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Post by caiyi on Jun 12, 2014 3:23:57 GMT
I'm reading Bi Xue Jian (碧血劍) 2nd edition and is now up to chapter 11. I initially chose to read this novel because I wanted to know how Xia Xueyi is in the book and how does his story goes. I've only watch TVB's 'Crimson Sabre' and I know this series is highly unfaithful when it comes to the story of the Golden Snake Warrior (In 'Crimson Sabre', this character is still alive and ends up with Wen Yi's younger sister Wen Qian). Never would I expect to find Wen Qingqing to be the most interesting character to me.
Wen Qingqing is the character that gave me the most varied emotions. Sometimes she made me laugh, sometimes she annoyed the hell out of me, sometimes I cheered for her action, and sometimes I wanted to slap her.
When Wen Qingqing first appeared, she was just one of the typical unreasonable feisty girls that populated the wuxia genre. Nothing special. The first instance that pigued my on this character was when she told Yuan Chengzhi "I'm bad tempered, I know. I just couldn't help it" (我脾氣不好,我自己知道,可是我就管不了自己). I was like "Wow, great self-awareness there. How many characters in fiction will show this kind of self-awareness and willing to voice it out?".
I was liking her a lot after this until her antics with An Xiaohui and the robbed silver. I really really wanted to slap her then. I was also annoyed at how she always said things like "you help her because she'e beautiful" to Yuan Chengzhi. Her jealousy knows no bounds. Every innocent move by any girl near YCZ or YCZ himself will be seen as not innocent through her vinegar filled eyes. But then she surprised me when she liked Ah Jiu and wanted YCZ to help her when they first encountered Ah Jiu. Given her past records and the fact that she acknowledged Ah Jiu is more beautiful than her, I was sure that she would be filled with insecurities and jealousy and wouldn't want contact between YCZ and Ah Jiu. But, she herself asked YCZ to help Ah Jiu. Very surprising.
As can be seen, Wen Qingqing is a complex and well rounded character. Love is her first priority , like all other female characters in Jin Yong's novels, but, she didn't lost herself after she fell in love with YCZ. She still retain her own temperament and personality. Her thieving past and her knowledge about the ways of the bandits also add to her charm as a character.
I wonder why Jin Yong choose to write WQQ this way. He gave WQQ so many flaws and many a time her actions are very unlikeable. Most authors will want to make their female lead character lovable.
Some questions.
Do you think WQQ's temperament is logical given the environment she grew up in? From her mother's and her own account, the mother daughter pair were always looked down by their family due to Wen Yi being pregnant out of wedlock. Wouldn't a person growing up in this kind of environment will be meek and humble? But, WQQ was haughty and acted like a princess a lot of times. She also seems to have quite a lot of power and status among her generation in the Wen family. How come?
Do you think Jin Yong could have done more with WQQ's interesting background? He could have made her have more interest in her father's life, more conflict with her grandpas, and also showed her learning her father's skill. Now, YCZ seem more representative of Golden Snake Warrior than WQQ. I'm glad that YCZ has made plans to teach WQQ the Golden Snake skills after everything is over, though. At least Jin Yong didn't forget this.
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Post by siuyiu on Jun 12, 2014 4:04:38 GMT
i haven't read the entirety of BXJ, just the XXY bits. from what little i know about WQQ, i agree that she's a hard character to love. fascinating to read, as she is complex and flawed and almost anti-heroine. but i suppose that's what JY was going for--breaking stereotypes. he's always favoured grey characters to begin with. and i think one of the main reasons for WQQ's personality is to be a contrast to YCZ. together, they don't exactly become "perfect", but their interactions are almost more interesting than the storyline. as for whether WQQ would've been meek and humble growing up in such an environment: it could go either way. usually, those who are downtrodden internalize the shame and grow up submissive. but WQQ clearly is a fighter, so instead of being submissive (like her mom), she fought tooth and nail. the condescension she deals with is the source of her bad temper--the only way to get people to STFU is to make them. and yes can't control herself because she's always been pushed against the wall--when would she have learned to temper her anger? she's had to also fight for her mom, who is such a weakling. just my two-cents.
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Post by Admin on Jun 13, 2014 13:05:41 GMT
I haven't read the book. Only watched two adaptations of BXJ. And those adaptations made me wanted to slap WQQ I'm glad that you bring some justice to her and make her more likeable
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Post by chefying on Jun 19, 2014 15:01:34 GMT
I watched the adaptation of Bi Xue Jian and indeed, I could not stand the character of Wen Qing Qing.
