And now we are back in Hong Kong. Just as the first review in this series presents an adaptation of the first novel, Shè Diāo Yīngxióng Zhuàn, the final review also presents an adaptation of Shè Diāo Yīngxióng Zhuàn.
Example Scene
Here, Yang Kang tells Mu Nianci what he plans to do.
Mu Nianci expresses her opinion of Yang Kang’s plans.
That knife is a great metaphor for their destructive relationship. These two hurt each other a lot … and yet they hold on. Furthermore, it is Yang Kang, not Mu Nianci, who is bleeding. Ultimately, Yang Kang pays the heavier price for this romance. I am not sure whether or not that is their father’s knife (note: this is not incest; she’s adopted, he’s biological, and they didn’t even know about each other’s existence until they were teenagers) but if it is, then that makes the metaphor perfect.
Look at that gloriously bloody hand!
Mu Nianci runs away. But it’s too late.
About Lee Chi-Ching
Lee Chi-Ching, while lacking the stature of Tony Wong and Ma Wing-Shing, is yet another of Hong Kong’s most popular manhua artists. He has the distinction of being the first Hong Kong manhua artist to have his work published in Japanese, and to the best of my knowledge, is still the most popular manhua artist in the Japanese market. Unlike the other manhua artists who have adapted the Condor Trilogy, Lee Chi-Ching is not known for his original stories. All of his well-known works are adaptations of novels.
Art
Even though this is also in black and white, the style is in many ways the opposite of Wee Tian Beng’s. Wee Tian Beng’s style is to use sophisticated layouts to present simple drawings. Lee Chi-Ching most of the time uses simple layouts. Panels are generally a collections of rectangular boxes, and each panel generally contains one image. Yet each image is rendered with detailed linework. This artwork is very focused on the content of the panels, not the delivery of the panels.
In Tony Wong’s adaptations, the fights look like acrobat shows. In Ma Wing-shing’s The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, the fights look like storms. In Wee Tian Beng’s Return of the Condor Heroes, the fights look like ballet performances. In Lee Chi-Ching’s The Eagle Shooting Heroes, the fights look like … fights.
Even though the fights are not as full of “goodies” as the fights in the other manhua adaptations, Lee Chi-Ching knows how to find stillness in the movement of the human body—which is beautiful.
Or some lovely shape is formed by the series of blows—but the loveliness seems incidently to the fight itself.
And when the strikes connect, they look like they hurt. It does not look like a show.
One reason the fights look more painful is that, more than in any other manhua adapted from the Condor Trilogy, Lee Chi-Ching’s drawings focus on the characters. The simplicity of compositions make the characters stand out that much more. When they hurt, the reader knows.
Outside of the fights, there are many panels in which the characters strike a pose that sticks in my mind. For example, this one:
I like how Hong Qigong’s body is open and facing the reader, with his feet spread apart to show power, and how Huang Yaoshi is facing the side, his eyes away from the reader, with his feet in turnout showing that he too can stand his ground—it really fits both of their personalities. Both of their stances convey that they both are experts at using their own bodies—not to mention the clothes. The way Huang Yaoshi’s cape is draped looks quite nice. The the strap of Hong Qigong’s gunnysack matches the diagonal lines formed by the fold in his coat, and the belt adds a good horizontal line to tie it together.
Speaking of clothes, I really like Guo Jing’s hair-tie, especially how it swishes about throughout the manhua. Generally, I think this manhua adapation has the most fashion sense.
And the tears. Lots of tears.
The artwork does not seem to force the drama. It simply lets the tears flow when the characters feel the need to cry.
Of course, in this story, practically every other page has a character who feels like crying.
While the compositions are generally simple, they can be quite powerful, such as in this page:
This is a really focused picture. The woman’s arms form a nice parallel with the horizontal line of the man’s body. The vertical lines of the girl and the spear also form a nice parallel and, in turn, point (along with the diagonal lines of the man’s legs) at the main focus of the drawing—the man’s belly. Notice that this picture follows the rule of thirds—the man’s belly is about a third of the way up from the bottom-right of the drawing. The lines formed by the girl and woman’s tears point at their eyes, and the gaze of the eyes are, of course, also pointed at the man’s belly. And of course, inside the man’s belly is a spear-head.
