigong to force Guo Jing to write the complete manual of Jiu Ying Zhen Jing. When they were done, Ouyang Feng burnt the big ship, and attempted to run away with the small boat with Ouyang Ke. They all ended up overboard and almost drowning.

Hong Qigong and Ouyang Ke drifted to a deserted island where they found the unconscious Huang Rong. Hong Qigong then decided to make Huang Rong the new leader of Gai Bang. To deal with the cunning Ouyang Ke, Huang Rong thought up a plan and trapped his two legs under a large boulder.

During this time, Ouyang Feng and Guo Jing floated onto the island, where later Ouyang Feng ordered Guo Jing and Huang Rong to save his son Ouyang Ke by taking Hong Qigong as hostage. They all managed to leave the island by building a raft.

In the meantime Huang Yaoshi was frantically looking for Huang Rong, and then ran into Zhou Buotong, who ignorantly told him that his daughter had drowned. Upon hearing this Huang Yaoshi became outraged, but continued to search without giving up hope. Later Hong Qigong, Guo Jing and Huang Rong, returned to the mainland. They were joined by Zhou Buotong, who uncovered Yang Kang's plans to ambush them. With Zhou Buotong protecting Hong Qigong, Guo Jing and Huang Rong went in search of medicine that could heal Hong Qigong and restore his inner power.

Yang Kang meanwhile went in search for Mu Nianci. He had missed her very much since the time she had saved his life. Unbeknownst to him, Mu Nianci came across wounded Mei Chaofeng and then cared for her. Having finally found Mu Nianci, Yang Kang, planned to marry her. With the help of his master Mei Chaofeng, Yang Kang regained favor of Mu Nianci. It was the happiest day for Mu Nianci when Yang Kang requested her hand for marriage. Mei Chaofeng was there to oversee the marriage also.

One day after marrying Mu Nianci, Yang Kang, left to locate Yue Fei's war book for Wanyan Honglie. Guo Jing and Huang Rong lost trail of Hong Qigong and therefore when to the Iron Palm Sect to seek help from Qiu Qianren, who claimed he knew where Hong Qigong is. After uncovering that Qiu Qianren was a fake and narrowly escaping Ouyang Feng, Guo Jing and Huang Rong ran into Zhou Buotong, who took them to see Hong Qigong.

In the evening they stayed at an old house and met a little dumb girl called Sha Gu, who was playing tricks on them earlier. Huang Rong also uncovered a secret room at the back of the old house. There were two skeletons in the room, and one had both legs broken. From this Huang Rong, worked out the skeleton belonged to Qu Lingfeng, Huang Yaoshi's third and most powerful student. She also figured out that the little girl must have been Qu Lingfeng's daughter.

Meanwhile Yang Kang, Wanyan Honglie, and with the help of Ouyang Feng, planned to invade the Song palace and steal Yue Fei's Wu Mu Yi Shu. In the evening, Hong Qigong, talked Guo Jing and Huang Rong, into sneaking into the Song palace and stealing food from the kitchen. When the two groups met, battles took place and Guo Jing was stabbed by Yang Kang.

They rushed back to the old house to figure out a method to heal Guo Jing. Zhou Buotong instructed Huang Rong to use her inner power to heal Guo Jing for seven straight days without separating, before leaving to find Hong Qigong. Huang Rong then took Guo Jing into the secret room and began healing him.

From inside the secret room they saw, Wanyan Honglie and Yang Kang arrive at the house. The war book they found at the palace was fake. Ouyang Feng then requested to go back to the palace to look for the war book and left. Ouyang Ke arrived at the house in the morning after everyone left, and with the help of Sha Gu managed to locate the secret room. He immediately battled with Guo Jing and Huang Rong, who were rescued by Mu Nianci who had been passing by.

Ouyang Ke then proceeded to battle with Mu Nianci and pushed her pressure point. He was about to rape her when Yang Kang, arrived back at the house. Ouyang Ke then requested Yang Kang to hand over Mu Nianci to him for the night. Upon hearing this Yang Kang stabbed Ouyang Ke with a knife and killed him.

Fleeing from Ouyang Feng, Yang Kang and Mu Nianci ran into the seven Quanzhen taoists led by Ma Yu. Yang Kang was then forced to follow them back to the old house. By the time they arrived back at the house, Ouyang Ke's body had already been taken away. Later that night, Toa Lei and Wah Jang also arrived at the house. They were informed by Yang Kang that Huang Yaoshi had killed Guo Jing. Upon hearing this Toa Lei and Wah Jang left to seek Huang Yaoshi, for revenge. The seven taoists also wanted to seek him out to avenge Guo Jing's death. Suddenly Zhou Buotong, Ouyang Feng and Huang Yaoshi passed by the house before taking off again. Ma Yu attempted to chase them down but his flying speed was too slow.

In the morning Yang Kang made an excuse and left the house with Mu Nianci. Upon leaving the house Yang Kang, found Huang Rong's Gai Bang's Jade Dog Hitting Stick in the bushes and immediately thought of another evil plan. Qiu Qianren then arrived at the house and tricked the seven taoists that Zhou Buotong had been killed by Huang Yaoshi. So when Mei Chaofeng arrived later in the evening, the seven taoists immediately battled with her to avenge the death of their sect uncle Zhou Buotong.

Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng arrived in time to see the battle. Helping Mei Chaofeng, Huang Yaoshi was oblivious to Ouyang Feng's attempt to strike him, but Mei Chaofeng stepped in to block Ouyang Feng's strike and was killed. Huang Yaoshi became outraged and killed one of the taoists. After burying Mei Chaofeng, Huang Yaoshi, wanted to kill the Jiang Nan Qi Guai who happened to be passing through. Knowing that his six masters were no match for Huang Yaoshi, Guo Jing and Huang Rong revealed themselves to prevent the fight. Huang Rong then showed her father the secret room and the skeleton. Upon seeing the skeleton, Huang Yaoshi, became a little depressed because he knew that if he did not break both of Qu Lingfeng's legs, he would still be alive. Huang Yaoshi felt responsible for his student's death and decided to accept Sha Gu, Qu Lingfeng's only child as a student. Huang Yaoshi then instructed Huang Rong to head to town to be named as Gai Bang's 18th leader, when she realized that she had lost the Jade Hitting Stick, which was stolen by Yang Kang.

Before they left Guo Jing and Huang Rong saved Toa Lei and Wah Jang from the clutches of Qiu Qianren and Ouyang Feng. Back at the house Huang Yaoshi became outraged once more upon hearing that Guo Jing is to be Genghis Khan's future son in law. He proceeded to kill Guo Jing but was prevented by Huang Rong. He then wanted Guo Jing to kill Wah Jang to prove his love for Huang Rong. But Guo Jing refused stating that he will always love Huang Rong and Wah Jang understands.

Huang Yaoshi then prevented Guo Jing from returning to Mongolia. Toa Lei then told Guo Jing that he if he stayed he would be neglecting his mother and was not a man of his word before leaving. Huang Rong remained by Guo Jing's side as they headed to the city after saying goodbye to Jiang Nan Qi Guai. Huang Yaoshi was less than pleased at Huang Rong's decision and he headed back to Dou Hua Dou with Saa Gu.

Part III (Hua Shan Luen Jian)
(NOT FINISHED YET)

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Blog EntryFeb 12, '06 2:14 AM
for everyone

The following were taken from http://condorheroes.silverthreads.net/roch_summary.php, http://condorheroes.silverthreads.net/roch_guolongnu.php & http://condorheroes.silverthreads.net/roch_characters.php

Although I would like to put this in my review, I realize that I need to do so once I rewatch the whole series, so I just post whatever info it has from there for fans to enjoy.

PLEASE ALSO NOTE THAT THE 1983 VERSION WILL HAVE SLIGHT DIFFERENCES OVER MY REVIEW OF THE ASIAPAC COMIC VERSION, EVEN THOUGH THE BASIC STORYLINE IS THE SAME. HOWEVER IT DOES COMPLETE THE CHARACTER LIST I NEEDED FROM MY LAST REVIEW.

 

Main Characters

Guo Jing
Now married to Huang Rong, and residing in Xiang Yang City, defending the Xiang Yang fortress from the Mongolian army. Tries very hard to care for the reluctant Yang Guo out of guilt for his late sworn-brother Yang Kang.

Huang Rong
Huang Rong is married to Guo Jing and has three children: Guo Fu, Guo Xiang, and Guo Buonu. Never trusting Yang Guo since he was little because of his father Yang Kang.

Yang Guo
Yang Kang and Mu Nianci's son, named Yang Guo by Guo Jing at the end of LOCH. First appearance in ROCH was his thirteen-year-old self poisoned by Li Mochou's needles. Adoptive son to the insane Ouyang Feng. Student of the Gumu Bai, he fell in love with his teacher Xiao Longnu and married her. He became stronger when his arm was cut off by Guo Fu and was called the Divine Condor Hero.

Xiao Longnu
Raised in the vicinity of the Gumu Bai, she was taught to hate and distrust men by her teacher Lin Chaoying. A cold and expressionless beauty, has her heart moved and tears flow when she fell in love with Yang Guo. She does not care for matters of the world as she has been living in solitude her whole life. All she cares and loves is Yang Guo.

Lin Chaoying
The Grand Lady Master, founder of Gumu Bai. A former lover of Wang Chongyang, became bitter rivals when he abandoned her to become a Taoist.

Ke Zhen'e
Formerly a member of the Jiang Nan Qi Guai, but now he is the only one alive, since all were killed in LOCH.

Zhou Botong
Still a Lao Wantong and would never grow up. He's sword brothers with Yang Guo because he likes him a lot. When matters are explained, he, Ying Gu, and Yideng Dashi resolved to live together side by side.

Ying Gu
Yang Guo helped resolve the triangle love affair of Ying Gu, Zhou Botong and Yideng Dashi, which concluded to the three of them living peacefully side by side.

Guo Fu
The big-headed, conceited, spoilt brat of a child; the first of Guo Jing and Huang Rong. She caused Yang Guo many burdens, including cutting of his arm. Was in love with Yang Guo, but towards the end, she married Yelu Qi.