I find this character rather one dimensional - besides being a spoilt, selfish and obstinate girl, what other behaviour is she capable of? I can't quite think of any.
This, I find, is a fault in some of the characters of Jin Yong's books. His characters are not quite sufficiently multi-faceted and complex enough for my liking.
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Post by caiyi on Jun 20, 2014 4:11:45 GMT
I watched the adaptation of Bi Xue Jian and indeed, I could not stand the character of Wen Qing Qing. Which adaptation? I'm current watching the Felix Wong version. I purposely watch it at the same pace as I'm reading the novel to compare. I find this character rather one dimensional - besides being a spoilt, selfish and obstinate girl, what other behaviour is she capable of? I can't quite think of any. Haha, even though I'm the one who opened this thread and professed WQQ to be well-rounded, I also can not list anymore characteristic. But, I still won't say she's one dimensional. Sometimes, I didn't get her action/reaction. So, I can't summarize her behavior into one word. For example, why was she not jealous of Ah Jiu when she first met her and even took a liking to her? She was jealous of An Xiaohui and Miss Jiao from the get go. And seeing her family background, how could she become spoilt? She can also be quite playful sometimes. When Yuan Chengzhi ash her stay and don't move when he goes and handle something, she purposeful shake her body and said "I insist on moving" but stayed in the same place. This, I find, is a fault in some of the characters of Jin Yong's books. His characters are not quite sufficiently multi-faceted and complex enough for my liking. Can you give examples of characters that are mulch-faceted to you? How do you feel about WQQ's dad Xia Xueyi?
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Post by chefying on Jun 20, 2014 10:12:43 GMT
Which adaptation? I'm current watching the Felix Wong version. I purposely watch it at the same pace as I'm reading the novel to compare. I watched the "recent" Mainland China version. The videography and scenery were beautiful. Oh, I totally agree with you on this point. I was sort of hoping that maybe she had some weakness - scared of something, maybe, or perhaps she could be especially concerned for someone and hating that at the same time, she could not be with him/her it... I watched it too many years ago to remember all the details. Not quite - but I seem to recall that Jin Yong himself felt his characters were rather one dimensional.
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Post by caiyi on Sept 3, 2014 4:10:58 GMT
Wen Qingqing looks like her dad. You won't know that from the TV series. 何鐵手轉頭問何紅藥道:「像他爹爹嗎?」何紅藥道:「相貌很像,驕傲的神氣也差不多。」
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Post by caiyi on Oct 1, 2014 7:25:37 GMT
My current favourite girl in BXJ is Jiao Wan-er. The girl might not be the most beautiful (that's Ah Jiu) but she's sensible, brave and intelligent. She doesn't do things in a rush. She plans things properly. Both her EQ and IQ are high.
As for Ah Jiu, I always have the impression that she has a lot of screentime in the novel, base on the Crimson Sabre series (which put her as lead female above Wen Qingqing) and her fame. When talking about BXJ, most only know 2 girls i.e. Wen Qingqing and Ah Jiu. But, it turns out, Ah Jiu have quite little screentime in the novel. She appears very late in the novel and I'm up to chapter 16 now, and she has only appeared a total of 2 times. Maybe her importance will be the last few chapters.
P.S. I'm reading edition 2.
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Post by Admin on Oct 1, 2014 8:08:43 GMT
My current favourite girl in BXJ is Jiao Wan-er. The girl might not be the most beautiful (that's Ah Jiu) but she's sensible, brave and intelligent. She doesn't do things in a rush. She plans things properly. Both her EQ and IQ are high. As for Ah Jiu, I always have the impression that she has a lot of screentime in the novel, base on the Crimson Sabre series (which put her as lead female above Wen Qingqing) and her fame. When talking about BXJ, most only know 2 girls i.e. Wen Qingqing and Ah Jiu. But, it turns out, Ah Jiu have quite little screentime in the novel. She appears very late in the novel and I'm up to chapter 16 now, and she has only appeared a total of 2 times. Maybe her importance will be the last few chapters. P.S. I'm reading edition 2. @caiyi : you're right. I don't remember who Jiao Wan Er is. Who is she anyway?