After going through that scene again, I’m the one who now feels like crying…
And there’s this spread:
Notice on each page, there are three main elements which for three points of a triangle—a long-distance shot of the character in profile on horseback showing the distance between the two characters, a close-up of the character on the horse in motion facing front, and a close-up of the character’s face. Then the two pages mirror each other. Even the dialogue is mirrored:
Tolui: Guo Jing-anda, how are you?
Guo Jing: Tolui-anda, so it’s you?
Anda means “sworn-brother” in Mongolian—and in traditional Mongolian culture, sworn-brothers were considered closer to each other than biological brothers. I think Lee Chi-Ching’s drawings show how these two anda feel compelled to do what they think is right, even though that means fighting each other.
Lee Chi-Ching mirrors these two anda again, this time in a V shape with their childhood memories inside the V while their hostile intentions forms the shape of the V itself. Lee Chi-Ching rarely uses a composition this complex, but he certainly chooses the right moment for it.
And Lee Chi-Ching mirrors the two anda yet again.
In short, out of all of the manhua adaptations of the Condor Trilogy, the artwork in Lee Chi-Ching’s The Eagle Shooting Heroes does the best job of illustrating the humanity of the story.
Adaptation
This is the least abridged manhua adaptation of the Condor Trilogy. Yes, some details get left out. Yes, there are some changes too—some of which annoy me. On the other hand, the scene I used to open this review is not in the original novel, yet it is so wonderful (are there any other comics where somebody holds a knife by the blade in order to prove a point?) that, for me, it compensates for the changes to the story that I do not like.
There are scenes which, while decently rendered in this adaptation, fail to capture the magic of the novel. For example, while the scene where Huang Rong meets Guo Jing by the lake is one of my favourites in the novel, in this adaptation it feels like nothing special.
And there are scenes where seeing it instead of reading it, in my opinion, makes the impact more visceral. For example, the flock of crows shock me more in this adaptation than in the novel.
This manhua is by far the longest of any adapted from the Condor Trilogy, but each page only covers a little plot. The low plot-to-page ratio means that the pages go by very quickly. It grants Lee Chi-Ching plenty of room to show, not tell, the story. I wish Ma Wing-Shing had done this in his The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre.
Lee Chi-Ching’s The Eagle Shooting Heroes is very much about the characters. This adaptation puts the least emphasis in fights of all the manhua adaptations—they generally seem to be there to connect the story together rather than being ends in their own right. Thus, they are relatively short. On the other hand, many pages get spent on the key dramatic moments so the reader can really sink into them. This manhua sets up the roller-coaster of the characters excitement, glee, anger, sorrow, pain, and joy—and it is a hell of a ride.
Much more than any other manhua adaptation of the trilogy, this one gripped me by the heartstrings. Going through it again while preparing this review just reminds me why I love it so much. Each time I go through it, I find many wonderful little bits I had not noticed before.
Availability
This manhua is totally unavailable in English. Much as I want this situation to change, considering the financial realities, I am not holding my breath. It has been published in Japanese, though I do not know how to get a hold of a Japanese-language copy.
Anyone who wishes to read this in Chinese should try to get one of the Taiwan editions instead of the Hong Kong editions—the Taiwan editions come in a bigger page size, which serves the detailed artwork very well. That said, even in Taiwan, it’s easier to get the Hong Kong editions than the Taiwan editions. The Taiwan editions are all out of print, whereas this manhua has been reprinted in Hong Kong as recently as 2010. The fact that this is the only manhua adaptation of the Condor Trilogy which is being kept in print demonstrates its enduring popularity.
Conclusion
I have been reading comics since I was four years old. While there were years when I was sticking to re-reads and not trying any new comics, it still adds up to having read quite a few comics in my lifetime. If I were to make a list right now of my favourite comics—in any language, from any country—Lee Chi-Ching’s The Eagle Shooting Heroes would find a place in the top 10.
Discussion Question:
What did you think of this series of blog posts? What did I do well? What could be improved? Would you be interested in reading more posts about wuxia, manhua, or Chinese-language pop culture in general?