Guo Xiang
Named after the Xiang Yang City, as it was being invaded at the time of her birth. When she was a newborn, a number of people kidnapped her, namely, Li Mochou, Xiao Longnu, and Yang Guo, before she was safely returned to Huang Rong. The sixteen-year-old Guo Xiang is very much impressed with the Condor Hero Yang Guo, and was sad when he left with Xiao Longnu in the end.

Guo Buonu
Guo Xiang's twin brother, the only son of Guo Jing and Huang Rong, and yet not mentioned or seen much. However, in the novel, he is mentioned to be the rightful owner of the Dragon Sabre as it is handed to him by Guo Jing and Huang Rong.

Wu Dunru
The eldest of Wu Santong's sons and disciple of Guo Jing and Huang Rong. Have been fighting all his life for the love of Guo Fu, but in the end he married Yelu Yan.

Wu Xiuwen
The youngest of Wu Santong's sonds and disciple of Guo Jing and Huang Rong. Have been fighting all his life for the love of Guo Fu, but in the end he married Wanyan Ping.

Yelu Qi
The second son of Mongolian Prime Minister Yelu Chucai and the secret pupil of Zhou Botong. He is well versed at martial arts, magnanimous and tolerant with others. He was in love with Wanyan Ping but rejected and in the end fell in love with Guo Fu and married her. When 20th leader of Gai Bang died, he was appointed the 21st.

Yelu Yan
Yelu Qi's sister, who was in love with Yang Guo, but seeing its futility, only regarded him as a brother and later married Wu Dunru. She has an unruly and straightforward disposition.

Wanyan Ping
Her entire family was killed by Yelu Qi's people, and therefore she wanted to kill him, but couldn't because she had feelings for him. It would be wrong to marry him, so she rejected him and married Wu Xiowen instead.

Ci'en
Once a powerful and evil leader of Tiezhang Bai Qiu Qianren, now with a new name, Ci'en, he became a monk, a pupil of Yideng Dashi, and wishing for forgiveness from Ying Gu and Zhou Botong for killing their son. He has been struggling between good and evil sides, but chose good in the end.

Sha Gu
Huang Yaoshi's insane grand-pupil, who was killed by Li Mochou. She's the one who told Yang Guo who his father's murderer was.

Grandma Sun
A staunch woman with moral integrity, she brought Xiao Longnu up in the Ancient Tomb; knowing a little martial arts. She was accidentally killed by Hao Datong when protecting little Yang Guo.

Lu Youjiao
Succeeding Huang Rong as 20th leader of Gai Bang. He exercised able leadership though not intelligent. He was killed by Huo Do.

Gongsun Lu'er
Daughter of Gongsun Zhi and Qiu Qianchi. A dignified and graceful girl, who was secretly in love with Yang Guo and numerous times try to save his life. She killed herself to save him in the end.

Yin Zhiping
Student of Qiu Chuji. He is very covetous of Xiao Longnu in and raped her, and in the end killing himself paying for what he's done.

Lu Wushuang
Her entire family were killed by Li Mochou. She's crippled but very lively. She's very much in love with Yang Guo but her love was never returned. She became his sworn-sister instead.

Cheng Ying
Lu Wushuang's cousin. She has been a pupil of Huang Yaoshi ever since her entire family is killed by Li Mochou. A soft and gentle girl, she is always considerate of others, and very much in love with Yang Guo. She also became his sworn-sister instead.

Feng Mofeng
One of the great five disciples of Huang Yaoshi. A humble blacksmith with a broken left leg. He died saving Guo Jing and Yang Guo from Jinlun Fawang.

Tianzhu Shensheng
An Indian monk, who's sect brothers with Yideng Dashi. In the end he was killed by Li Mochou while helping Yang Guo find a cure for the Qing Hua poison.

Dugu Qiubai
Never made an appearance, as he only exists in a name. It's told that he was the greatest swordsman of his time, whose sword Yang Guo now carry as his weapon. Later on, in HSDS, the aforementioned sword becomes the Yi Tian Jian and Tu Long Dao.

Villains

Gongsun Zhi
The leader of Jueqing Gu, a despicable man well-versed in martial arts, dying to marry Xiao Longnu and was enraged when she refused and he imprisoned Yang Guo to force her to marry him. He severed the limbs of his wife Qiu Qianchi and imprisoned her in deep pit.

Qiu Qianchi
Mother of Gongsun Lu'er. The tendons of her four limbs had been severed by Gongsun Zhi. She has been imprisoned in a deep pit ever since her daughter was born. She is also the sister or Qiu Qianren and Qiu Qianran. She vowed to take revenge on Gongsun Zhi for what he did to her, and to Huang Rong and Guo Jing for killing her brother Qiu Qianran. She took over leadership of Jueqing Gu when Gongsun Zhi was gone.

Fan Yiweng
Disciple of Gongsun Zhi. He is a very short man with an extremely long beard. His beard was cut off foot by foot by Yang Guo during battle.

Zhao Zhijing
Yin Zhiping's same-generation sect brother who's very ambitious and self-conceited. He sold off Quanzhen Bai to the Mongolians and caused many disciples killed and Chongyang Temple burnt off.

Li Mochou
Gu Mu traitor with a nickname of Chilian Xianzi, who is extremely beautiful but wicked and merciless because of a man, and therefore she came to hate men. She's Xiao Longnu's sect sister.

Hong Lingbuo
Li Mochou's student. Li Mochou killed her and made her a sacrifice.

Hu Bilie
Mongolian prince, grandson of Ghenghis Khan. A man with great talent and bold vision. Killed by Yang Guo at the end.

Ma Guangzuo
Hu Bilie's warrior. A simple minded giant who's in Yang Guo's favor.

Xiao Xiangzi
Hu Bilie's warrior. Very thin and looks like a corpse. He and Yin Kexi are the ones that stole Jiu Yang Zhen Jing from Shaolin.

Ni Moxing
Hu Bilie's warrior. Very short and dark.

Yin Kexi
Hu Bilie's warrior. Rich and shrewd. His main weapon is a whip. He and Xiao Xiangzi stole Jiu Yang Zhen Jing from Shaolin and later hid it in a gorilla's tummy, which is found by Zhang Wuji in HSDS a century later.

Jinlun Fawang
Tibetan Lama. His name came from using his unique weapon Gold Wheel (Jinlun). With great learning and matchless martial ability, he is the Imperial priest of Mongolia and leader of Hu Bilie's warriors. He kidnapped Guo Xiang and tried to burn her alive to get Guo Jing to surrender.

Huo Do
Prince of Mongolia. Having trained by his master Jinlun Fawang, he possessed first-class skills of martial arts. He's killed by his sect brother Da Erba for being treacherous to his teacher Jinlun Fawang.

Da Erba
Tibetan Lama. Huo Do's senior sect brother. Though thin and emaciated, he is extremely powerful in physical strength. Looks up to Yang Guo and would never harm him even though he's on the opposite side.

The Five Greats (Wu Gao Shou)

Zhong Wan Tong Zhou Botong
Replacing his passed brother Wang Chongyang, Lao Wantong now becomes Zhong Wantong, even though he's reluctant of the title.

Dong Xie Huang Yaoshi
Still called the Eastern Heretic because sometimes his actions are unreasonable and not abiding by the rules or traditions, but he has improved much since LOCH.

Xi Kuang Yang Guo
Replacing his dead foster father Ouyang Feng, instead of being Western Venom, because he's not evil, but he has his own ways and also not abiding by the rules, he is called the Western Crazy.

Nan Seng Yideng Dashi
Once a powerful Emperor famous for his Yi Yang Ji, with four great guards by his side now lives in solitude in the mountains with instead his four former guards as his students. All this because of Ying Gu and her love affair with Zhou Botong. He's now living the monastery life as Yideng Dashi.

Bei Xia Guo Jing
Replacing his late teacher Hong Qigong who died dueling with Ouyang Feng, Guo Jing becomes the Northern Hero, as he is not a beggar and because he's a patriotic man who defends his country.

Yideng Dashi's Four Guards/Disciples

Diancang Yuyin
The first disciple. Helped defending Xiang Yang City.

Wu Santong
Father of Wu Dunru and Wu Xiowen in ROCH and helped defending Xiang Yang City. Has been chasing Li Mochou and vowed revenge for killing his wife.

Zhu Ziliu
He lost to Jinlun Fawang in the hero competition held by Guo Jing and Huang Rong.

Fourth
???

Quanzhen Seven Disciples

Ma Yu
He stayed behind and eventually died when the Chongyang Temple was burning the the ground.

Tan Chuduan
The second sect brother. Killed by Ouyang Feng in the beginning of LOCH.

Liu Chuxuan
The third sect brother. He's not mentioned very much either in LOCH or ROCH. He stayed behind and eventually died when the Chongyang Temple was burning the the ground.

Qiu Chuji
The fourth sect brother who named baby Guo Jing and baby Yang Kang. He also accepted Yang Kang as pupil. He stayed behind and eventually died when the Chongyang Temple was burning the the ground.

Wang Chuyi
The fifth sect brother who saved Guo Jing once in LOCH. Zhao Zijing's teacher.

Hao Datong
The sixth sect brother who's rarely mentioned or seen in LOCH. He inadvertently killed Grandma Sun and regretting it all his life. Killed himself when the Mongolians invaded.

Sun Bu'er
The only female sect sister. She stayed behind and eventually died when the Chongyang Temple was burning the the ground.

 

Story Summary

During a reign of Empreor Li Zhong of the Southern Song Dynasty, Guo Jing, on his way of roaming with his wife and daughter, came across Yang Guo, the son of his sworn brother Yang Kang. Yang Guo was then only twelve and had been an orphan since his parents' death. Guo Jing felt sort of guilty as he was not successful in bringing Yang Kang to the right track. Furthermore Yang Kang was accidentally killed by Huang Rong, his wife. Thus he felt it's his responsibility to take care of Yang Guo.

