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Post by soengyee on Dec 9, 2020 15:50:33 GMT
In the 2001 Taiwan adaption of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon they had taken stories from all the novels (minus the last novel about Yu JiaoLong's kids) into this 40 episode TV series and therefore it doesn't follow any of the novels closely at all. Qiao Xin Zhi seems more likeable and a much stronger person compared to his novel counterpart. He loves Shu Lien but he is also friends with her fiancee because he is a nice guy so will never step over boundaries. He also treats Yu JiaoLong with an iron hand as his disciple (she learns Wudang martial arts) because she is simply too wilful. In this TV series adaption the courtesan is in love with Mubai but she knows in his heart there is only Shu Lien so they remain very good friends and is his confidant. Her ending is different in the TV series. She is gang raped by Shu Lien's enemies who mistaken her identity and then commits suicide in shame dying in Mubai's hands. She was a virgin while working in the brothel to feed information to the good guys. Shu Lien's fiancee dies by the bad guys in the TV series as well. Towards the end it is hinted their love is mutual after his death but they don't exactly act up on it because both are respective people. The bad guy also causes Shu Lien to be in a coma for many years at the end as well so...
Jian QinQin is beautiful and she acts very well but her Yu JiaoLong can be so irritating at times to cause so much trouble. She is like Yuan Zhi Yi from Book & Sword X 10. Her family didn't deserve to be wiped out at the end though. Zhang ZiYi from the movie is much more calm and calculative. Huang Yi as Yu ShuLien is very good in here. She comes across as a very strong and independent heroine out to avenge her parents death and becomes tangled with all the characters in the city. But towards the end they changed her character into an idiot always listening to the bad guy and believing everything he tells her. She won't listen to all the other 40 people who know he's a bad guy. When she learns the truth it is too late she was being used the whole time and ends up in a coma for a while after the serial ends. We learn she does finally wake up though.
Jade Fox is a little different in the TV series. She goes to Yu JiaoLong's house to search for the mannual that is in JiaoLong's hands and ends up becoming a maid there. She has a past with JiaoLong's master and when her master dies he tells JiaoLong to watch over her and she does so quietly. After some misunderstandings, Jade Fox causes a falling out between JiaoLong and XiaoHu and their wedding is trashed. She had believed JiaoLong to betray her when in fact she didn't. She's been helping her the whole time. At the end Jade Fox dies to protect JiaoLong getting killed by her enemies after her family is nearly wiped out and loses her status.
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Post by Admin on Dec 10, 2020 4:16:50 GMT
In the 2001 Taiwan adaption of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon they had taken stories from all the novels into this 40 episode TV series. Qiao Xin Zhi seems more likeable and a much stronger person compared to his novel counterpart. He loves Shu Lien but he is also friends with her fiancee because he is a nice guy so will never step over boundaries. He also treats Yu JiaoLong with an iron hand because she is simply too wilful. In this TV series adaption the courtesan is in love with Mubai but she knows in his heart thee is only Shu Lien so they remain very good friends and is his confidant. Her ending is different in the TV series. She is gang raped by Shu Lien's enemies who mistaken her identity and then commits suicide in shame dying in Mubai's hands. Shu Lien's fiancee dies by the bad guys in the TV series as well. Towards the end it is hinted their love is mutual after his death but they don't exactly act up on it because both are respective people. The bad guy also causes Shu Lien to be in a coma for many years at the end as well so... Jian QinQin is beautiful and she acts very well but her Yu JiaoLong can be so irritating at times to cause so much trouble. She is like Yuan Zhi Yi from Book & Sword X 5. Her family didn't deserve to be wiped out at the end though. Zhang ZiYi from the movie is much more calm and calculative. Huang Yi as Yu ShuLien is very good in here. She comes across as a very strong and independent heroine out to avenge her parents death and becomes tangled with all the characters in the city. But towards the end they changed her character into an idiot always listening to the bad guy and believing everything he tells her. She won't listen to all the other 40 people who know he's a bad guy. Jade Fox is a little different in the TV series. She goes to Yu JiaoLong's house to search for the mannual that is in JiaoLong's hands and ends up becoming a maid there. She has a past with JiaoLong's master and when her master dies he tells JiaoLong to watch over her and she does so quietly. After some misunderstandings, Jade Fox causes a falling out between JiaoLong and XiaoHu and their wedding is trashed. She had believed JiaoLong to betray her when in fact she didn't. She's been helping her the whole time. At the end Jade Fox dies to protect JiaoLong getting killed by her enemies. Thanks for the details. Overall, is it a good series and worth to watch? I have never watched the series, and I have to say that film although very beautiful, and I love all of the musics there, but the story itself is just so-so in my opinion.