Sara K. would like to register her astonishment at the ignorance of Chinese-language pop culture among non-Asians who are studying Chinese. There are many non-Asians who are studying Chinese who have never heard of the Condor Trilogy. Sara K. mostly blames their teachers—language teachers need to introduce students to the culture, not just the language itself—though she also thinks that the students could be a bit more active about researching Chinese-language pop culture themselves. One of the reasons she wrote this series of blog posts is to help non-Asians who are studying Chinese to find something to read in Chinese, or at least find inspiration. She is currently working on some guest posts for Hacking Chinese, which might even be interesting to people who are not studying Chinese. Her own personal blog is The Notes Which Do Not Fit, though there is little about comics or Asian culture over there.
Estara says
April 18, 2012 at 11:28 amI liked the many examples and explanation included of the differences between the styles – I don’t often read so close, but with your guide my eyes could see the subtle connections (like the emphasis on triangles in this work for example). I would have liked a bit more of a short overview of the storylines of the manhua (very abbreviated, obviously), especially for the picture sequences that you pointed out for especially dramatic happenings – to set the scene and be able to understand why that particular fight, meeting, etc. was so important.
I think your posts fill a niche that has not been much featured on Manga Bookshelf’s eclectic all around Asian pop culture focus, so I would like to get more ^^ – I have a friend who likes wuxia and Korean sageuk tv-series and does some fun posts on LJ, so it is interesting to compare TV realisations of those kind of stories with manhua adaptations of them. Any aspect you would show about Chinese pop culture is something fairly unknown to me -I have watched some subtitled Taiwanese and Chinese dorama before (mostly based on manga that I’ve read – like Mars, It Started With A Kiss and The Rose/ Bara no Tameni (Joe Cheng love ^^), but that is all.
If I could read only one of the three versions you featured, I think I would also prefer this one, because I usually am reading for the character interactions first and foremost.
Sara K. says
April 18, 2012 at 7:57 pmI love Mars! It’s my favourite Idol drama. My other favourite idol drama is My Lucky Star, but it’s an original story, not adapted from manga or anything else ;) I am also interested in trying sageuk some day… but right now, I am focusing on improving my Mandarin, so I am putting off reading/watching things which are not in Mandarin.
The main reason I didn’t give more of an overview of the story is I was worried about spoilers … but I’ll try to give more of an overview of the background behind the opening scene for this post (this might be a little spoilerish, but I’ll try to avoid major spoilers):
Yang Kang is a villain, Mu Nianci is a heroine, and they are in love with each other, which causes some obvious problems (this is a massive oversimplification, but I am trying to keep this brief). Mu Nianci keeps on trying to get Yang Kang to become a good person, but ultimately, she’s not a pushover, and Yang Kang knows it. So he’s been lying to her for a while, pretending to be a good person while secretly carrying out his real agenda. Mu Nianci just overheard a conversation Yang Kang had with one of his partners in crime, and she’s confronting him about it. Yang Kang figures that they are now intimate enough with each other that he can be honest with her, so he’s finally telling her the truth. Well, is he telling the truth? That’s an interesting question, but one that is never answered for the reader, though I think the evidence indicates that he actually being honest here. Anyway, not only is Mu Nianci realizing that he did not become a better person AT ALL, but he’s been lying to her in a big way. While Yang Kang is holding the knife, he pretty much tells Mu Nianci that he loves her, but he is not going to change who he is. And Mu Nianci realizes that it is finally time to break up with him. Of course, it’s too late because (this really is a SPOILER, but I saw it coming from far away, and anybody who is vaguely familiar with the second part of the trilogy knows that this happens) she’s already pregnant with Yang Kang’s son, Yang Guo.
Estara says
April 19, 2012 at 5:15 amFirst of all thanks for clarifying that – it makes the reactions and the reason why he tells her with his hand bleeding better relatable for me.
As for spoilers – maybe if you simply did a big SPOILER gap in an article before and after a spoilerish summary like this? Because while there are surely people reading this who will learn, do learn Chinese and may eventually buy the novels themselves or the manhua – a lot of your readers here won’t and I’m one of them. So this is as much as we’ll ever get to see, unless we watch a subtitled drama about it, or in my case the Condor Heroes anime adaptation, which was severely shortened and bits and pieces left out.