Guo Jing brought Yang Guo back to the Peach Blossom Island to stay with him and his family. He asked his wife Huang Rong to teach him martial arts. Huang Rong's grudge agianst Yang Kang and her fear of Yang Guo seeking revenge in the future made her reluctant to impart Yang Guo and skills but taught him to read "sages" books only. Yang Guo was not concentrating at all. He wanted so much to learn martial arts rather than reading "sages" books. However, secretly Yang Guo has been practicing the Ha Ma skill which was taught to him by his foster father, Ouyang Feng. This happened when Yang Guo was badly poisoned in one occassion and he met Ouyang Feng who taught him how to get rid of the poison and at the same time imparting him the skill.

Yang Guo's life wasn't easy at the island. He was badly bullied by Guo Fu, Guo Jing's daughter. During a fight, Yang Guo accidentally uses his Ha Ma skill and injured one of Guo Jing's diciples. Once again, the righteous Guo Jing felt that it was his fault for not teaching Yang Guo properly and did not blame him. He had no choice then but to take him to Chongnan Shan, hoping he would be able to cultivate his mind and improve his character so as to become a man of moral integrity in the future.

Yang Guo was taken in by Quanzhen Sect at the request of Guo Jing but was badly treated by his master Zhao Zhijing. After accidetally injuring one of the diciples with the Ha Ma skill again, he was forced to flee for his life. On his way to escape from Zhao Zhijing, Yang Guo accidentally entered the Ancient Tomb where he was accepted by Xiao Longnu as a pupil then.

Xiao Longnu imparted to Yang Guo the feat of martial arts typical of the Ancient Tomb sect. Later they practised Yu Nu Xing Jing together with the upper part of their bodies naked. This was bumped into by Zhao Zhijing and Yin Zhiping. As as result of her diaphragm-controlled deep breath getting out of order, Xiao Longnu was seriously injured.

Right at this moment, her cruel and evil senior sister Li Mochou sneaked into the tomb with the intention to kill Xiao Longnu and obtain the box containing the secrets of Ancient Tomb feats. Xiao Longnu, together with Yang Guo, fought Li Mochou and Hong Lingbuo in the Ancient Tomb. They were hit at the vital acupoints by Li Mochou. While lying on her back, Xiao Longnu accidentally spotted from the ceiling of the stone room, the secrets of Jiu Yin Zhen Jing, and she revitalized her closed acupoints by herself covertly. Then she subdued Li Mochou and led the three people out of the ancient tomb.

After being recovered from her injuries, Xiao Longnu began to jointly practise Jiu Yin Zhen Jing with Yang Guo. Day in and day out, the two young people stayed together and came to have tender feelings for each other. But who would have thought that because of the appearance of Ouyang Feng, Yang Guo's adopted father, Xiao Longnu was violated by Yin Zhiping! She was blindfolded and mistook Yang Guo as the one who did it. Yang Guo was utterly in the dark about what had happened. He was confused when Xiao Longnu later asked him if he would take her as his wife. When Xiao Longnu could not get his acknowledgement, she ran away heart broken.

Missing Xiao Longnu, Yang Guo looked for her everywhere and unconsciously ended up in Hua Shan. There he met Hong Qi Gong and saw with his own eyes how he defeated Zangbian Wuchou, and how he and Ouyang Feng competed fighting to their last breath. Yang Guo was therefore greatly enlightened.

More than one year had passed since Yang Guo started looking for Xiao Longnu. One day he heard that Guo Jing and Huang Rong will be holding a gathering at Lujia Village so as to find someone to lead the pugilists againts the Mongolians, he decided to go and find out what what it is all about. When he got there, he met Hao Datong, Zhao Zhijing and some other Quanzhen Taoists. In front of them, he told Guo Jing and Huang Rong everything about what had happened to him during his stay with the Quanzhen Jiao.

The meeting of Guo Fu evoked Yang Guo's memories of his childhood. And from the conversation with Guo Jing and Huang Rong, he got to know about his father's close relationship to Guo Jing. He was greatly moved by the kind feelings of Huang Rong, whose admonishing words helped to remove the misunderstandings between them.

The get-together of the veteran fighters at Lujia Village turned into a tension triggered by the arrival of Huo Do, his master Jinlun Fawang and his senior brother, Da Erba. To contend for the position of head of martial-brotherhood, the two parties agreed to compete by three games with the party winning two games actuiring the position. The outcome of the comepetition is that Zhu Zhiliu was hurt by Huo Do's hidden weapon in the first round, and Diancang Yuyin's iron pestle was broken into two pieces by Da Erba in the second round. At this crucial moment, Yang Guo got into the picture. He first defeated Huo Do by using the Yu Nu Xing Jing, he subdued Da Erba on the strength of Yi Hun Da Fa in the Jiu Yin Zhen Jing, thus raising the curtain for the next wonderful scene -- his master Xiao Longnu meeting the challenge of Jinlun Fawang.

Yang Guo assisted Xiao Longnu in crushing Jinlun Fawang's dream to become the leader of the martial world. This made Guo Jing very delighted and even eager to betroth his daughter to him . However Yang Guo only had passions for Xiao Longnu and said that he would not marry anyone except her. These words shocked everyone who was present. In the ancient time, it is considered not improper for a mentor and his pupil to fall in love. At the same time Guo Fu was totally feeling humiliated when Yang Guo declined his father's request of marrying her and this added his hatred towards Yang Guo.

Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu, being critisized by everyone, decided to go back to the Ancient Tomb. On they way back, they came across Huang Rong and her daughter who was captured by Jinlun Fawang. In order to rescue them Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu challenged Jinlun Fawang and once again, by jointly jusing Yu Nu Su Xin Jian Fa they ended up defeating him. However, during that night, the naive Xiao Longnu was hurt by what Huang Rong said about she and Yang Guo not being able to live in the Ancient Tomb forever. She believed it to be true after talking to Yang Guo before going to bed. She cried hot tears and left quietly while Yang Guo was fast asleep.

Yang Guo was looking for Xiao Longnu on a horse when he saw Huang Rong and her daughter being beseiged by Jinlun Fawang. Completely disregarding his own safety, he rushed to rescue them and was then seriously wounded. Fortunately, he was saved by Cheng Ying, whose timely appeareance not only got him rescuted but offered him a chance to meet Lu Wu Shuang againg, where the fond memories of his first meeting with her was revived.

Li Mochou had been shasing Lu Wu Shuang in order to get back the book "Poison Recipe" the latter had ran off with. Her arrival this time was just around the corner. Yang Guo, Cheng Ying and Lu Wu Shuang were saved from the hands of Li Mochou by Huang Yaoshi. Yang Guo and Huang Yaoshi despite their difference in age became great friends. Huang Yaoshi taught Yang Guo two of his best martial arts.

Later, Yang Guo found out that his father was killed by Huang Rong. Yang Guo was in anguish and vowed to avenge his father. But realizing that he was no match for Guo Jing and Huang Rong, he allied with Jinlun Fawang as now they had a common enemy. Yang Guo and Jinlun Fawang was later led to Jue Qing Valley when they went after Zhou Botong who was captured by a group of mysterious men. Yang Guo surprised and happy to see Xiao Longnu there but sad to find out that Xiao Longnu pretended not to know him. She called herself by the name of "Liu" and was going to marry the amster of Jue Qing Galley, Gongsun Zhi. It was after a long talk before Xiao Longnu finally acknowledged Yang Guo.

Gongsun Zhi was determined to marry Xiao Longnu and refused to let her go. Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu had to battle their way out. Unfortunately they lost the fight and both were poisoned by the deadly Qing Hua. Only one antidote for the poison was left. Xiao Longnu agreed to marry Gongsun Zhi in order to save Yang Guo's life.

Gongsun Lu'er, daughter of Gongsun Zhi was caught by her father when trying to steal the antidote for Yang Guo. Both Yang Guo and her fell into a deep pit set up by Gongsun Zhi. To Gongsun Lu'er's surprise, she found her mother, Qiu Qianchi there. Her four limbs were manipulated by Gongsun Zhi and had been suffering miserably for 18 years.

Yang Guo, Gongsun Lu'er and Qiu Qianchi managed to escape from the pit and as in time to prevent the wedding of Gongsun Zhi and Xiao Longnu. Gongsun Zhi was defeated by both Yang Guo and Qiu Qianchi. Qiu Qianchi took out another antidote but she wanted Yang Guo to avenge her brother's death by killing Guo Jing and Huang Rong.

Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu went to Xiang Yang City where Guo Jing was defending the city against the Mongolian invaders. Guo Jing, unaware of Yang Guo's motive to kill him was really glad to see him. Yang Guo wanted to take revenge for his father's death but was at the same time deeply moved by Guo Jing's selfless patriotism and humanity. He was unable to make up his mind as to kill or not to kill.

During a Mongolian attack, Yang Guo despite his hatred saved Guo Jing. Wu Dunru, and Wu Xiuwen, the diciples of Guo Jing were afraid that their teacher would want to marry his daughter Guo Fu to Yang Guo. In order to win his favor, they went to assassinate the Mongolian Prince, Hu Bilie.

The assassination was unsuccesful. Guo Jing and Yang Guo went to the Mongolian camps to save the brothers and were encircled by the enemies. Jinlun Fawang and the other Mongolian warriors were keen to kill Guo Jing in order to win the title of "Bravest Warrior of Mongolia".

Guo Jing was badly hurt when trying to protect Yang Guo. Yang Guo fought desperately and saved Guo Jing to safety. The four Mongolian warriors broke into Xiang Yang City to catch Guo Jing which he was still injured. Yang Guo managed to lure them away.

Jinlun Fawang set fire to the city, wanting to force Guo Jing to come out of his hiding. But he attracted the attention of Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu instead. Xiao Longnu was carrying the new born baby girl of Huang Rong. She wanted Yang Guo to take the baby girl to Jue Qing Valley and exchanged her for the antidote. Yang Guo was reluctant to do so.

While the three were fighting, Li Mochou appeared and snatched away the baby. Yang Guo and Jinlun Fawang gave chase. Jinlun Fawang and later Ni Moxing was hurt by Li Mochou's poisonous needles and both of them fell off the cliff.

Yang Guo, concerned about the baby's safety, stayed near Li Mochou and found leopard's milk to feed the baby. Later, Yang Guo heard a strange cry. The cry of the great condor and was directed to the tomb of the dead swordman Dugu Qiubai.