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Post by siuyiu on Dec 10, 2020 20:15:05 GMT
aha! found it: 迂腐 pedantic, rigid Wow, Li Mubai so unpopular here. He is indeed very yufu, but if the Lee Ang movie is faithful, he at least confesses his love before his death to Yu Xiulian. There are two sequels with Li Mubai and Yu Xiulian after this book, the second of them being Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Li Mubai is even more heartless towards the courtesan in this novel. She commits suicides with a dagger after Li Mubai abandons her after a misunderstanding. He feels he should not get too involved in romance and rejects her, causing her to kill herself. She has nothing to live for. i'm personally not targeting LMB, just that character type in general. i have such conflicted feelings about LYS' BFMNZ because of this: greatly admire LNC but absolutely detest ZYH.
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Post by kyc on Dec 12, 2020 15:44:55 GMT
In the 2001 Taiwan adaption of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon they had taken stories from all the novels (minus the last novel about Yu JiaoLong's kids) into this 40 episode TV series and therefore it doesn't follow any of the novels closely at all. Qiao Xin Zhi seems more likeable and a much stronger person compared to his novel counterpart. He loves Shu Lien but he is also friends with her fiancee because he is a nice guy so will never step over boundaries. He also treats Yu JiaoLong with an iron hand as his disciple (she learns Wudang martial arts) because she is simply too wilful. In this TV series adaption the courtesan is in love with Mubai but she knows in his heart there is only Shu Lien so they remain very good friends and is his confidant. Her ending is different in the TV series. She is gang raped by Shu Lien's enemies who mistaken her identity and then commits suicide in shame dying in Mubai's hands. She was a virgin while working in the brothel to feed information to the good guys. Shu Lien's fiancee dies by the bad guys in the TV series as well. Towards the end it is hinted their love is mutual after his death but they don't exactly act up on it because both are respective people. The bad guy also causes Shu Lien to be in a coma for many years at the end as well so... Jian QinQin is beautiful and she acts very well but her Yu JiaoLong can be so irritating at times to cause so much trouble. She is like Yuan Zhi Yi from Book & Sword X 10. Her family didn't deserve to be wiped out at the end though. Zhang ZiYi from the movie is much more calm and calculative. Huang Yi as Yu ShuLien is very good in here. She comes across as a very strong and independent heroine out to avenge her parents death and becomes tangled with all the characters in the city. But towards the end they changed her character into an idiot always listening to the bad guy and believing everything he tells her. She won't listen to all the other 40 people who know he's a bad guy. When she learns the truth it is too late she was being used the whole time and ends up in a coma for a while after the serial ends. We learn she does finally wake up though. Jade Fox is a little different in the TV series. She goes to Yu JiaoLong's house to search for the mannual that is in JiaoLong's hands and ends up becoming a maid there. She has a past with JiaoLong's master and when her master dies he tells JiaoLong to watch over her and she does so quietly. After some misunderstandings, Jade Fox causes a falling out between JiaoLong and XiaoHu and their wedding is trashed. She had believed JiaoLong to betray her when in fact she didn't. She's been helping her the whole time. At the end Jade Fox dies to protect JiaoLong getting killed by her enemies after her family is nearly wiped out and loses her status. Thank you for your update. soengyee, you're really the expert in wuxia adaptation. Unfortunately, I haven't read enough of the Pentalogy to comment on the series' faithfulness. Actually Yu Shulian's fiance dies while trying to kill Li Mubai's enemies, although he does not really need to confront them. That is why Li Mubai feels apologetic. He is choosing loyalty to friend over love. As for the courtesan, she isn't raped by the bad guys but was a former concubine of a sadistic and powerful local tyrant. But she commits suicide really because of Li Mubai.