And in the happy event that someone licenses another of the manhuas in a language I can read – so either German or English – I still mostly read for characters and their interactions – so knowing plot bits won’t stop me from buying a good book. A lot of the manga I have bought, for example, I have read in scanlation earlier. I still spend about 150 Euros a month on manga and anime (each month, I mean) – as a single woman, with a well-paying job (knock on wood this happy state shall continue), this (and books in general) is my main hobby. I can’t buy everything that looks good, nor even everything I might like – so reading in scanlation has meant for me that I know where I want to spend my money and there are less duds on my shelves than when I didn’t have the internet broadband and flatrate and didn’t know about scanlations.
Of course I am aware that not everyone uses scanlations this way.
Sara K. says
April 19, 2012 at 6:49 amThat’s a good idea, though I think hidden text would be better than plain spoiler warnings.
And I have constraints on my reading too, though my constraint is time, not money (a constraint that scanlations cannot help me with).
Melinda Beasi says
April 18, 2012 at 12:10 pmWould you be interested in reading more posts about wuxia, manhua, or Chinese-language pop culture in general?
I know I would. :)
skinnymocha says
April 18, 2012 at 3:32 pmThank you for these lovely posts – I think you’re doing a great job in bringing Chinese pop culture to people’s attention! I do agree with one of the above comments about providing more exposition as it would be useful for those who aren’t familiar with the storyline, and perhaps provide side by side pictures when you’re comparing the artwork?
Regarding this particular adaptation, I have to say the artwork is my favourite by far! (I think I’ve just got it into my head that monotone equals more clean looking and less colours clashing…) I’m also more fond of the characters’ faces and expressions, but if I have one little niggle, it would be the design of Huang Rong since her beauty does not stand in any way and her clothes… I’m not sure how to explain it, but the design is far too feminine for my liking – too long and flowing. Then again, my image is rather tainted as I have watched the TV dramas before. I’d always see her in a more tomboy-ish/adventurous get-up, whilst maintaining her air of elegance. A point you’ve also touched upon above is the layout of the pages: to me, Legend of the Condor Heroes/Eagle Shooting Heroes is of the adventurous nature with sweeping action, so it’s a shame to seem most of the art confined within it’s boxes, since it lacks that sense of freedom I so dearly love about this series.
Another problem I have with this manhua, storytelling-wise, is the fact Huang Rong cries far too easily; we know she’s completey taken surprise by Guo Jing’s sincerity and altruism. She’s been raised on an island with little contact with the outside so I can’t blame her for being too distrustful and… contemptuous. When she’s touched by the honest actions of Guo Jing I can certainly understand, but a better artist would have been more subtle in showing this instead of opening up the floodgates each and every time. Does this often happen in the other manhua adaptations?
I’ve also got a question for you, Sara K: how well do you think these manhua adaptations work as a standalone? Imagine you’d never read the original novel before, do you think these adaptations would hold the same appeal to you?
In my experience, I have been watching Hong Kong dramas ever since I was a child in the 90s. My favourites were always of the wuxia variety or folklore based, such as Journey to the West and Jin Yong adaptations, so I’m already familiar with the plots of most of his work. The only reason I’d read the manhua would simply be the fact I’m a more ‘visual’ sort of person and I like pretty pictures laid out in front of me. However, points like the one I made above, such as forcing the emotions instead of putting more trust into the readers to figure it out, is a true sign of weak storytelling for me.
Sara K. says
April 18, 2012 at 8:58 pmFirst of all, Huang Rong is really not more of a crybaby in this manhua than, say, Guo Jing. Of half of the other characters for that matter. Considering that Huang Rong gets more screentime than the Jiangnan Freaks, the Jiangnan Freaks are actually weepier than her. Even Yang Kang can get weepy in this manhua (notice that I included a picture of him crying in this review). I disagree that the tears or the emotions feel forced, and I said that in the review – on the contrary, it seems to me that the manhua sets up the drama so well that it seems only natural that the characters would be weeping half the time (though often they are weeping out of joy, not sadness).