Wu Santong was shattered to learnt that his two sons were killing each other for Guo Fu. Yang Guo sympathized with him and successfully stopped the fight between the two brothers by lying that he was marrying Guo Fu.

Li Mochou appeared and the two Wu brothers were wounded by her deadly needles. Yang Guo, risking his own life, sucked the poison from the wounds. Luckily he was saved by Yideng Dashi's sect brother the Indian Monk, Tianzhu Shensheng.

Guo Fu was furious when she learnt that the Wu brothers had left her forever because of Yang Guo's lie. She attacked Yang Guo with a sword who had no strength to resists, and Yang Guo's arm was chopped down by her.

Xiao Longnu was heart broken when she overheard what Yang Guo had said to the Wu brothers. She got another devasting hit when she found out that Yin Zhiping had raped her.

Zhou Botong was tricked by Jinlun Fawang and was bitten by deadly spiders. Xiao Longnu and Zhou Botong were trapped in a cave which had it's opening sealed with the poisonious web of Jinlun Fawang's deadly spiders.

Xiao Longnu learnt the art of Fen Xin Er Yong from Zhou Botong and she managed to do two different things with her right and left hands at the same time.

The Quanzhen Jiao faced external threats and internal conflicts. Mongolians invaders forced the set to accept their edict. Meanwhile Yin Zhiping who had just succeeded as the head of the sect was forced to surrender his post to Zhao Zhijing. Zhao Zhijing accepted the Mongolian's edict but the other priests strongly protested against it. So Zhao Zhijing killed those who opposed him.

Xiao Longnu wanted to kill Yin Zhiping herself and got involved in the sect's dissension. Her swordfighting skill was greatly improved by the use of Fen Xin Er Yong. She managed to injure her opponents effortlessly. The Mongolian warriors, Xiao Xiangzi and Yin Kexi were no match for her. They jointly attacked Xiao Longnu.

Xiao Longnu was attacked by the four Mongolian warriors and five Quanzhen masters. Yang Guo suddenly appeared, Xiao Longnu was distracted and forgot to strike back.

After Yang Guo's right arm had been chopped off by Guo Fu, he went to the valley where he first met the great condor. He discovered a heavy sword left behind by the dead master of sword, Dugu Qiubai. Under guidance of the great condor, Yang Guo learnt to use the heavy sword in the mountain torrents. As a result, his sword fighting skills improved tremendously.

Huang Rong discovered that her little daughter was in the hands of Li Mochou. However before she could retrieved her baby back, Guo Xiang was carried away by Yang Guo. Yang Guo decided to take Guo Xiang with him to Chongnan Shan to search for Xiao Longnu.

Yang Guo, left with only a single arm, fought against the formidable Jinlun Fawang. Xiao Longnu was fatally injured. Yang Guo anxious to show his feeling for her married her at the Chongyang Shrine.

Back at the ancient tomb, they discovered letters written by Wang Chongyang to the Grand Lady Master Lin Chaoying and learnt that the chilled jade can cure serious injuries and illness. Hope for Xiao Longnu's recovery was kindled. While Yang Guo was helping Xiao Longnu to recover, Li Mochou, Guo Fu and others entered the ancient tomb.

Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu met Master Yideng and his diciple Ci'en. Ci'en haunted by the evildoing of his past, was unable to surpress his evil nature. He lost his mind and hit Yideng repeatedly. Yang Guo protecting Yideng fought against Ci'en formidable Iron Palms.

Yang Guo, Xiao Longnu, Yideng and Ci'en arrived at the Jue Qing Valley. While trying to save Cheng Ying and Lu Wu Shuang, Yang Guo was again pierced by the poisonous Qing Hua. The last piece of antidote was kept by Qiu Qianchi, who had taken over the valley.

Huang Rong also came to the valley. Qiu Qianchi urges his brother Ci'en to kill Huang Rong. Ci'en once again fell into the struggle between good and evil. Ci'en finally gave up revenge. Gongsun Zhi appeared and wanted to snatched back the position of the head of Jue Qing Valley. Gongsun Lu'er was killed by Gongsun Zhi. Qiu Qianchi was in anguish to see her daughter being killed and finally perished together with Gongsun Zhi. Cheng Ying, Lu Wu Shuang and the others set a fire to the roses on the island so that no more people will be harmed by the Qing Hua.

Yang Guo got the antidote of Qing Hua. Realizing that Xiao Longnu who was fatally injured might not be able to live longer, Yang Guo was reluctant to eat to take it and threw it down the cliff. He was ready to live and die together with Xiao Longnu.

Huang Rong on the other hand, found a herbal which might be able to cure Yang Guo. Realizing that Yang Guo will definitely not agree of taking it, she turned up to Xiao Longnu and persuaded her to ask Yang Guo to cure his poison.

Xiao Longnu jumped off the cliff, leaving a message asking Yang Guo to take the herbal and be reunited at the same place 16 years later. Huang Rong lied to Yang Guo that Xiao Longnu was taken away by South Sea Nun who was a great medician who can cure any illness. She asked Yang Guo to take the herbal obediently and waited patiently for Xiao Longnu's return after 16 years.

16 years had passed. Guo Xiang has grown up to a pretty lady. It was her birthday soon and her wish was to have Yang Guo's company on her birthday. Meanwhile, Guo Jing and Huang Rong held a Heroes' Meet to discuss a strategy to ward off the Mongolians. By chance, Huang Rong overheard Guo Xiang's birthday wishes. She was alarmed that Guo Xiang had met Yang Guo.

Huo Do murdered Lu Youjiao, the leader of Gai Bang. Without delay, Huang Rong held a martial arts meet to select a new leader. The three birthday gifts that Yang Guo had prepared for Guo Xiang included exposing Huo Do, avenging Lu Youjiao, destroying the Mongolian vanguard and setting the supplies of the Mongolian army blaze.

Yang Guo met Huang Yaoshi had the Gai Bang meeting, and asked him about the South Sea Nun. To his alarm, he discovered that there is no such thing as a South Sea Nun! Guo Xiang was worried that Yang Guo might commit suicide after learning that Xiao Longnu had probably died. She left home in search of Yang Guo.

Yang Guo came to his late father's burial ground. He was shocked to learn that his father was a despicable man who had betrayed the country for power and wealth.

Guo Xiang was captured by Jinlun Fawang. Jinlun Fawang liked Guo Xiang's intelligence and kindness and wished to make her his diciple. Guo Xiang tried in vain to escape.

The reunion was approaching. Yang Guo arrived at the Jue Qing Valley. But Xiao Longnu did not come. The hair on Yang Guo's temples turned white after a night of intense worry and gried. He jumped off the cliff. Guo Xiang and Jinlun Fawang arrived just then and witnessed Yang Guo's suicide. Guo Xiang immediately jumped after him.

Yang Guo found Xiao Longnu below the cliff. After 16 years of separation, Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu were finally reunited.

The Mongolian troops invaded Xiang Yang City again. Huang Yaoshi commanded the Song's army against the enemy.

Jinlun Fawang threatened to burn Guo Xiang alive if Guo Jing did not surrender. Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu arrived in the nick of time. Yang Guo and Jinlun Fawang fought the final duel. And Jinlun Fawang commited suicide after knowing that he was not Yang Guo's match. Meanwhile, Hu Bilie, the prince of Mongolia was killed too.

Guo Xiang was sad when Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu departed together with the condor.

 

The Love Story

Considered one of the greatest love stories ever told, Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu's love story is very touching and moving in every way. Yang Guo is a playful and outgoing boy who likes to have fun and live life to the fullest. Xiao Longnu is the disciple of Lin Chaoying in Gumu Bai. She's been raised to distrust men and to banish the thought that there was decent men in the world. She grew up alone, shut from the outside world, not knowing the matters of the world, and was taught to never have human emotions. Cold, expressionless and uncaring, she possessed a captivating beauty that would hold every gaze frozen.

Yang Guo was a boy of fourteen and Xiao Longnu was a grown woman of eighteen when they first met. Yang Guo was being chased down by his teachers at the Quanzhen Bai when he ran into Grandma Sun, who saved him and brought him into the Ancient Tomb, where she and her mistress Xiao Longnu lived. With her dying breath, she pleaded with her reluctant mistress to take Yang Guo in. Left with no other choice, after Grandma Sun's death, Xiao Longnu agreed to accept him as disciple even though the Gumu Bai rule was for all-women.

Yang Guo's earlier days in the Ancient Tomb was miserable, as his teacher, whom he called Gu Gu, was very strict and not very caring or nice to him. This couldn't be blamed on her, as she was raised to be like that.

Day by day passed and Xiao Longnu's cold heart melted but she was careful not to show any emotions. She was still strict and disciplined outside, but inside, she cared for Yang Guo. Not in a romantic way anyway, for she didn't know what romance was or what love was. All she knew was that she cared for Yang Guo's safety and that she missed him when he was gone.

Three years later, a seventeen-year-old Yang Guo had grown up to be a handsome young man, and he grew to care more and more for his Gu Gu. He saw her as his idol, his teacher, and the most beautiful woman living on earth. Living with her for three years had his heart tied down to just one woman, that of Xiao Longnu.

When Xiao Longnu was injured from practicing Yu Nu Xing Jing with Yang Guo, Li Mochou, her treacherous sect sister, came charging into the Ancient Tomb, forcing her and Yang Guo to seal all the exits permanently. Before they did so, Xiao Longnu told Yang Guo to leave and leave her behind forever to die with Li Mochou. Yang Guo pretended to agree, but then closed the exits with him inside, saying "If you're staying here forever, then I'll stay in here to keep you accompany."

At this, Xiao Longnu felt something inside that she herself could not describe. For the first time in her heart she felt something. Not anger from Yang Guo disobeying her, but to her surprise she was actually happy that Yang Guo decided to stay for her. After much time cooped with inside the Ancient Tomb, they finally found clues that there was another exit that even Xiao Longnu didn't know. So, together they found it and set out on a journey.