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Post by kyc on Dec 30, 2020 13:06:25 GMT
Lately I have no work in the afternoon thanks to the Covid pandemic, which was why I finished (yet) another Wang Dulu novel. This time, it's the first part of the Crane-Iron Pentalogy, The Crane Startles Kunlun (《鶴驚崑崙》). It's actually the third part to be written, but the story predates the Li Mubai novels. The protagonist is Jiang Xiaohe (江小鶴), one of Li Mubai's shifus and later known as Jiang Nanhe (江南鶴). According to Wang Dulu, Jiang Nanhe was a historical figure who was the best kungfu fighter of his generation. The Crane Startles Kunlun chronicles his feud with his father's killers, one of whom is actually his father's shifu, an old martial artist called Bao Zhenfei (鮑振飛). The novel also follows Jiang Xiaohe's love for Bao Zhenfei's granddaughter, Bao A-luan (鮑阿鸞). Other characters include Li Mubai's father, Li Fengjie (李鳳傑), and later his shifu, Ji Guangjie (紀廣傑). The Crane Startles Kunlun is one of the three or four best wuxia novels that Wang Dulu wrote. It's that good, mainly because Jiang Xiaohe is an interesting protagonist. The secondary characters are well drawn too. Jiang Xiaohe meets a hermit in the mountains and learns peerless kungfu, then goes back to avenge his father's death. Bao Zhenfei isn't really that bad, just amusing and pitiful. However, the truth is, Bao Zhenfei was his father's shifu and killed his disciple because he seduced a married woman. As Bao Zhenfei's wife was unfaithful to him, the old man was relentless in meting out punishment. Later, he regrets his action, but it is already too late. Jiang Xiaohe reminds me a bit of Hu Fei. During Wang Dulu's time, wuxia fiction hasn't had the proliferation of sects and rules which govern the "new school" wuxia spearheaded by Liang Yusheng and Jin Yong. Some of WDL's fighters aren't chivalric: they fight at the slightest provocation, mainly to get back at some martial artists they had lost to in the past, more for face than anything. Also, their skills definitely aren't at the level of JY's or LYS's fantasy fighters. That said, The Crane Startles Kunlun is definitely a better novel than Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin (which follows it chronologically). I vastly prefer Jiang Xiaohe to Li Mubai as a hero. Anyone who wants to read the pentalogy must definitely not miss this novel. Highly recommended.
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Post by kyc on Jan 24, 2021 12:11:07 GMT
Another instalment in the Crane-Iron Pentalogy. This time it's Jianqi Zhuguang (《劍氣珠光》, "Sword Qi, Pearl Brilliance"). It is the continued adventures of Li Mubai (李慕白) and Yu Xiulian (俞秀蓮) from Part 1. WDL does not break any mold here and it's the same old formula: martial artists fight each other, get defeated, and find helpers to take revenge. I made a mistake in my last post: Jiang Nanhe is not Li Mubai's shifu but his father's good friend. After the jailbreak at the end of Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin, Jiang Nanhe exhorts Li Mubai not to show off his skills and to keep a low profile in the jianghu. Unfortunately, Li Mubai is a busybody and gets involved in yet more confrontations, albeit disguised as a Taoist priest. Another reason to dislike Li Mubai: he is a thief in this instalment, stealing a treasured sword from one martial artist and later slips of paper on mastering acupoint immobilization from a Zen monk. Also in the plot is the burglary of 49 imperial pearls, and more vendettas among the jianghu warriors. At the end of the book, the 49 pearls are returned to the Forbidden City, and those innocently implicated rehabilitated. Li Mubai gets reprimanded by Jiang Nanhe again for being a busybody and although they have feelings for each other, Li Mubai still refuses to marry Yu Xiulian. He is rightly scolded by Jiang Nanhe for being yufu (what siuyiu said). Yu Xiulian goes to the mountains with Li Mubai to learn acupoint immobilization, which in WDL novels, is a lost art very few have mastered. Their story will continue in the penultimate (and most famous) instalment, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (《臥虎藏龍》). Stay tune if you're interested. Some info on the Pentalogy can be found here: www.d.umn.edu/~mmizuko/cthd/cthd.htm.