As far as the standalone question: I can personally assure you that this manhua works without having read the novel, because I actually read this manhua before I read the novel (yes, this manhua was my gateway to the Condor Trilogy). I totally loved it (I still love it, of course) and got totally caught up in the story – ZOMYGOSH Character X KIDNAPPED Character Y NOOOOO!, WHY ARE YOU GOING WITH HUAZHENG?!, and so forth. I read the other manhua adaptations after reading the novels, so I cannot give personal assurances, but I do know that quite a few people who haven’t read the novels (or seen the TV versions?) have high praise for Wee Tian Beng’s Return of the Condor Heroes (quite frankly, they have a more positive opinion of it than I do, possibly because they are not aware of how it messes up the story of the novel in certain ways). I have also seen very positive reviews of the ComicsOne editions of The Legendary Couple and The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre written by people who, lacking Chinese skills, can’t read the novels and probably have never seen any TV versions. The only manhua adaptation which I think would totally fail without having read the novel or see a different adaptation is Tony Wong’s The Eagle Shooting Heroes.
As far as Huang Rong’s femininity: again, I was probably tainted by this adaptation in the same way you were tainted by the TV series, but she also seemed really feminine in the novel – I mean, she’s a 15-year old who play with *dolls*, and she’s really good at cooking, and even when she’s trying to pass as a boy she is still super girly. I think Huang Rong is clever enough that, if she were truly a tomboy, she would definitely succeed at passing as a boy – only her overwhelming girliness causes her to fail. After all, Yin Su-su had NO PROBLEM passing as male, and I do not think it’s because Yin Su-su is craftier than Huang Rong – Yin Su-su is simply less flamboyantly feminine (and Yin Su-su isn’t even a tomboy, IMO). And while I like tomboys, I like that Huang Rong is *not* a tomboy (I actually felt that she was too tomboyish in Tony Wong’s The Eagle-Shooting Heroes, by the way). It seems to me in fiction that almost all of the clever female characters – particularly female characters who can fight or take leadership positions without family connections or marriage – are tomboys, which seems to say that a female has to be more ‘masculine’ to do those things. I think females ought to be able to be clever, and to defend themselves, and to take leadership positions on the basis of their own merits and not because they are somebody’s daughter or wife – without having to be masculine at all. I like that Huang Rong can become the leader of the biggest martial arts sect on the basis of her own competence … while still being even more girly than Mu Nianci.
As far as scenery and sweeping vistas … yep, this is not the adaptation for that. The best adaptation for the nice scenery is certainly Wee Tian Beng’s, followed by Tony Wong’s The Eagle-Shooting Heroes. This did not occured to me before, but the boxiness might be exactly why the lake scene did not work for me as well in this adaptation as in the novel. Most of the time, though, I don’t think the boxiness is a problem – there are many single-panel pages, and the simplicity of the layouts, in my opinion, puts all the most focus on what’s happening inside the panels.
Estara says
April 19, 2012 at 5:25 am“It seems to me in fiction that almost all of the clever female characters – particularly female characters who can fight or take leadership positions without family connections or marriage – are tomboys, which seems to say that a female has to be more ‘masculine’ to do those things. I think females ought to be able to be clever, and to defend themselves, and to take leadership positions on the basis of their own merits and not because they are somebody’s daughter or wife – without having to be masculine at all. I like that Huang Rong can become the leader of the biggest martial arts sect on the basis of her own competence … while still being even more girly than Mu Nianci.”
And THAT is why I so like reading and watching Saiunkoku Monogatari and Shurei Hong in there – and the whole focus of a shoujo reverse harem manga on POLITICAL SERVICE to your country ^^. Brilliant! Her one female role model is one of the bosses of the capital’s mafia who gifts her with a huge box of cosmetics when she has finally won the right to become a civil servant and advises her to go to important and critical meetings in make-up, because she will definitely NOT cry if she does so. I know the light novel series has finished at 18 volumes, I hope the VIZ manga release will at least go as far as the manga adaptation – the second season of the anime wasn’t licensed in the west (but there are fansubs).