Not long into their journey together, they ran into Ouyang Feng, Yang Guo's crazed foster father, who wanted to teach Yang Guo his kungfu. However, not wanting Xiao Longnu to follow, Ouyang Feng striked her pressure point so she couldn't move. Unbeknownst to Yang Guo, Yan Zhiping, who had deep affections and passion for Xiao Longnu for a long time, happened to be strolling by and saw Xiao Longnu alone and frozen. He made use of this opportunity and took advantage of her by violating her after blindfolding her.

Xiao Longnu, meanwhile, thought that it was Yang Guo and so she didn't object. However, when Yang Guo came back from practice and Xiao Longnu asked him if he would take her as his wife and he was acting dumb about it, she ran off from him broken-hearted. Yang Guo was left speechless and confused of what he'd done. That's when he heard of the hero competition that Guo Jing was arranging, so he dediced to go there hoping to find Xiao Longnu on the way.

Being alone, he contemplated a lot about his relationship with Xiao Longnu. He was scolding himself for being stupid when asked if he would take her as his wife. In truth, at that time, he still didn't realize what kind of feeling he had for Xiao Longnu. All he knew was that he cared for his Gu Gu a lot and would always want to stay together. Only when Xiao Longnu had gone that he realized his feelings were love and that he loved her and he'd made up his mind to have her as his wife.

At Guo Jing's residence, Yang Guo was welcomed and was even offered Guo Fu, Guo Jing's daughter, to be married to him. At the same time, Xiao Longnu appeared and this was when Yang Guo publicly proclaimed to everyone in the competition that he loved his teacher and that he was going to marry her. In feudal society, this was a degrading embarrassment. A teacher and a student should never had that kind of relationship, and so this caused them to be shunned. Both Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu never quite understood why this was forbidden, but they didn't care, and so they set off together.

They decided to go back to the Ancient Tomb and live there together. However, on their way back, they ran into Jinlun Fawang, who was fighting Huang Rong. After having helped Huang Rong, Xiao Longnu was told by Huang Rong that Yang Guo could never live cooped up in the Ancient Tomb forever. Xiao Longnu realizing this, cried that night for the very first time, and left quietly leaving Yang Guo alone.

The next morning Yang Guo set out to look for Xiao Longnu, when he encountered Jinlun Fawang. Though this time without Xiao Longnu, he lost and was seriously injured. Fortunately, he was saved by Cheng Ying. During his recuperation, Yang Guo met Huang Yaoshi and Sha Gu. He became great friends with Huang Yaoshi, who totally supported him marrying his teacher. He also found out from Sha Gu that Huang Rong and Guo Jing caused his father Yang Kang's death. And so he swore to avenge him and allied with Jinlun Fawang.

Later on, Yang Guo found Xiao Longnu in Jueqing Valley, where he was led to by a group of men who captured Zhou Botong. However, Xiao Longnu pretended not to know him and was getting ready to marry the Lord of Jueqing Valley, Gongsun Zhi. This crushed Yang Guo to the very core and when she saw how much she was hurting him and that he truly loved her, she resolved to admit that she really was Xiao Longnu and that she loved him.

Gongsun Zhi, however, was enraged that Xiao Longnu didn't want to marry him anymore and ordered the both of them to be captured. In captivity, the both of them was poisoned by the Qing Hua, a kind of poison that reacted inside lovesicks. Wanting to save Yang Guo, Xiao Longnu agreed to marry Gongsun Zhi. Yang Guo was freed by Gongsun Lu'er however, and he saved Xiao Longnu from the marriage.

The only antidote was with Qiu Qianchi, who wanted Huang Rong and Guo Jing's heads for killing Qiu Qianran. So Yang Guo was asked to do so to get the antidote. Wanting to avenge his father anyway, Yang Guo agreed to return with their heads. However, in Xiang Yang, Yang Guo witnessed how patriotic Guo Jing was and resolved not to kill him. Xiao Longnu, on the other hand, helped Huang Rong gave birth to Guo Xiang, and then stole the baby to be traded with the antidote.

In the midst of all the confusion when the Mongolians attacked Xiang Yang, and with the Wu brothers fighting over Guo Fu, and with Li Mochou fighting Xiao Longnu, everyone got separated. Yang Guo ended telling the Wu brothers that he was going to marry Guo Fu to prevent their fight, and Xiao Longnu overhearing this, got broken-hearted once more. She got another devastating hit when she found out that it was Yin Zhiping who had violated her instead of Yang Guo. In a trance, she couldn't face Yang Guo and left to wander around and vowed revenge on Yin Zhiping.

Yang Guo, who was injured from fighting with Jinlun Fawang and Li Mochou, woke up to find his Gu Gu gone and was grieving when Guo Fu came in and yelled at him for what he said to the Wu brothers as they were ignoring her afterwards. Enraged because Guo Fu insulted Xiao Longnu, Yang Guo slapped her and she then mindlessly cut off his arm, causing him to almost die. Luckily he was saved by a big condor, who then revealed to him the secret of Dugu Qiubai.

Xiao Longnu had followed Yin Zhiping from Xiang Yang all the way to Chongyang Temple, where the Quanzhen students were under attack by Mongolians. In the midst of the fight, Xiao Longnu accidentally got hit by the five Quanzhen elders and fell down. Yang Guo, who happened to see this, got very angry and wanted to kill the Quanzhen elders for revenge. Xiao Longnu however stopped him and told him that she wanted to die anyway. She then told him about having been violated by Yin Zhiping, and this enraged Yang Guo, who wanted to kill Yin Zhiping, who had already plunged himself into Xiao Longnu's sword out of guilt.

To convince Xiao Longnu how much he loved her and how he didn't care about what Yin Zhiping had done to her, Yang Guo asked her to be his wife right then and there in Chongyang Temple. Witnessed by the reluctant Sun Bu'er, Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu knelt before the portrait of Wang Chongyang and proclaimed themselves husband and wives before kowtowing three times.

When both of them got back to the Ancient Tomb, Xiao Longnu's conditions had gotten worse. First she was poisoned by the Qing Hua, and then she received the powerful hit from the five Quanzhen elders, and if that's not enough, Guo Fu accidentally hit her with one of Li Mochou's poisoned needles. She was helpless and there was no cure for her, as the only antidote for Yang Guo was in the hands of Gongsun Zhi.

When Xiao Longnu finally succeeded in obtaining the only antidote for Yang Guo, it was just enough for one person and could not help two people. So Yang Guo just threw away the antidote knowing he couldn't live alone without Xiao Longnu. They then decided to spend their last few days living side by side and then die together.

Huang Rong finally figured out an antidote for Yang Guo, but yet there was none for Xiao Longnu. She informed Xiao Longnu of this news. Wanting to keep Yang Guo alive, she left him a writing on a rock on Jueqing Valley saying that she had left and will be back in sixteen years. In the meantime, Yang Guo should take the antidote for his poison and stay alive to wait for her. In truth, knowing there was no cure for herself, Xiao Longnu jumped of the Jueqing Valley cliff, and killed herself so that Yang Guo was willing to drink the antidote.

Huang Rong suspected that Xiao Longnu had killed herself to make Yang Guo eat the antidote. Afraid Yang Guo might kill himself if he realized that, she told him that Xiao Longnu had gone with the Nan Hai Seng Nu to be her disciple and should Yang Guo try to get her, she would get very angry and refuse to teach Xiao Longnu.

Time passed by, and sixteen years had passed by. During this sixteen-year, Yang Guo had developed to be the greatest fighter, and known as the one-armed Condor Hero Yang Guo, doing good deeds here and there, earning respects from all, while waiting patiently for the day he was supposed to meet his wife again in Jueqing Valley.

The day before he was supposed to meet Xiao Longnu had come, and he was having small talk with Huang Yaoshi, whom when asked about the Nan Hai Seng Nu, did not have a clue about her. Yang Guo then realized he'd been lied to for sixteen years. His wife actually had died leaving him sixteen years ago. How scolded himself for being so stupid. The next day however, with high hopes, he still waited at the Jueqing Valley for Xiao Longnu to show up. He waited from dawn till dusk through the morning after. The hair on his temples turned white overnight thinking about his beloved wife.

His devastation was very deep as he read her written words over and over again. He even had hallucinations of Xiao Longnu sixteen years ago before jumping off the cliff saying, "In sixteen years, you'll have forgotten about me." He yelled back to the mirage, "Do you think in sixteen years I'll have forgotten about you? I will never forget you!" And when he saw the mirage jumping down the cliff, without even thinking, he jumped right after it.

Instead of rocks at the bottom of the cliff, killing Yang Guo, it was water. So Yang Guo was swimming deeper and deeper until he arose on the other side of the cliff, revealing an opening area. There were tress, grass, and then... a house! Getting his hopes up higher and higher he was thinking that Xiao Longnu hadn't died and that maybe she was living right there.

Sure enough, when he stepped inside the house, it looked well-made and clean. And then he saw a rope hanging on between the walls, which was how Xiao Longnu always slept. When he stepped out of the room, he saw her back turning around. For a moment they both shared a glorious moment together. He was so happy that she hadn't died and that he finally met her again. They each said each other's names. Yang Guo pointed out that Xiao Longnu hadn't changed or aged one bit, and then looked down feeling embarrassed. Xiao Longnu promptly said, "You have grown up..."

For a while at the bottom of the cliff, they both exchanged stories of how their lives had been without each other. In fact, Xiao Longnu's poisons in her body have disapparated from eating honey from her bees and fish from the sea. But she couldn't find a way to get back up when she was finally healthy. Then they finally flew up with the condor.

After having helped Guo Jing and the others defending the Xiang Yang Fortress from the Mongolian army, and after killing Hu Bilie, the Mongolian prince, Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu finally embarked on their journey together to live life ordinarily and away from the world. They lived happily ever after and was never heard of again.

Note: It is suspected that the lady with no name with great kungfu in the yellow dress who shows up twice in HSDS, one was exposing the fake Gai Bang leader, and one defeating Zhou Zhiruo at the lion killing meeting, is in fact Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu's daughter. This is never confirmed.


