This latest adaptation of 「射鵰英雄傳」is really quite superb, and am enjoying it a lot ✨
Watching this OTP of all time brought back so many feels 🥰🥹 They are truly the template for so many of my favourite dynamics/tropes, and my ideal m/f relationship ⭐️ PERFECTION✨❤️🔥
I am very sad to hear of the passing of Louis Cha, known to most as Jin Yong 金庸. He was the grandfather of the wuxia literary genre. His works (or rather, their 80's era TV adaptations) imprinted on me hugely as a child, as stories where young female characters had just as much agency, intelligence, fighting capability, and importance as the boys in tales of martial arts derring-do.
His leading ladies in his Condor Heroes Trilogy will forever epitomize some of the ideals of positive representation of women in fiction. He always wrote a lot of wildly different women with different personalities, but he very rarely denied them their agency or their role to play in the unfolding story, or even their historical importance in the canon of his world. I will never fail to point out that Huang Rong 黃蓉 is remembered one hundred years after her death, equally alongside her husband, Guo Jing 郭靖 , not only for her cunning and intelligence, but also for her heroism and valor in defending Xiangyang against the invading Mongolian forces. That in his history, a woman is remembered for her deeds and her character, and never as man’s wife or a character’s daughter or mother, meant more to me as a little kid than I could have imagined or articulated at the time.
In this world of institutionalized racism and sexism, I don't think I would have gotten as far as I have now without the confidence that Jin Yong's characters instilled me at an early age. Though he wasn’t really writing more in his later years, his work still had a huge impact on the formation of my identity (and countless other young Chinese or girls of Chinese descent), and he will be missed.
RIP.
If you’re interested in checking out Jin Yong’s wuxia world, there are a couple of ways it has now been accessible to English speakers.
The first act of the first book of the Condor Heroes Trilogy, known colloquially as “Legend of the Condor Heroes” or “Legend of the Eagle Shooting Heroes” is officially being translated as A Hero Born. More is supposed to coming soon.
Fan translations are available as well of all the books in the series, and more, are available at WuxiaSociety.
There are a lot of adaptations of the TV series, which on average some production company remakes once per decade. The 1980′s versions are the best, but more difficult to find to English-speakers, so I recommend checking out some of the more recent versions (2003, 2008 or 2017 for Legend of the Condor Heroes, 2006 for Return of the Condor Heroes, and 2009 for Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber) which you might be able to find on Youtube or other sites.
As the new adaptation for another version of “Legend of the Condor Heroes” makes an appearance in 2024 (in honor of the centennial celebration of Jin Yong’s birth), I am moved to record this for myself.
Jin Yong, his Wuxia and love stories had a deep imprint on how I conceptualise love between a man and a woman, and no other pairing has managed to influence my world view as markedly and deeply as Guo Jing and Huang Rong did.
He fed me my “man feeds love interest”, “man is a major simp”, “man almost always defer to the smartness of his partner”, “man is kind and generous”, “man is a gentle protector” etc tropes to me, and I will always thank the master for letting me know an egalitarian romantic relationship is a desirable aim. Guo Jing is also one of the few male fictional characters I have continued to love over decades. Without his wonderful understanding and portrayals of noble masculinity, I think my instinctive dislike of men would be much worse 🫥
All that mush out of the way, I am looking forward to the latest adaption of this classic, though will likely just pick up the second half of the drama, when it appears the story will finally focus on GJ and HR and their arcs/journeys.
(Keeping fingers crossed it will be available on an accessible streaming platform for me)
Reviews (summaries) of a few of the drama adaptations for [Legend of the Condor Heroes]/ 「射鵰英雄傳」 from the last three decades:
*Drama posters are from oldest to latest (from left to right, top to bottom)
1983 version (starring Barbara Yung and Felix Wong):
Too young to remember and never rewatched. A feted classic from Hong Kong TVB’s heyday. The only thing I will unequivocally say I love about this version is the iconic theme songs, which are the only musical tracks I can easily recall and identify when it comes to the numerous adaptations.