Sara K. says
April 19, 2012 at 6:52 amI really want to read Saiunkoku Monogatari – it’s on my reading list, and I have the first two novels in my apartment (because the Taiwanese publishing industry is nice enough to translate the whole novel series into traditional-character Chinese), and if I enjoy the novels, I’ll read the manga too. Do you mean that Viz is also releasing the light novels into English, or just that you hope that Viz will complete the publication of the manga?
Estara says
April 19, 2012 at 8:48 amI hope that VIZ will release all of the manga – but I can always dream big and hope for the light novels, too ^^. Alternatively I wouldn’t mind if the light novels were licensed in German, heh.
Sara K. says
April 19, 2012 at 8:52 amAfter thinking about your comment, and considering that I already have copies on hand (which means I don’t have to spend any more time looking for it), I’ve decided to raise Saiunkoku’s position on my to-read list. At it’s new position, I should get around to reading it some time in the next month.
Estara says
April 19, 2012 at 11:22 amI’d love to hear your impressions ^^ whenever you get around to reading – a Japanese GoodReads friend of mine quite likes them but she doesn’t go into detail in her reviews. Considering I have watched all of the anime and can now read the manga, they seem to mirror each other quite closely. And the LNs must have been successful to inspire manga and anime – so I hope it’ll be enjoyable.
skinnymocha says
April 19, 2012 at 11:59 amHmm, I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree on the crying part. I have no problems with characters weeping – nothing wrong with showing a bit of emotion, eh? – but it’s just the *moments* in which Huang Rong cries that aggravates me, somewhat. Just simple moments of gratitude, yet she’s reduced to tears (of joy) each and every time, so much so that it becomes all too repetitive for me. I still maintain that the artist could have instilled more subtlety in those moments. (Or maybe I’m just too hard-edged. Eek! It’s also unfair of me to judge since I’ve only read a handful of volumes, but I simply wasn’t satisfied with some of the parts I’ve mentioned…)
Ah, regarding Huang Rong’s femininity/the tomboy comment: sorry that was a poor choice of words on my part, and it was only used in reference to her clothing. What I find great is she’s such a great blend of both “femininity” and “masculinity”, and that aspect reflects well in her clothing; it’s more practical and well suited for a little bit of action, yet at the same time it still manages to maintain its delicacy and beauty. (I’m rubbish at explaining, but let’s just say I wouldn’t imagine her running around in a robe/dress like Xia Long Nu either…) But yes, I do wholeheartedly agree with you about the ideals of a “strong woman.” Society seems to think that if you’re a woman who’s accomplished a lot at her workplace or one who can “kick ass,” that makes you a “stronger” person. Pfft. If anything, that’s just a roundabout way of dissing your own gender and championing the males as the superior sex. (Whether they realise it or not.) I believe a truly strong person should be able to fully embrace their own sexuality and if that means enjoying what society perceives to be the more traditional housewife roles, then so what? As long as you’re happy, I say go for it!
Okay, back on topic: I know I’ve sounded really negative, but I think out of the three adaptations you’ve introduced, I’m probably more inclined to follow this particular one. Thank you for your reassurance!^^ I’ve actually been fortunate enough to nick a few volumes from my cousin and I have enjoyed it on the whole, but there were just a few niggles I couldn’t quite get around. However, if I have to read the whole series in its entirety (around 38 volumes, is it?) I may have to buy my own copies. I buy my own manga anyway, but international shipping is going to be a killer for such a long series. Shucks.
Sara K. says
April 19, 2012 at 8:07 pmHeh, I have my ‘niggles’ too, though fortunately they are pretty minor. If you’re curious, this is a list I can think of off the top of my head:
– The dialogue between Wanyan Honglie and Genghis Khan made me roll my eyes – fortunately that’s *not* in the novel
– Lee Chi-Ching is not good at drawing nudity – fortunately, nudity rarely shows up in this manhua
– MAJOR SPOILER WARNING
MAJOR SPOILER WARNING
MAJOR SPOILER WARNING
Mu Nianci is with Yang Kang when he dies. WHAT THE HELL? Even before I read the novel, I thought ‘why isn’t she dying from the super-powerful poison’. Later on, Guo Jing asks why Mu Nianci didn’t die of the poison (a question which is not answered), and while I appreciate that Lee Chi-Ching recognized this problem, if you have a plot hole so big that GUO JING of all people notices it, that’s quite a plot hole. And what Yang Kang says to Mu Nianci while he’s dying is not exactly brilliantly written.