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Post by kyc on Jul 19, 2022 15:04:52 GMT
I actually finished this book two days before The Deer and the Cauldron. I needed time for my feelings to sink in. Since I am free today, I may as well give my review of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (《臥虎藏龍》) now. It's going to be a long post. I have said before that I liked the Jiang Nanhe prequel best in the Crane-Iron Pentalogy. That is, up until now. The fourth part of the Crane-Iron Pentalogy, which people remember because of Lee Ang's 2000 film, is also the most justly famous. And maybe the best novel I have read by Wang Dulu so far. (I have read every wuxia thing by him except the final installment.) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is, I dare say, a classic of wuxia fiction. It not only is the most affecting novel I have read by Wang Dulu, it also contains his most successful female character, Yu Jiaolong (玉嬌龍). I already said before that Wang Dulu is very adept at portraying female characters. Yu Jiaolong is the most fleshed out and vividly characterized of his many successful female heroines. The novel, like the movie, initially revolves around the theft of Prince Te's sword (鐵小貝勒 / 青冥劍), given to him by that busybody, Li Mubai, in Part 3. The real thief is at first a mystery, since Yu Jiaolong is from a Bannerman family (although of Han Chinese descent, probably like Wang Dulu and Cao Xueqin). No one expects her, a rich man's daughter, to know kungfu, but she does. And there is a character called Liu Taibao who plays sleuth, trying to investigate who the thief is. There is also an Emerald-Eye Fox (碧眼狐狸) who works for the Yu family. The story gets a bit complicated from here on. There is later a flashback to Xinjiang, where the character of Luo Xiaohu (羅小虎) is introduced. (Didn't I say the western frontier is a romantic place? ) To cut a long story short, Yu Jiaolong and Luo Xiaohu fall in love, but because she is from a rich, noble family, she cannot be with Luo Xiaohu, a bandit, unless he relinquishes his brigand status and becomes an official. Li Mubai and Yu Xiulian are secondary characters. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon demonstrates how revolutionary Wang Dulu is as a writer. His characters are so realistic, you can really imagine them in the real world. They are affected by real-world issues. The love between Yu Jiaolong and Luo Xiaohu is perhaps the most tragic I have ever read in a wuxia novel. And there is the ending. You cannot really guess it, and there are surprises; I won't give the ending away, except to say I was left staring blankly for quite some time when the novel ended. For those who complain there aren't enough female heroines, female protagonists in wuxia fiction, here is one. She is the centerpiece of this book. Neither Yu Jiaolong nor Luo Xiaohu is perfect; they are flawed people who are more human because of their flaws. I feel such sympathy for them that all criticisms are disarmed. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is, in short, a great novel--and not just a great wuxia novel, period. If you like sad endings and female heroines, this novel will be perfect for you. I now have no choice but to finish the entire Pentalogy because I'm dying to know what happens to Li Mubai and Yu Xiulian. Is there an epilogue to the Yu Jiaolong-Luo Xiaohu story? Does Li Mubai die in Part 5 as in the film?
