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Post by siuyiu on May 29, 2014 0:11:17 GMT
Shu Shan Jianxia Zhuan (蜀山劍俠傳) (Chronicles of the Mt. Shu Swordsmen)
Man Huang Xia Yin (蠻荒俠隱) (Reclusive Hero in the Wild)
Qingcheng Shijiu Ke (青城十九俠) (19 Swordsmen of Qingcheng)
(邊塞英雄譜) (Heroes of the Lodge at the Borders)
(云海爭奇記) (Fantastic Tales of Conflict)
(皋蘭异人傳) (Chronicles of the Marshland Eccentrics)
Tianshan Fei Xia(天山飛俠) (Soaring Hero of Mt. Tian)
(武當异人傳) (Chronicles of the Wudang Eccentrics)
Liuhu Xia Yin(柳湖俠隱) (Recluse of Lake Liu)
(峨眉七矮) (Seven Dwarves of E'mei)
(蜀山劍俠新傳) (New Chronicles of the Mt. Shu Swordsmen)
(冷魂峪) (Ghost Valley)
Beihai Tulong Ji(北海屠龍記) (Dueling Dragons of the North Sea)
(虎爪山王) (King of Mt. Hu Zhao)
(俠丐木尊者)
(黑孩儿) (Dark Child)
(青門十四俠) (14 Heroes of Qing Men)
(關中九俠) (9 Heroes of the Central Shanxi Plain)
(万里孤俠) (Solitary Wanderer)
(大漠英雄) (Great Chinese Heroes)
(大俠狄龍子) (Hero Di Longzi)
(長眉真人專集) (Chronicles of Taoist Longbrows)
(蜀山劍俠后傳) (Later Chronicles of the Mt. Shu Swordsmen)
(女俠夜明珠) (Heroine Midnight Pearl)
(武當七女) (7 Females of Wudang)
Li (力) (Strength)
(兵書峽) (Bingshu Valley)
(龍山四友) (4 Friends of Mt. Long)
(獨手丐) (One-Handed Beggar)
(黑螞蟻) (Black Ant)
(黑森林) (Black Forest)
(酒俠神醫) (Drunken Hero, Mythical Doctor)
(鐵笛子) (Iron Flute)
(翼人影無雙)
(拳王) (Fist King)
(白骷髏) (Skeleton)
Ji Meng(劇孟)
(遊俠郭解) (Wandering Hero Guo Jie)
source: Among the Rivers and Lakes Wiki and some of my old attempts at translating the titles
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Post by kyc on Sept 24, 2018 11:18:02 GMT
A short biography of Huanzhu Louzhu, the pioneer of xianxia literature thanks to his Swordspeople of the Shu Mountains (蜀山劍俠傳), a very long wuxia novel (4.1 million characters) which was still incomplete when he stopped writing.
Huanzhou Louzhu's real name was Li Shoumin. Hailing from Sichuan province, he was the oldest of three surviving brothers. Li was known to be a child prodigy who could recite and compose poetry when very young. His father's family had been a family of officials. Because of his literary inclinations, he was bestowed a plaque calling him a shentong (神童,genius child prodigy) by the county government. His father died when he was 12, and his family fell into hard times. His family moved from Sichuan to Suzhou, where they were supported by a pupil of his late father.
Li's first love was a neighbor girl called Wenzhu (文珠), whose given name he later used in The Chivalrous Heroine "Night Pearl" (女俠夜明珠). Li stopped studying at 22 and started to support his family, working in a variety of jobs, like as secretary, Chinese tutor, post office clerk etc. He met his future wife while tutoring a rich family the Suns in Tianjin. This wife was the second daughter of the Suns, Sun Jingxun (孫經洵), six years his junior. His father-in-law, Sun Zhongshan (孫仲山) was adamantly against the match, and even sued Li for "abducting" his daughter. However, since the love relationship was mutual and Sun Jingxun was no longer a minor, she married Li against her father's wishes. The couple wedded in 1932. Li later created the evil character of the Patriarch in Green Robes (錄袍老祖) in Shu Mountains after the personality of his father-in-law.
Li took on the penname of Huanzhu Louzhu partly to commemorate his first love, at the suggestion of his wife. That same year, he started serializing Shu Mountains which became his most famous and longest novel. Thereafter he became one of Republican China's most famous wuxia novelists. He moved to Beijing (then known as Beiping) and was later cruelly tortured by the Japanese military police for refusing to support the Japanese. The torture affected his eyesight badly and he had to use an amanuensis for the rest of his life.
After being released by the Japanese thanks to help from his sworn brother, he fled with his family to Shanghai, when his literary fame continued unabated. He had to write several novels at the same time to support his big family. He also started smoking opium at this time due to pressure.
After the war, Li continued writing wuxia novels, until the advent of the People's Republic of China, when wuxia novels were banned. Several of his novels remained incomplete for this reason.
While mostly avoiding political persecution, it appears an article condemning him had partly resulted in a stroke in 1958. He became paralyzed in his left half, and died in 1961 after several years of poor health, aged 59.
Taking the sequels into consideration, Swordspeople of the Shu Mountains could well be the longest wuxia novel ever published. It remains incomplete due to the ban on wuxia literature effected by the early Communist government.
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Post by kyc on Sept 24, 2018 12:07:59 GMT
Happy Mid-autumn Festival. 海上生明月,天涯共此時!
This is a review of Huanzhu Longzhu's novel, The Chivalrous Heroine "Night Pearl" (女俠夜明珠)。
Alas, this is an incomplete novel. The book is probably not even half complete, probably owing to the ban on wuxia literature. Had I known this, I might not have borrowed the book.