That said, I actually do not totally dislike that plot change. It is a surprise for anyone who has read the novel, and Lee Chi-Ching generally tried to develop Mu Nianci / Yang Kang a bit beyond the novel itself (I find this particularly welcome on Mu Nianci’s end, since she was not exactly the most developed character in the novel), so it follows that he would want Mu Nianci to be a bit more involved in Yang Kang’s death than in the original novel. However, instead of making so much chit-chat between Mu Nianci and dying!Yang Kang, I wish it had made it simpler and more poignant. For example (this is me making up how this plot change could have worked, this is not what actually happens in the manhua) maybe as Mu Nianci tried to get close to Yang Kang, Yang Kang would use all of his remaining strength to get away from her so she wouldn’t get poisoned, and he wouldn’t say anything more complex than ‘Get away!’, and with his dying breath he would throw at her the jade shoes to distract her so that she wouldn’t come closer. By the time Mu Nianci is done looking at the jade shoes, Yang Kang is dead.
END MAJOR SPOILER WARNING
The original editions are 38 volumes, the omnibus edition is 19 volumes. Yeah, shipping would be murder (particularly the nice, large Taiwan edition), but getting it used would save a lot of change. A used set (smaller Taiwan edition / Hong Kong edition) goes for about 1800 NT in Taiwan (about 60 USD). If you really do want to get it, I could get a used edition for you, and ship it by sea mail (though I would highly recommend paying a bit for insurance if one is going to use sea mail – still, sea mail + insurance is still much cheaper than economy air mail).
skinnymocha says
April 22, 2012 at 12:18 pmAh, sorry for not replying earlier. (-_-“)
Haha, now I’m intrigued to see your version of the events now. The only thing that sticks in my mind – only because my mum goes on and ON about it – is the fact he keeps lying to her even right to the end… (I’ve actually seen about 4/5 tv adaptations, but I’ve yet to finish the novel so I don’t know the EXACT circumstances of everything/how Jin Yong intended it to be. I’ve only gotten through the first two volumes so I’d better get a move on!)
Ooh, I’m highly interested in the manhua – thank you very much for the offer! I wasn’t actually planning on purchasing the set right away and was thinking of delaying things for several weeks. (I’m already up in arms buying Japanese magazines and Arashi goods.) I’m sorry to ask but would you mind having to wait, and if that’s okay with you, may I ask a few more questions?
– Is the manhua in traditional chinese?
– How much would sea mail + insurance be to the UK?
This is also slightly off-topic, but one of my favourite works of Jin Yong is “The Duke of Mount Deer/The Deer and the Cauldron.” Do you know of any comic adaptations out there, preferably in monotone?
Sara K. says
April 22, 2012 at 7:20 pmOne thing I like about the novel is that it leaves a lot of Yang Kang’s character open to reader interpretation … there are hints which do suggest that he was lying through his teeth to her right up to the end … yet there are also hints that he might be sincere. I actually also favor the interpretation that novel!Yang Kang was lying right up to the end, but I think a case could be made for a different interpretation.
I would like to note that I read the 2nd edition of the novel … the 3rd edition might clarify some things, but I really hope it doesn’t, because I like the ambiguity.
It’s no big deal to me when I send the manhua if you are interested in that – it would be a pretty slow process no matter what (especially if seamail is involved). I have no idea how much seamail to the UK would cost – I’d have to get a weight and a quote from the post office.
Yes, the manhua is in traditional Chinese.
The only manhua adaptation of The Deer and the Cauldron is Tony Wong’s adaptation, which most certainly comes in color. Tony Wong has also adapted Ode to Chivalry and Semi-Devils and Demi-Gods. The only other B&W Jin Yong manhua adaptation is Lee Chi-Ching’s The Laughing Proud Wanderer. Aside from those, I think the only other Jin Yong manhua adaptations out there are Ho Chi Man’s The Book and the Sword and … I think he did the manhua adaptation of The Fox Volant of Snow Mountain, but I can’t quite remember right now, but the Book and the Sword / Fox Volant manhua adaptations are also in color.