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Blog EntryJan 27, '06 6:57 PM
for everyone

Description from yesasia.com, this CLASSIC DVD WILL BE RELEASED ON 10TH FEBRUARY 2006 IN HONGKONG AND OTHER ASIAN COUNTRIES:

http://global.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/code-c/section-videos/pid-1004094598/

"Like all swordplay novels by Jin Yong (whose real name being Louis Cha), The Return of the Condor Heroes has been adapted to numerous TV dramas and films throughout the past few decades. Many actors and actresses, such as Louis Koo and Carmen Lee, Richie Jen and Jacklyn Wu, have stared as the forbidden couple in the novel, but none can impressed the audience to such a great extent as Andy Lau and Idy Chan in the 1983 TVB version. Its high audience share, reportedly reaching a record-breaking 90% once, has already proved its allure. The Return of the Condor Heroes may be regarded as the best and most representative TV series by the top Hong Kong star Andy Lau, who was still a young boy back then. This classic title now comes back on DVD with English subtitles! Most of the scenes deleted in the VCD version are now added back for fans to have a fuller enjoyment of this classic.

The production team of this drama was also the most formidable one that could be gathered in Hong Kong at the time. The director was Wong Tim Lam, a famous filmmaker since the 1950s and recently he got nominated for the Best Supporting Actor in the Golden Horse Awards 2005 for Election. The now renowned producer Wai Ka Fai served as the scriptwriter, and Ching Siu Tung, action director for popular movies such as House of Flying Daggers, was responsible for the action choreography in The Return of the Condor Heroes. The combined efforts of the outstanding production team and the irreplaceable cast made this version the best-received one among all the TV adaptations of The Return of the Condor Heroes. "

 

Alex's opinion:
Finally, my favorite classic show is out on DVD soon, WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES which is a plus for those who can't understand Chinese. They added back the scenes which was cut from the VCD version so you get more from this DVD version. Although there are a lot of make up scenes which wasn't in the novel e.g. the crystal healing by Zhou Bo Tong, they really add to the show's enjoyment. And of course, who can forget Andy Lau & Idy Chan as the eternal couple Yang Guo & Xiao long Nu.

The only drawback is that it has 10 DVDs in its collection, which makes for a whopping US$149.99 as a cost for buying this. Oh well, I hope they remastered it. There are also other TVB series whom recently being made into DVD with Englsih subs. Let's hope we see more of them in the future.

P.S.: The image that I posted here came from the DVD version. I have updated it!


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Blog EntryJan 21, '06 7:32 AM
for everyone

Relating to my review on Return on Condor Heroes, I decided to put a special section for the main character Yang Guo and Xiao Long Nu (little dragon lady). This page is for Yang Guo.

The following details below are taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Guo

The fictional character Yang Guo (Traditional Chinese: 楊過; Simplified Chinese: 杨过) is the protagonist in the 1959 Chinese wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes by Jinyong.

One of the best-loved characters in writer Louis Cha's list of fictional heroes, Yang Guo came to epitomize youthful rebellion. A reluctant hero, his love affair with his teacher Xiaolongnü remains one of the classic love stories in wuxia fiction.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Story Background

The background of the novel was set towards the end of Southern Song dynasty in the mid 13th century. The son of the villain, Yang Kang in Louis Cha's previous novel in the trilogy, Yang Guo was an orphan who was later brought up by his father's sworn brother, Guo Jing. Yang Guo came from a historic pedigree in Chinese history despite his father's villainy. His grandfather, Yang Tiexin's forebear was one of the 108 heroes of Mt. Liang, who in turn was directly descended from the famous Yang Family Generals, who had shed five generations worth of blood defending the Song dynasty. These five generations, from Duke Yang Ye who had served under Song Taizu to Yang Zaixing who had died fighting for Marshal Yue Fei at the Xiaoshang River against the Jin, are true historical figures.

Midway in the novel, Yang Guo fell in love with his teacher, Xiaolongnü. This relationship was highly controversial. In fact, such teacher-student love was forbidden in Confucian feudal Chinese society. At the end of the novel, they were able to overcome pressure and were accepted as a couple.

Yang Guo's Martial Arts

As a teenager, Yang Guo met a lot of highly-skilled martial artists and he was fortunate enough to learn their skills. With the various types of martial arts that he learnt, he eventually created his own unique technique, the Melacholic Palms. With this skill and his profound knowledge of martial arts, he stood without peer in his generation and was eventually honoured with a position among the Five Greats, West Passionate, taking the place of Ouyang Feng.

West Poison (西毒)

At the beginning of the story, Yang Guo met a strange old man, who turned out to be the crazed Ouyang Feng, also known as the West Poison. Ouyang Feng taught the boy the Divine Toad Stance (Ha Ma Gong).

Quanzhen Foundation (全真教)

Guo Jing, Yang Guo's surrogate uncle later brought the boy to the top of Zhong Nan mountain where the famed Taoist temple, Chong Yang Palace Shrine stood. Yang Guo was made the disciple of a third-generation Quan Zhen Sect (All True Religion) Taoist, Zhao Zhijing. Yang Guo had seen Guo Jing defeat the Quan Zhen priests earlier in the story, so he began to look down on Quan Zhen martial arts. This mentality and other incidents caused Zhao Zhijing to begin discriminating against Yang Guo. However, since Zhao Zhijing's master had ordered him to train the boy, Yang Guo's master came up with a devious plan. Instead of teaching him practical martial arts, Zhao Zhijing only got Yang Guo to recite martial art cultivation verses. In the end, Yang Guo remembered all the verses but he could not apply them and was unable to put them to good use. As a result, everyone in Quan Zhen Sect thought that Yang Guo was lazy and unwilling to learn.

Ancient Tomb Sect Kung Fu (古墓派功夫)

Later, Yang Guo expelled himself from Quan Zhen Sect because he was bullied and ill-treated. He came to live in the Ancient Tomb with Xiaolongnü who was the grand-disciple of the deceased Grand Ancestress Lin Chaoying, founder of the Ancient Tomb Sect. From Xiao Long Nuu, Yang Guo learnt the elegant and graceful martial arts of the Ancient Tomb Sect. They include the Unparalleled Lightness of Ancient Tomb, the Fist of Beauties, the Palm of Infinity supplied with the Gloves of White Silver, the Long Sash of Gold Bells, the Gold Needles of Jade Bee and the most of powerful of Ancient Tomb Sect's, the "Jade Maiden Sword Play".

After learning the first level of the Jade Maiden Swordplay, which consisted of the basics, Xiao Long Nuu and Yang Guo advanced to the second level where they had to learn Quan Zhen martial arts. Since the Jade Maiden Swordplay was meant to counter Quan Zhen martial arts, Xiao Long Nuu and Yang Guo needed to know Quan Zhen martial arts in order to effectively neutralise it. Since Xiao Long Nuu's teacher had died when she was still very young, there was no one who could impart to her the full set of Quan Zhen Sect skills. Here, Yang Guo's knowledge of the verses behind Quan Zhen martial arts was crucial. He recited the verses from memory and Xiao Long Nuu was able to comprehend the martial arts theory behind it and the both of them were able to master Quan Zhen's skills. Finally, in the third and final level, Xiao Long Nuu and Yang Guo mastered the Jade Maiden Swordplay. This swordplay was extremely powerful but since it was not created as a killing technique, it was not very deadly.

The Dog Beating Bamboo Rod (打狗棒法)

Due to a misunderstanding, Xiaolongnü left Yang Guo. In his search for his master, Yang Guo meets the nine-fingered old man, Hong Qi Gong, who is known as the Northern Beggar (Bei Gai) and is the former chief of Beggar Sect. During this time, Yang Guo and Hong Qi Gong came face to face with the insane Ouyang Feng. Ouyang Feng and Hong Qi Gong fought each other in an internal energy battle, where only the stronger fighter survived and the weaker fighter died. In the end, both of them exhuasted their internal energy but were not ready to admit that they had lost. They decided to impart each of their techniques to Yang Guo so that Yang Guo could perform the techniques for the other to see. From Hong Qi Gong, Yang Guo learned the clever and ingenious variations of the Dog Beating Stick and he also acquired the vengeful and malevolent Snake Staff Techniques from Ouyang Feng. However, Yang Guo did not comprehend full Dog Beating Bamboo Rod technique from Hong Qi Gong. He did not get the internal energy formulation from him. Later in the novel, it was Huang Rong, who succeeded Hong Qi Gong as the leader of the Beggar Clan, who taught him the rest.

Dugu Qiubai's Sword Techniques (独孤求败剑法)

Later in the novel, Guo Fu, Guo Jing's spoiled daughter chopped off Yang Guo's right arm in a fit of rage. Finding his way back to Condor Valley, Yang Guo befriended the legendary condor, which he had met earlier in the story. The condor had once been a companion of the Demonic Swordsman, Dugu Qiu Bai. The condor helped Yang Guo recover from his injuries and Yang Guo felt an affinity between the condor and himself. After Yang Guo had fully recovered, the condor led him to Dugu Qiu Bai's sword tomb.

When Dugu Qiubai roamed the martial arts world, he was unbeatable (Some readers have speculated that when he was in his twenties, he had even beaten the inventor of the Jiuyin Manual). Although this mysterious figure had created a set of formidable sword techniques, he was unable to find opponents to duel with. As a result, he died a lonely man, leaving behind three swords. He had abandoned the first sword in a valley because he had accidentally injured a rightgeous man with it. The second sword was the Heavy Iron Sword, which was well suited for executing simple and powerful techniques. The third and final sword was a wooden sword because Dugu Qiubai had attained such a high martial arts level and he could use anything as a sword. Dugu Qiubai also mentioned that he was seeking to find a way to "overcome the sword without a sword". Whether he succeeded or not is debatable.

In order to wield Dugu Qiu Bai's Heavy Iron Sword with one arm, Yang Guo trained relentlessly with the help of the condor. The condor offered Yang Guo gall bladders of golden snakes to boost his internal strength and brought him to a waterfall to train. With the Heavy Iron Sword, Yang Guo managed to defeat a group of elite pugilists on Zhong Nan Mountain. After his seperation from Xiaolongnu, Yang Guo returned to Condor Valley and decided that he was ready to take up the wooden sword. As the wooden sword was much more fragile than the Heavy Iron Sword, Yang Guo needed a lot more skill and internal strength to wield it. He trained the condor using the wooden sword and after more than seven years, he felt that he had fully mastered Dugu Qiu Bai's sword techniques (This is questionable because Yang Guo broke his sword in his final confrontation with the Golden Wheel Monk). Despite these minor controversies, Yang Guo is widely considered to be the best swordsman of the Trilogy.