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Post by Admin on Jul 20, 2022 6:47:13 GMT
I actually finished this book two days before The Deer and the Cauldron. I needed time for my feelings to sink in. Since I am free today, I may as well give my review of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (《臥虎藏龍》) now. It's going to be a long post. I have said before that I liked the Jiang Nanhe prequel best in the Crane-Iron Pentalogy. That is, up until now. The fourth part of the Crane-Iron Pentalogy, which people remember because of Lee Ang's 2000 film, is also the most justly famous. And maybe the best novel I have read by Wang Dulu so far. (I have read every wuxia thing by him except the final installment.) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is, I dare say, a classic of wuxia fiction. It not only is the most affecting novel I have read by Wang Dulu, it also contains his most successful female character, Yu Jiaolong (玉嬌龍). I already said before that Wang Dulu is very adept at portraying female characters. Yu Jiaolong is the most fleshed out and vividly characterized of his many successful female heroines. The novel, like the movie, initially revolves around the theft of Prince Te's sword (鐵小貝勒 / 青冥劍), given to him by that busybody, Li Mubai, in Part 3. The real thief is at first a mystery, since Yu Jiaolong is from a Bannerman family (although of Han Chinese descent, probably like Wang Dulu and Cao Xueqin). No one expects her, a rich man's daughter, to know kungfu, but she does. And there is a character called Liu Taibao who plays sleuth, trying to investigate who the thief is. There is also an Emerald-Eye Fox (碧眼狐狸) who works for the Yu family. The story gets a bit complicated from here on. There is later a flashback to Xinjiang, where the character of Luo Xiaohu (羅小虎) is introduced. (Didn't I say the western frontier is a romantic place? ) To cut a long story short, Yu Jiaolong and Luo Xiaohu fall in love, but because she is from a rich, noble family, she cannot be with Luo Xiaohu, a bandit, unless he relinquishes his brigand status and becomes an official. Li Mubai and Yu Xiulian are secondary characters. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon demonstrates how revolutionary Wang Dulu is as a writer. His characters are so realistic, you can really imagine them in the real world. They are affected by real-world issues. The love between Yu Jiaolong and Luo Xiaohu is perhaps the most tragic I have ever read in a wuxia novel. And there is the ending. You cannot really guess it, and there are surprises; I won't give the ending away, except to say I was left staring blankly for quite some time when the novel ended. For those who complain there aren't enough female heroines, female protagonists in wuxia fiction, here is one. She is the centerpiece of this book. Neither Yu Jiaolong nor Luo Xiaohu is perfect; they are flawed people who are more human because of their flaws. I feel such sympathy for them that all criticisms are disarmed. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is, in short, a great novel--and not just a great wuxia novel, period. If you like sad endings and female heroines, this novel will be perfect for you. I now have no choice but to finish the entire Pentalogy because I'm dying to know what happens to Li Mubai and Yu Xiulian. Is there an epilogue to the Yu Jiaolong-Luo Xiaohu story? Does Li Mubai die in Part 5 as in the film? whoa whoa.... Please finish and update us what happens to LMB and YXL, and what later happened to YJL and LXH. I really have no idea of the exact story of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, there's no translation in Bahasa or English for it. And I guess I'm too lazy to read the Chinese version. All my knowledge about CTHD is from the Ang Lee film. Passionate scene between Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen, then Cheng Peipei, the middle age couple CYT and Michelle Yeoh. So I guess, it's much different from the film, right? I'm so curious to know the ending... the most tragic love story in wuxia? Care to give us spoiler, please kyc ?
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Post by kyc on Jul 21, 2022 4:04:44 GMT
I really have no idea of the exact story of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, there's no translation in Bahasa or English for it. And I guess I'm too lazy to read the Chinese version. All my knowledge about CTHD is from the Ang Lee film. Passionate scene between Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen, then Cheng Peipei, the middle age couple CYT and Michelle Yeoh. So I guess, it's much different from the film, right? I'm so curious to know the ending... the most tragic love story in wuxia? Care to give us spoiler, please kyc ? CTHD the film is about 50% true to the book. BUT the character of Yu Jiaolong is very much like how Zhang Ziyi portrays her: proud, willful but also very passionate. The main differences are in the characters Yu Xiulian and Li Mubai. Michelle Yeoh was like 15 years older than in the book (Yu Xiulian is 23-24 in the book; Yu Jiaolong nearly 18; Li Mubai slightly younger than 30.) Another difference is in the character of Li Mubai. Chow Yun Fat's Li Mubai is not close to the novel at all, more an idealized portrait, always wanting Zhang Ziyi as his disciple and very restrained and cultured. In the book, Li Mubai is also impressed by Yu Jiaolong's kungfu, but because she's so willful, he's always arguing with her and fighting her. Li Mubai is not so good-tempered in the book. Chang Chen is pretty close to the Luo Xiaohu of the book, BUT in the original novel he is much more fleshed out... and tragic. His birth story is very sad, maybe sadder than even Yang Guo's. There is also the character Emerald-Eye Fox, who is made into the main villain in the film. In the book, she dies in Chapter 3 (the book is 14 chapters long). Although she returns in the flashback (two chapters), she DOES NOT POISON Li Mubai to death in the novel. There is also a major character in Liu Taibao (劉泰保), a half-hooligan who is also pretty loyal and quite a busybody. He is a bit part in the film. Finally, I was always perplexed over why Zhang Ziyi throws herself off Wudang Mountains in the film... in the book, it's not quite like that. BUT she does throw herself off a mountain cliff. Why she did that is a SPOILER... it's NOT QUITE THE SAME REASON as in the film.