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Post by caiyi on Oct 1, 2014 8:38:44 GMT
What the hell? I'm so glad that I bought edition 2nd instead of edition. city.udn.com/51615/1323241I totally agree with what the writer said. First he made Yuan Chengzhi change his love from Wen Qingqing to Ah Jiu. Now, he made Jiao Wan-er follow YCZ to Nanyang instead of marrying her 'shi xiong'. To Mr. Jin Yong I know YCZ is the main guy and the hero of the novel, but, no need to give him all the girls. Annoyed reader
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Post by Admin on Oct 1, 2014 8:43:10 GMT
What??? I think the more JY revise his novel, the more chaos he create!!
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Post by caiyi on Oct 1, 2014 9:04:03 GMT
@caiyi : you're right. I don't remember who Jiao Wan Er is. Who is she anyway? @andrea : Jiao Wan-er is a girl Yuan Chengzhi met and helped on his journey to meet Li Zicheng. She is the daughter of the leader of Gold Dragon Clan. Her father was framed for doing something bad and there are people going after him for revenge. Yuan Chengzhi helped her settle the matter and clear the misunderstanding.
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Post by caiyi on Oct 1, 2014 9:19:54 GMT
What??? I think the more JY revise his novel, the more chaos he create!! Yeap, the guy is senile liao. He doesn't like Wen Qingqing, so, he made YCZ fall for Ah Jiu instead. His reasoning is 'why would YCZ not fall for the pitiful Ah Jiu instead of the spoiled WQQ?' If JY reread his own writing carefully, he will understand why. WQQ and YCZ has great camaraderie. Although WQQ is spoilt and many a time caused trouble YCZ, YCZ was still happy when he's with her. She can make YCZ laugh. When she became cheeky, YCZ will play along. In the novel, you see them slowly getting to know each other's temperament and understand each other. Jin Yong also said that he added more complication and 'complexity' to his love stories because that's more realistic. Yes, maybe some case should be more complex. The older someone is, and the more experience someone has, his feelings will be more complex. So, if he make some old guy like HYS liking his student, I'm still ok. But, YCZ is only around 20 years old, barely out of his teenage years. I believe his mentality will be closer to Jin Yong when he wrote BJX edition 1 and 2. So, his thinking during early time is more correct for YCZ.
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Post by Admin on Oct 1, 2014 9:28:02 GMT
What??? I think the more JY revise his novel, the more chaos he create!! Yeap, the guy is senile liao. He doesn't like Wen Qingqing, so, he made YCZ fall for Ah Jiu instead. His reasoning is 'why would YCZ not fall for the pitiful Ah Jiu instead of the spoiled WQQ?' If JY reread his own writing carefully, he will understand why. WQQ and YCZ has great camaraderie. Although WQQ is spoilt and many a time caused trouble YCZ, YCZ was still happy when he's with her. She can make YCZ laugh. When she became cheeky, YCZ will play along. In the novel, you see them slowly getting to know each other's temperament and understand each other. Jin Yong also said that he added more complication and 'complexity' to his love stories because that's more realistic. Yes, maybe some case should be more complex. The older someone is, and the more experience some has and his feelings will be more complex. So, if he make some old guy like HYS liking his student, I'm still ok. But, YCZ is only around 20 years old, barely out of his teenage years. I believe his mentality will be closer to Jin Yong when he wrote BJX edition 1 and 2. So, his thinking during early time is more correct for YCZ. @caiyi : totally agree with your arguments. Perhaps when he made an old guy like HYS like his own student, that's his own or his friends' experience LOL. Right. somehow even how annoyed WQQ is, YCZ liked her. It's her spoilt and brat nature, her cheerful outgoing that attracted him to like her. Sigh.... :S :S I prefer first edition!
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Post by caiyi on Oct 10, 2014 5:34:47 GMT
Recently read up to the part about Yuan Chengzi and Jiao Wan-er hiding under the bed, and Wen Qingqing throws a temper tantrum. I know she's a jealous freak, but, she should be aware of the danger of her situation. She has roam the jianghu far longer than YCZ. People are trying to save her and she refuse to leave. WTH? Throw tantrum also wait until you are safe first.
I know JWE propose YCZ to betroth her with her 'shi xiong' to dispel WQQ's jealousy. But, I thought she chose her 'shi xiong' from a group of many choice. But, it turns out to be no choice because he's the only one there in that situation. Feel bad for Wan-er. So angry with Qingqing. Good that Qingqing realise Wan-er's intention and apologise to her. I'm not against Wan-er with her 'shi xiong' though. He's a good man and he loves Wan-er very much.
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