Author | Jin Yong |
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Original title | 神鵰俠侶 |
Country | Hong Kong, China |
Language | Chinese |
Series | Condor Trilogy |
Genre | Wuxia, romance |
Publisher | Ming Pao |
Publication date | 20 May 1959 |
Media type | |
Preceded by | The Legend of the Condor Heroes |
Followed by | The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber |
The Return of the Condor Heroes | |||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 神鵰俠侶 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 神雕侠侣 | ||||||||||
Literal meaning | The Divine Eagle and the Heroic Couple | ||||||||||
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The Return of the Condor Heroes,also called The Giant Eagle and Its Companion, [1] [2] is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It is the second part of the Condor Trilogy and was preceded by The Legend of the Condor Heroes and followed by The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber . It was first serialised between 20 May 1959 and 5 July 1961 in the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao . [3]
The story revolves around the protagonist,Yang Guo,and his lover and martial arts master,Xiaolongnü,in their adventures in the jianghu (also called the wulin,the community of martial artists),where love between master and apprentice is seen as taboo. Jin Yong revised the novel in 1970 and again in 2004. There are 40 chapters in the second and third revisions. Each chapter has a title composed of four Chinese characters. Most of the revisions are either clarifications or minor alterations of character motivations or names. The Chinese title of the novel approximately translates to The Heroic Couple of the Godly Condor.
The protagonist,Yang Guo,is the orphaned son of Yang Kang,the antagonist in the previous novel. The couple Guo Jing and Huang Rong take care of Yang Guo for a short period of time before sending him to the Quanzhen School on Mount Zhongnan for better guidance in moral values and "orthodox" martial arts. In Quanzhen,Yang Guo is often picked on and bullied by his fellow students,and discriminated against by his master,Zhao Zhijing. Yang Guo flees from Quanzhen and ventures unknowingly into the nearby Tomb of the Living Dead,where the Ancient Tomb School is based. There,he meets Xiaolongnü,a mysterious maiden of unknown origin,and becomes her apprentice. They live together in the tomb for many years until Yang Guo grows up.
Yang Guo and Xiaolongnüdevelop romantic feelings for each other,but their romance is forbidden by the prevailing norms of the wulin (martial artists' community). Throughout the story,their love meets with several tests,such as the misunderstandings that threaten to tear them apart,and their encounter with Gongsun Zhi,whom Xiaolongnüalmost marries at one point. Finally,after their reunion and marriage,Xiaolongnüleaves Yang Guo again,owing to her belief she cannot recover from a fatal poison and promises to meet him again 16 years later,to prevent him from committing suicide. While Yang Guo is wandering the wulin alone,he meets several formidable martial artists and a giant eagle,and improves his skills tremendously after learning from them. His adventures gradually mould him into a courageous hero and perhaps the most powerful martial artist of his time. Yang Guo serves his native land by helping the ethnic Han people of the Song Empire resist invaders from the Mongol Empire,killing Möngke Khan at the Battle of Xiangyang. At the end of the novel,he is reunited with Xiaolongnüand they leave to lead the rest of their lives in seclusion after receiving praises and blessings from the wulin.
Year | Production | Main cast | Additional information |
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1960 | Emei Film Company (Hong Kong) | Patrick Tse,Nam Hung,Lam Kau,Chan Wai-yue | See The Great Heroes |
1982 | Shaw Brothers Studio (Hong Kong) | Alexander Fu,Philip Kwok,Gigi Wong,Lung Tien-hsiang,Lam Sau-kwan | See The Brave Archer and His Mate |
1983 | Leslie Cheung,Mary Jean Reimer,Chen Kuan-tai,Leanne Liu | See Little Dragon Maiden |
This section needs additional citations for verification .(January 2013) |
Asiapac Books acquired the rights to produce an illustrated version of the novel in 1995. The 18 volume comic series was illustrated by Wee Tian Beng and translated by Jean Lim with Jin Yong's approval. The lavishly illustrated series won the Prestigious Award in 1997 during the Asian Comics Conference held in South Korea.[ citation needed ] Notable deviations from the main story include funny strips that poke gentle fun at some of the story's events, in line with conventions of the comic book medium. The series was repackaged in 2021 and Asiapac produced a new limited collector's edition of the comic in both English and Chinese.
In 2002 ComicsOne published the first official English translation of Legendary Couple, a retelling of the novel. The comic series was illustrated by Wong Yuk-long while Jin Yong was credited as the writer.
In 1997, Softworld released a RPG based on the novel for DOS. The game is only available in Chinese and covers the first half of the novel to the point where Yang Guo meets the Condor. [4] In 2000, Interserv International Inc. published another video game adaptation using a 3D engine. [5]
Fu Tong Wong composed an 8-movement symphony Symphony: The Hero with Great Eagle based on the novel.
Louis Cha Leung-yung, better known by his pen name Jin Yong, was a Chinese wuxia novelist and essayist who co-founded the Hong Kong daily newspaper Ming Pao in 1959 and served as its first editor-in-chief. He was Hong Kong's most famous writer, and is named along with Gu Long and Liang Yusheng as the "Three Legs of the Tripod of Wuxia".
Wang Chongyang was a Chinese philosopher and poet. He was a Taoist master and one of the founders of the Quanzhen School in the 12th century during the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). He was one of the Five Northern Patriarchs of Quanzhen. He also appears as a character in works of wuxia fiction.
Yang Guo, courtesy name Gaizhi, is the fictional protagonist of the wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong.