1994 version (starring Athena Chu and Julian Cheung):
First love. Good performances. Beautiful and ultra-cute JingRong. Favourite balance of visuals for JingRong. Solid production (HK TVB). Newish classic. Faithful to the main storylines. The version which made me fall for Guo Jing and the saga. Sometimes, however, first love only goes so far.
2003 version (starring Zhou Xun and Li Ya Peng):
Gritty. Jiang Hu. Sweeping epic. Mature vibes. Tragic and heartbreak-tinged. Faithful to the main storylines. Brilliant JingRong. Elegantly cultured Huang Rong. Earnestly chivalrous Guo Jing. Love both the portrayals of Guo Jing and Huang Rong (despite the many criticisms received). Loved the veteran gravitas of many of the supporting casts. Performances were fabulous. My only gripe is with Yang Kang (and his actor, Zhou Jie, whose performance I was not especially partial to, but he did okay though). The best Mongolian segment(s) out of all adaptations. Favourite drama adaptation (to date). The main and ending theme songs are fantastic, and the opening track has quite an epic saga feel.
(Some audience disliked ZX’s portrayal, and criticisms abound about her using her own voice during the show - which is a bit husky - but I had absolutely no issues with it. I thought the criticisms weirdly petty, actually. As someone who does not find dubs at all nice, I appreciated her using her own voice/dub for the series. LYP also received his fair share of criticisms for his portrayal. Personally, I enjoyed both tremendously).
2008 version (starring Ariel Lin and Hu Ge):
An adaptation I skipped as neither mains appealed to me, and Liu Shi Shi as Mu Nian Ci was not enough of a draw to make me trudge through an adaption I read was not particularly faithful to the novels. Visuals and vibes wise, I just could not see Hu Ge as Guo Jing - which is simply a personal preference - but I do not doubt that his performance/portrayal would have been fine. That goes for the rest of the cast and their performances.
2017 version (starring Li Yi Tong and Yang Xu Wen):
Pretty. Vibrant aesthetics. Wuxia vibes. Relatively youthful. Commendable production. Sweet, lovey-dovey and affectionate JingRong. Cutie - and handsome - Guo Jing. Excellent Huang Rong. Faithful to the main storylines. Highly enjoyable. Main instrumental track a clever nolstagic callback to the classic Hong Kong songs/themes. Good production. Superb performances overall.
(I found this version’s GJ a bit too prettily handsome, which is lovely but also felt a bit not-GJ. Still enjoyed his portrayal a lot though).
2024 version (starring Bao Shang En and Ci Sha):
Strong Wuxia vibes. Solid aesthetics and production. Youthful. Squee-worthy JingRong. Adorably devious Huang Rong. Favourite Guo Jing and JingRong (to date). Wonderful performances all around. Faithful to the main storylines. Some distinct emotional beats.
Especially noteworthy was the beautifully shot and conveyed scenes from near the end during GJ’s mental and spiritual struggles with his grief and martial abilities. Superbly done and went to the heart of the novel’s themes.
Flaws included pacing and issues with storylines length. Uneven focus. Lack of epic-ness.
(Ci Sha is not really my cup-of-tea visuals wise but he looked and felt like what Guo Jing *should* be and his performance was compelling and layered. His portrayal embodied the 靖 of 郭靖, and I think that meant something significant. He truly came into his own by the last third when the confidence and composure GJ cultivated throughout the series made his nuanced portrayal fangirl-scream worthy. *fainting away* Love his steady, gentle and devoted GJ to bits. The focus and complexity they afforded Yang Kang in this version made him a much more complex and conflicted antagonist, which was fascinating. This Wanyan Hong Lie inspired major feelings for a character I already found especially interesting and tragi-complex since the 2003 adaptation. The soft-spot I have for him is too real).