It's a fairly short novel, about 264 pages long in my edition, of 10 chapters. Unfortunately, this novel has a very "structureless" feel. The plot follows a young man with martial arts, Li Shan (李善), the son of a uncorrupt official, who encounters the beautiful heroine Pu Wenzhu (浦文珠). He starts following her like Duan Yu does Wang Yuyan, except Pu Wenzhu is under some sort of danger: she is duped by a man who intends to cheat her into marriage, and while traveling back to meet him, many people try to stop her without actually managing to.
The whole plot concerns Li Shan trying to meet Pu Wenzhu and save her from the clutches of third-rate bandits/villains who attack her, and people who try to help and matchmake the two. Li Shan does not manage to speak to his lady intended until Chapter 6, and the best parts of the novel to me are when they are together. Unfortunately, they part two chapters later. Then the novel launches into a discursive final chapter which seems to bear no relation with what happened earlier. It's a chapter when Li Shan meets so many people trying escape from a calamitous flood after torrential rains. It doesn't even read like a wuxia novel, that chapter.
The best parts of the book are when Li Shan manages to speak and interact with Pu Wenzhu and when she starts feeling interested in him. Chinese has so many idioms and phrases to praise a woman's beauty, it puts English to shame! Huanzhu Longzhu, like Liang Yusheng, has many many ways to describe a woman's beauty, it's almost like reading poetry.
But the novel suffers from a lack of structure. The people come and go without reason. Take Li Shan's boy page for example. He appears in a few chapters and becomes an interesting character, but disappears after a snake bite and doesn't reappear in the book ever again. Probably he will, but HZLZ never reaches that point where he does.
The novel also has a very impromptu and laissez faire feel. It was probably written to meet a publishing deadline, and HZLZ probably hadn't thought much about the plot, relying on his mastery of language to make up for its deficiencies. As such it isn't a very memorable novel.
Conclusion: Recommended only for completists or for those interested in such incomplete plot (Duan Yu chasing after Wang Yuyan). Although I quite like the hero, the heroine isn't someone with a very high IQ. The descriptions of her beauty make up for it though.
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Post by siuyiu on Sept 25, 2018 0:37:05 GMT
thank you for this valuable info! isn't it hilarious that one of the most revered historical figures in modern times is a villain in the eyes of his son-in-law!
i'm really sad and disappointed to hear that several of HZLZ's novels, including Shu Mt, are incomplete. now i'm that much more hesitant to crack them open! (the language level is a great stumbling block to begin with.) i already know that xianxia isn't my cup of tea, but i would've considered trying out Shu Mts--not giving up yet, but it's definitely further down my list of "to read" books.
and yeah, definitely passing on night pearl--the DY chasing after WYY plot is NOT what i admire TLBB for!
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Post by kyc on Sept 25, 2018 1:53:42 GMT
thank you for this valuable info! isn't it hilarious that one of the most revered historical figures in modern times is a villain in the eyes of his son-in-law! i'm really sad and disappointed to hear that several of HZLZ's novels, including Shu Mt, are incomplete. now i'm that much more hesitant to crack them open! (the language level is a great stumbling block to begin with.) i already know that xianxia isn't my cup of tea, but i would've considered trying out Shu Mts--not giving up yet, but it's definitely further down my list of "to read" books. and yeah, definitely passing on night pearl--the DY chasing after WYY plot is NOT what i admire TLBB for! Yeah, this Sun Zhongshan was not that Sun Zhongshan (aka Sun Yat-sen, founder of Republican China) but I'm sure you've already noticed! Don't let the "incompleteness" of Shu Mountains hold you back from reading the book. From what I have gathered, Shu Mountains is already one very long novel. HZLZ probably would have kept on writing it as long as he could. So it wouldn't appear very incomplete. At least that is what I think...
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Post by siuyiu on Sept 25, 2018 2:29:23 GMT
kyc the sheer size of the novel is also daunting--would def need to carve out a significant amount of time to get through it! but should i get around to it, i'll be sure to share thoughts about it! and thanks for clarifying about the father-in-law--sorry, i'm slow, i DID think it was sun yat-sen that you were referring to. thanks for clarifying!
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Post by reinafu on Sept 25, 2018 17:34:01 GMT
So, this means that Sun Yat Sen wasn't very kind, if he didn't want his daughter to marry the man she loved...
Maybe this author met Du Xin Wu, then.
He had a sad ending and I feel sorry for him.
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Post by reinafu on Sept 25, 2018 17:37:38 GMT
I just took a look to the list of the novels . Are there any of these books that have been adapted into tv series ?
I would love to read 7 female of Wu Dang !
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Post by siuyiu on Sept 26, 2018 2:03:11 GMT
reinafu didn't adam cheng star in an adaptation of shu shan? EDIT: according to IMDB, zu: warriors of the magic mountain is very, very loosely based on HZLZ's shu shan stories.
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Post by kyc on Sept 26, 2018 2:42:48 GMT
So, this means that Sun Yat Sen wasn't very kind, if he didn't want his daughter to marry the man she loved...
Maybe this author met Du Xin Wu, then.
He had a sad ending and I feel sorry for him.
LOL. I hope you weren't mistaken like siuyiu, reinafu. Sun Yat-sen was a kind man, he wasn't the father-in-law of Huanzhu Louzhu. Huanzhu Louzhu's father-in-law merely had a similar name. He was a parvenu based in Tianjin... not the same person. I think I'd better clarify this before politicians and descendants of Dr Sun Yat-sen invade this forum! As for adaptations, Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983) starring Adam Cheng and Brigitte Lin and directed by Tsui Hark, is a loose adaptation of Shu Mountains. TVB also released the TV series 《蜀山奇侠》( The God and the Demons of Zu Mountain)in 1990, based on the same novel. Part 2: The Zu Mountain Saga (1991). I'm sure there are other adaptations which I'm not aware of though.
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