Melancholic Palms (黯然銷魂掌)

During the 16 years Yang Guo spent waiting for Xiaolongnü, his great sadness drove him to create a set of palm techniques which he later called the Divine Melancholic Palms (An Ran Xiao Hun Zhang Fa). It was the only palm technique that rivalled Guo Jing's powerful Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms (Xiang Long Shi Ba Zhang). The Divine Melancholic Palms incorporated all the martial arts that Yang Guo had learnt in his lifetime, which included the skills of martial arts masters like Huang Yaoshi, Ouyang Feng, Hong Qi Gong and the skills of different schools like Quanzhen Sect and Ancient Tomb Sect, as well as some of the techniques in the Jiuyin Manual.

This palm technique was based on emotion. The more dejected Yang Guo felt, the more powerful the palm technique became. With this palm technique, Yang Guo sparred with two martial arts masters, Zhou Botong and Huang Yaoshi. Although their duels more or less ended in a draw, the two martial arts masters praised Yang Guo's genius in creating this set of powerful palm techniques (In fact, Zhou Botong went down on his knees to beg Yang Guo to teach him the Divine Melancholic Palms but because Zhou Botong could not grasp the theory of the emotion behind the technique, he was unable to master it).

In his battle against the Golden Wheel Monk, Yang Guo was unable to fully muster the power of the technique because he was overjoyed after his reunion with Xiao Long Nuu. However, at the verge of death, he was saddened by the fact that he would not be able to see her again and the power of the Divine Melancholic Palms returned, allowing him to hold off the Golden Wheel Monk.

Notable actors played Yang Guo

  • Andy Lau
  • Louis Koo
  • Christopher Lee Meng Soon
  • Huang Xiao Ming

 


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Blog EntryJan 21, '06 7:25 AM
for everyone

Relating to my review on Return on Condor Heroes, I decided to put a special section for the main character Yang Guo and Xiao Long Nu (little dragon lady). This page is for Xiao Long Nu.

The following details below are taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiaolongnu

The fictional character Xiaolongnü or Xiaolongnuu (Trad. Chinese:小龍女;; Simp. Chinese: 小龙女; lit. 'little dragon girl' ) is a character from the Chinese wuxia novel The Great Eagle and Lovers (Shen Diao Xia Lü), 1959, by writer Louis Cha under the pen name, Jinyong.

Xiaolongnü was an orphan picked up by Granny Sun when she was still an infant. She was raised by Lin Chaoying's disciple and became the third generation disciple of the secret Ancient Tomb Sect (Gumu Pai).

The Ancient Tomb Sect (Gumu Pai) is a kung fu school founded by Grand Ancestress Lin Chaoying. As all the disciples of Ancient Tomb were females, the kung fu of this Sect is elegant, graceful, light, beautiful and appears harmless to outsiders.

The History of Xiaolongnü's Kung Fu

According to the book, the Grand Ancestress of Ancient Tomb Sect Kung Fu, Lin Chaoying was one of the foremost martial artists of Jiang Hu at the time. No one was her match except the revered Taoist, Grand Elder Wang ChongYang, who founded the Taoist philosophy of Quanzhen sect (All True Religion). Although the two of them had been in love with one another, their great level of kung fu and egoism made them rivals and both ended up in a bitter-sweet ending.

The Strange Duel

In a story told by one of the Seven Elders of Quanzhen, Qiu Chuji, it was said that before Grand Ancestress Lin disappeared from the face of Jiang Hu, she and Elder Wang who still went by the name Wang Ji had a strange duel. Lin Chaoying won that duel and as her prize, she took the tomb built by Wang and spent the rest of her life there. As a result of his losing the bet Wang Ji was, at first, forced to become a Taoist priest, Wang Chongyang. But as he gained more understanding he created a temple nearby in Zhong Nan mountain which became the famous Chong Yang Palace.

The First Generation of Ancient Tomb

When Lin Chaoying entered the tomb, she had a young maid (whose name is unknown). The maid became her first disciple but because Grand Ancestress Lin laid down rules that her disciples should never leave the Ancient Tomb, the enchanting martial art of their Sect was never heard in Jiang Hu. The young maid later became the Master of Li Mochou and Xiaolongnü.

The Infamous Li Mochou

Li Mochou was the infamous third-generation disciple of Gumu Pai and was recruited by the young maid who became a Master herself after Grand Ancestress Lin passed away. Because she was the first disciple, she was senior to Xiaolongnü.

When she was younger, Li Mochou met Lu Zhanyuan of the famous martial arts family, the House of Lu. Falling in love with him, she intentionally disobeyed her master and left the gumu (ancient tomb) to be with him. As a result, her master expelled her from the sect. Later Lu Zhanyuan married another girl, He Yuanjuan instead, who was the foster daughter of martial arts experts, Wu Santong and his wife, Wu San Niang.

The first chapters of the book, Shen Diao Xia Lü (The Return of the Condor Heroes) retold how Li Mochou exacted vengeance on the Lu family some years after her lover Lu Zhanyuan and his wife died. After her act of murder, she kidnapped Lu Wushuang, Lu Zhanyuan's niece.

Li Mochou came to roam Jiang Hu and her ferocious, merciless cruelty earned her the nickname of Serpent Demon. But due to her beauty and her apparent youth, some people also referred to her as Serpent Deity. With her fearsome and deadly Palm of Divine Serpent, the Silver Needles of Freezing Soul and Fly Whisk, she massacred anyone who bore the surname of Lu and He as well as people who came her way.

Li Mochou took in a disciple by the name of Hong Ling Po whom she tasked to get the Jade Maiden Heart Manual of Gumu Pai Yu Nü Xin Jing. The plan failed when Xiaolongnü, with the help of her pupil Yang Guo, released a trap that would bury the tomb under the ground. But Li's conflicted nature did not allow her to let go of her hate and she relentlessly pursued Xiaolongnü and Yang Guo only to end up tragically in the Passionless Valley.

Her Defense Weapons & Techniques:

  1. Palm of Divine Serpent, a deadly technique that Li invented herself with essence of flame and contains venom extract from five most poisonous creature such as Centipede, Scorpion, Snake, Spider and Toad. Referring to The Manual of Five Venoms that Li experimented and wrote could only clear the poisons.
  2. The Silver Needles of Freezing Soul, one of the techniques Li inherited during her training in Ancient Tomb. The frozen ice poison was carefully absorbed into the needles. If one merely touched, although not pricked, any part of the needle, his/her palm would immediately turn black — a sign of fatal poison
  3. Fly Whisk, an item that usually own by a nun. This flexible technique too was inherited during her training in Ancient Tomb. This skill alongside the Palm of Divine Serpent, terrorises the realm of martial arts. It could kill anyone with a mere whisk and remove the weapon of the opponent. However, she used it to fan the baby Guo Xiang-- the only nice thing she did with her whisk.
  4. The Unparalleled Lightness of Ancient Tomb, the greatest of all.
  5. Triple Non-existing Hands, a skill she invented herself which she used against Yang Guo once. Comprises of vicious and cruel strikes.

The Dragon of Ancient Tomb

The junior disciple sister of Li Mochou has no name as she was an orphan, and was named Dragon (Long).

It was told that she was left outside the Chong Yang Palace by an unknown figure and was discovered by the Taoist priests when a loud cry broke the silence of the night. Before they could decide on the fate of the baby girl (since women are not allowed in the temple), a middle-aged woman appeared before them and brought the baby to gumu, the ancient tomb.

From a very young age, Xiaolongnü was taught all of Gumu Sect’s martial arts syllabus. After many years, she had successfully acquired all the essences of Gumu martial arts' techniques and skills -- the Unparalleled Lightness of Ancient Tomb, Swordplay of Jade Maiden, the Fist of Beauties, the Palm of Infinity Web, the Gloves of White Silver, the Long Sash of Gold Bells, the Gold Needles of Jade Bee and last but not least, the Scriptures of Jade Maiden.

After Li was expelled from the sect, Xiaolongnü became the successor to the Gumu Pai Sect. Xiaolongnü was unlike the erratic Li. She never left the tomb and grew up to be an innocent, seemingly vulnerable great beauty with inborn calmness, coldness (to the point of being unsociable), incurious and emotionless characteristics. Evidently, these were the prerequisites to master the martial arts, which Li lacked. She wore white long dresses which made her pale and bloodless features appear even paler and distinctively prettier - icy, fairy-like and ghostly.

Xiaolongnü inherited the tomb when she was fourteen after the passing of her Master and was accompanied by Grandma Sun, the old servant who took care of her since she was just a baby. Meanwhile, her senior disciple sister, Li Mochou was spreading rumours in Jiang Hu that in the event when Xiaolongnü turned 18, she would marry the man who defeated her and bestow upon him the Jade Maiden Heart Manual. Hearing of this tall tale, the Mongolian Prince Huo Du and his disciple brother, Da Er Ba came to Zhong Nan Mountain, raiding the Chong Yang Palace Shrine with some anonymous men from Jiang Hu.

Guo Jing, with his young surrogate nephew Yang Guo in tow, came just at that moment. Guo Jing defeated Huo Du and sent them running towards the nearby ancient tomb. But they were stopped from entering when a swarm of jade bees attacked them. The jade bees appeared to be controlled by Long from inside with the use of the zither.

When Grandma Sun was mortally wounded by Hao Datong, one of the Seven Immortal Elders of Quanzhen, she made Xiaolongnü grant her deathbed wish to take care of Yang Guo. Her original intention was to pair them up as a couple but she didn't finish her last words so Xiaolongnü took Yang Guo in as her disciple.

Xiaolongnü taught most of what she knew of her own kung fu to Yang Guo. Later in the story, Xiaolongnü acquired a new skill called The Technique of Ambidexterity. This was taught by the mischievous, Zhou Botong. She learnt to wield two swords and executed two distinct techniques flawlessly - the Jade Maiden Sword Technique and the QuanZhen Sword Technique at the same time. This enable her to fight six great martial arts masters at the same time.