Xiaolongnü is the fictional female protagonist of the wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. In the novel, her physical appearances is described as follows: "skin as white as snow, beautiful and elegant beyond convention and cannot be underestimated, but appears cold and indifferent". She trains the protagonist Yang Guo in martial arts, and they eventually fall in love.
The Legend of the Condor Heroes(Chinese:射鵰英雄傳)is a wuxia novel by Chinese writer Jin Yong. It is the first part of the Condor Trilogy and is followed by The Return of the Condor Heroes and The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. It was first serialised between 1 January 1957 and 19 May 1959 in Hong Kong Commercial Daily. Jin Yong revised the novel twice, first in the 1970s and later in the 2000s. The English title is imprecise since neither species of the condor, the Andean condor and Californian condor, is native to China.
Guo Jing is the fictional protagonist of the wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. He also appears as a supporting character in the sequel, The Return of the Condor Heroes, and is mentioned by name in The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. He is a descendant of Guo Sheng, one of the 108 outlaws from Mount Liang in the classical novel Water Margin. Guo Jing and Yang Kang were both named by Qiu Chuji, who urges them to remember the Jingkang Incident and be loyal towards their native land, the Song Empire. Guo Jing is killed during the Battle of Xiangyang along with the rest of his family except his younger daughter, Guo Xiang.
The Legend of Condor Hero is a Japanese/Hong Kongese anime adaptation of The Return of the Condor Heroes, a wuxia novel by Louis Cha.
The Return of the Condor Heroes is a Singaporean television series adapted from Louis Cha's novel of the same title. It was broadcast from 2 June to 27 July 1998 on TCS Eighth Frequency in Singapore and was later released on other Asian television networks.
The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, also translated as The Sword and the Knife, is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong and the third part of the Condor Trilogy, preceded by The Legend of the Condor Heroes and The Return of the Condor Heroes. It was first serialised from 6 July 1961 to 2 September 1963 in the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao.
The Condor Trilogy (射鵰三部曲) is a series of three wuxia novels written by Hong Kong-based Chinese writer Jin Yong. The series is amongst the most popular of Jin Yong's works.
Mei Chaofeng, original name Mei Ruohua, is a character in the wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. She was the fourth disciple of Huang Yaoshi. She was known as the Iron Corpse (鐵屍) due to her dark complexion and rigid appearance. She, along with her eloped husband Chen Xuanfeng, were despised by the martial arts community for unethical behaviour. She later become the teacher of Yang Kang. She died in battle against Ouyang Feng while attempting to save her teacher, Huang Yaoshi.
The Return of the Condor Heroes is a 2006 Chinese television series adapted from Louis Cha's novel of the same title. It is the second instalment of a trilogy produced by Zhang Jizhong, preceded by The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2003) and followed by The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (2009). It was first broadcast on 17 March 2006 in China and subsequently broadcast in other Asian countries such as South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.
Zhou Botong is a fictional character in the wuxia novels The Legend of the Condor Heroes and The Return of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. A member of the Quanzhen School, he is highly-skilled in martial arts, having been trained by his senior, Wang Chongyang, the school's founder. Although he is already in his old age, he is still known for behaving childishly and constantly seeking fun, hence he is nicknamed "Old Imp". At the end of the second novel, he takes the central position of the Five Greats, the five most powerful martial artists in the jianghu, to replace his deceased senior.
Ouyang Feng is a fictional character in the wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes and its sequel, The Return of the Condor Heroes, by Jin Yong. He is the "Western Venom" of the Five Greats of the wulin during the Song dynasty, alongside Wang Chongyang, Hong Qigong, Huang Yaoshi and Duan Zhixing. Ouyang Feng is best known for his signature martial arts technique, the Toad Skill, and his expertise in toxicology. In the first novel, he is depicted as a ruthless villain who resorts to all sorts of unscrupulous means to achieve his goal of becoming the most powerful martial artist in the jianghu. He attempts to seize the Nine Yin Manual, a book detailing powerful martial arts and inner energy techniques, but is tricked into practising skills based on a corrupted version of the manual. He becomes insane eventually as a consequence, but his prowess in martial arts also increases tremendously in an unorthodox manner. In the sequel, Ouyang Feng accepts Yang Guo as his godson and teaches him the Toad Skill. Later in the novel, he dies in the midst of laughter and forgotten past feuds alongside his rival, Hong Qigong. He is buried on Mount Hua beside Hong Qigong by Yang Guo, who succeeds him as the "Western Eccentric" of the new Five Greats.
Heroes of Jin Yong, first published in 1996, is a tactical role-playing game based on the storyline and characters in Jin Yong's Wuxia novels, developed by Heluo Studio.
The Wudang School, sometimes also referred to as the Wu-Tang Clan, is a fictional martial arts school mentioned in several works of wuxia fiction. It is commonly featured as one of the leading orthodox schools in the wulin. It is named after the place it is based, the Wudang Mountains.
The Ancient Tomb School is a fictional martial arts school in the wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. It plays a significant role in the early development of the protagonists, Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü. It was named after its base, the Ancient Tomb (古墓) in Mount Zhongnan.
The Mount Hua Sect, also known as the Huashan Sect, is a fictional martial arts sect mentioned in several works of wuxia fiction. It is commonly featured as one of the leading orthodox sects in the wulin. It is named after the place where it is based, Mount Hua. The sect appears in three of Jin Yong's novels.
The Romance of the Condor Heroes is a 2014–15 Chinese television series produced by Yu Zheng and adapted from Jin Yong's novel The Return of the Condor Heroes, with additional material from the preceding novel, The Legend of the Condor Heroes. It stars Chen Xiao and Michelle Chen in the lead roles. The series was first broadcast on Hunan TV from 3 December 2014 to 11 March 2015.