Her Defense Weapons & Techniques:

  1. Swordplay of Jade Maiden, the impetuous swordplay inherited during her training in Ancient Tomb.
  2. The Fist of Beauties, a seemingly graceful and harmless technique created by assimilating the characteristic gestures of famous beauties in the past dynasties.
  3. The Palm of Infinity Web, this major swift defensive technique was a gigantic invisible web executed to trap and blur an enemy’s weapons and advances.
  4. The Gloves of White Silver, the gloves were made from white silver that were invulnerable and could break any sharp weapons.
  5. The Long Sash of Gold Bells, was a favorite and flexible technique that Long used for short and long distance attacks. Two gold bells were tied at each end of the sash and were hidden in the sleeves. It was only unsheathed by flapping the sleeves. The rhythmic and random ringing sound of the bells served as a distraction while the bells themselves were used to tap and seal opponent's significant and exposed nerve points. This technique had weakening and paralyzing effects . The velocity was unbelievable.
  6. The Gold Needles of Jade Bee, one of the techniques Long inherited during her training in Gumu Pai Sect. The venom of a rare breed Jade Bees was carefully absorbed into the needles made of purely 100% heavy gold and the degree of poison was greater than that of Li's Soul Freezing Needles and others.
  7. Jade Bees, the only animated weapon that could only attack when instructed by a music instrument, rhythmic whistles and of course, honey which she kept in a jar that was always with her.
  8. The Unparalleled Lightness of Ancient Tomb, the greatest of all.

The Dragon's Disciple

Yang Guo first met Xiaolongnü while she was playing the zither in the tomb. He saw her again when Grandma Sun brought him inside the tomb to treat his wounds. Due to the maltreatments he suffered at the hands of Zhao Zhijing, Yang Guo developed a hatred for Quanzhen. Using a stance taught to him by Ouyang Feng, Yang Guo fought against a senior Taoist, causing serious injuries. Because of this, he ran away from Chong Yang Palace and came to Gumu Pai.

Gumu Pai sect considered itself a rival of Quanzhen and the relationship between the disciples of both schools had always been strained. Grandma Sun sympathized with Yang Guo but Xiaolongnü did not want anything to do with him. She told Grandma Sun to return the boy to Chong Yang Palace but once they got there, the Taoists began insulting Yang Guo, which in turn raised the old maid's ire. The result was a deadly duel between her and one of the Elder Taoists Hao Datong. Grandma Sun was mortally wounded before Xiaolongnü came. She took Grandma Sun back to the tomb, after defeating Hao Datong by breaking his sword.

Later on, Xiaolongnü was forced to take Yang Guo in as a disciple due to a promise she made to Grandma Sun.

Adaptations

Notable actresses who played Xiaolongnü:

  • Idy Chan
  • Carman Lee
  • Fann Wong
  • Liu Yifei

Alternative Meanings

Xiaolongnü (小龙女) is also a somewhat derogatory slur used in Singapore referring to a recent wave of single female Mainland Chinese immigrants to the country.


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Blog EntryOct 8, '05 7:36 PM
for everyone

Yesterday was a great day for me! I went into the Animania Festival ’05 on the Town Hall Building. After sacrificing my $30 just to get in there, I finally get to chance to experience what it’s all about. The venue wasn’t big but it has lots of things going on.

The first one I see is the main hall where they got all the previews for future anime titles e.g. Naruto, InuYasha, Gravion Zwei, etc. Please note that these titles were still new in Sydney and might already be available for a long time in other countries so don’t be surprised. Still, most people are aware of it and many of them wear costumes based on them.

 

Other attraction include:

- Art Gallery where the manga artists taught us how to draw anime characters.

- Anime representatives from UTS, UNSW & University of Sydney offering memberships & merchandises.

- Karaoke lounge where you can sing your favorite anime theme, with subtitles of course.

- There’s another screening room at the far end, showing some episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist. I watched it for a while then I left.

- Down at the basement, there’s a bazaar where stores like comic kingdom, model store, and many more sell their items at a marked down price. The best store I ever come across is Madman simply because their stores are normally online and they have great products. I bought the Cosplay Hat of Pucca character from Excel Saga and it has a high quality fabric & texture.

 

Of course the best of this event was the Cosplays (Costume Play where people dress up as their favorite characters). I took LOTS of photos with them (I’ll post them in my Photos section) and it’s very fun knowing them. As an anime freak myself, I felt right at home with them, exchanging our thoughts about anime issues. You have to see my gallery for that. None of my explanations could do them justice.

 

From 3 PM to 5 PM, we see the Cosplay competition where every Cosplay gives their best performance of the character. Some were downright hilarious and they always had a good time doing it. Some costumes like Baphomet from Ragnarok took even 6 months to make! The winners of this competition were Yuna from FFX & Baphomet from Ragnarok which I also took photos of.

 

From 5 to 6 PM, the band Halcyon plays anime music. Nothing too special about them but I guess we always need a music event.  Afterwards, we have Animania Olympia from 6 to 7 PM which is the final event. There, we are divided into 2 teams – Team Alpha (I’m in here) & Pocky and compete against each other by playing:

- Pictodictionary where the representatives from both teams drew a picture and we have to guess which character/item was in the picture.

- Anime trivia, - test your anime knowledge against each other.

- Ringtone - guess which anime series the ringtone came from.

- The price is right – sort the times from the least expensive to the most expensive.

 

Needless to say, my team won the game! And our representatives got great prices! Finally, after being there from 1 PM to & PM, we all went home, satisfied that for we can share our passion for anime together. There’s another event this Sunday which is more or less the same as the one in Saturday, so I won’t attend it. If you like anime like me, I really recommend you to go for it. The $30 ticket price does not compare to the excitement that you’re going to treasure for a lifetime. I know I will!

 

Aagain please also check my gallery in the Photos section later today. You're gonna love it!


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Blog EntryOct 3, '05 12:58 AM
for everyone

Last Sunday I spent some time experiencing the Darling Harbour Fiesta 2005 which is the yearly Latin American festival.

They got excellent range of foods (from Mexico, Peru, Colombian etc) like arepas con quezo, empanadas, churros, chivitos, paella etc. They also sold traditional crafts from every region.

But the live shows proves to be the best offering into Latin culture that I hoped for. I only watch several shows because I only came there at about 2 PM. They are:

1. Bandolero.  A great musician group who usually performed by request. THe main vocalist has a great voice. Although most of her songs are not original, she did a great job in making it sound better. They have an official site at www.bandolero.com.au

2. Jaime Jesus & Latin Dance Australia.  One of the biggest groups of Latin Dancers in Australia showed some of their best moves. They have the classic ballroom type dance and the modern dance one. The five-girls dancers was my favorite performers out of this segment. Official site: www.latindance.com.au/

3.Yauguru Candombe.  Was a traditional musical group from Uruguay. (Yauguru is Uruguay spelled backwards). The guys were beating drums with a blue uniform showing the sun emblem similar with Inca/Maya traditions. The girls on the other hand, dances throughout the stage. Some of them wear blue clothes like the men, while some wear cabaret-style dress which is very revealing. The dancers are also beautiful so most eyes including myself were aimed at them.

4. Mexican Dance Group.  I like this one because I've seen them in TV before. Even the songs themselves are familiar. One of the impressive performance require them to dance on top of wooden block while balancing the wine bottle on top of their head. Very good, the only thing missing is the live mariachis but I'm not complaining.

I only stayed until around 4 PM because it's too hot there and I gotta go somewhere. As I go, I noticed some people were dancing and the lady there gave us the vouchers. It's a free lesson offer from salsa republic (www.salsarepublic.com.au). I kept it, maybe I need it someday.

Overall, I truly enjoyed it and I hope I can see this again next year. 

Adios!


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Blog EntryMar 5, '05 6:18 AM
for everyone
Hi everyone,
This 7th of April there will be a new PS2 game based on the old Japanese anime series Saint Seiya (or Zodiac Warriors). The game itself is called Saint Seiya Chapter 1: Sanctuary, which dealt from the beginning until the climactic twelve palace run in the Sanctuary.

Official Bandai site is up but very little info on it for now. However, other Spanish game forum has lots of info on it.

Here are the confirmed characters as of now:
BRONZE SAINTS
- Pegasus Seiya
- Dragon Shiryu
- Cygnus (Swan) Hyoga
- Andromeda Shun
- Phoenix Ikki

SILVER SAINTS
- Aquila (Eagle) Marin, Seiya's teacher
- Ophiuchus (Cobra) Shaina
- Lacerta (Lizard) Misty

GOLD SAINTS
- Aries Mu
- Taurus Aldebaran
- Gemini Saga
- Cancer DeathMask
- Leo Aiolia
- Virgo Shaka
- Scorpio Milo
- Capricorn Shura
- Aquarius Camus
- Pisces Aphrodite

The link below has all of their pictures (look at the very last pic, you will see them all in one row)
http://www.cdz.com.br/Scripts/noticias/fullnews.php?id=1396

Other pictures for your enjoyment
http://ssiplanet.mctekk.com/noticias/fullnews.php?id=206

BTW, there are secret characters other than them. The Spanish site claims that there are more than 20 characters in the game while the ones shown here only amount to 18.

I leave all that for you to decide. Personally I would love to see Saori Athena, Unicorn Jabu, Docrates, Perseus Algol, Libra Dohko & Sagittarius saint (both Seiya & Aioros versions).

Seiya's old rival Cassios (whom he rip his ear off) also appeared in the pics, but I'm not sure if he's playable or not.
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Blog EntryOct 8, '04 10:19 AM
for everyone
Hi everyone, how was life?
I've recently worked as an administrative assistant in a small construction company down in Artarmon. I know t's gonna be a boring life from hereon but since I got paid, can't really complain can I?

Well, wish me luck on my new job everyone.
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Blog EntryAug 7, '04 3:18 AM
for everyone
Finally got time to write this down. I first joined multiply because of invitation from my friends and the fact that my previous friendster account always got problems. So far, it's been great although I'm still trying to work out the functions here. Let's hope it'll never become like friendster ^^.
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