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Post by kyc on Jul 21, 2022 4:17:56 GMT
Yu Jiaolong and Luo Xiaohu... may not be the most tragic wuxia love story for many people. For myself, I do feel it's the best-written wuxia romance I have read. Meaning it's very WELL-WRITTEN. You feel sympathy for both lovers. But they are flawed people. Are you the kind who needs perfect heroes and perfect suffering heroines?
It depends on who you ask. Some people will prefer someone dying.. that to them is the most tragic. Then they may prefer JY (A'zhu dies for Xiao Feng, Cheng Lingsu dies for Hu Fei etc.)
The Yu Jiaolong and Luo Xiaohu love story is closer to LYS... BUT LYS also has two main flavors: Lian Nichang-Zhuo Yihang and Li Shengnan-Jin Shiyi.
I don't want to give SPOILERS away. I want to 吊人胃口. This book is worth reading and CTHD is easily available... so I must seduce people into reading it.
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Post by Admin on Jul 21, 2022 6:40:55 GMT
I really have no idea of the exact story of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, there's no translation in Bahasa or English for it. And I guess I'm too lazy to read the Chinese version. All my knowledge about CTHD is from the Ang Lee film. Passionate scene between Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen, then Cheng Peipei, the middle age couple CYT and Michelle Yeoh. So I guess, it's much different from the film, right? I'm so curious to know the ending... the most tragic love story in wuxia? Care to give us spoiler, please kyc ? CTHD the film is about 50% true to the book. BUT the character of Yu Jiaolong is very much like how Zhang Ziyi portrays her: proud, willful but also very passionate. The main differences are in the characters Yu Xiulian and Li Mubai. Michelle Yeoh was like 15 years older than in the book (Yu Xiulian is 23-24 in the book; Yu Jiaolong nearly 18; Li Mubai slightly younger than 30.) Another difference is in the character of Li Mubai. Chow Yun Fat's Li Mubai is not close to the novel at all, more an idealized portrait, always wanting Zhang Ziyi as his disciple and very restrained and cultured. In the book, Li Mubai is also impressed by Yu Jiaolong's kungfu, but because she's so willful, he's always arguing with her and fighting her. Li Mubai is not so good-tempered in the book. Chang Chen is pretty close to the Luo Xiaohu of the book, BUT in the original novel he is much more fleshed out... and tragic. His birth story is very sad, maybe sadder than even Yang Guo's. There is also the character Emerald-Eye Fox, who is made into the main villain in the film. In the book, she dies in Chapter 3 (the book is 14 chapters long). Although she returns in the flashback (two chapters), she DOES NOT POISON Li Mubai to death in the novel. There is also a major character in Liu Taibao (劉泰保), a half-hooligan who is also pretty loyal and quite a busybody. He is a bit part in the film. Finally, I was always perplexed over why Zhang Ziyi throws herself off Wudang Mountains in the film... in the book, it's not quite like that. BUT she does throw herself off a mountain cliff. Why she did that is a SPOILER... it's NOT QUITE THE SAME REASON as in the film. What? Yu Xiulian was only 23-24 in the book? Li Mubai was less than 30?? GOSH!!! I thought that they're late 30s or 40 couples though. Geez... Falling off the cliff? Gosh...then you really have to continue to read the sequel. Remember wuxiasociety.freeforums.net/thread/75/1001-thing-learned-wuxia When a protagonist falling off the cliff, most likely s/he will find a powerful martial art
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Post by kyc on Jul 24, 2022 7:13:27 GMT
What? Yu Xiulian was only 23-24 in the book? Li Mubai was less than 30?? GOSH!!! I thought that they're late 30s or 40 couples though. Geez... Falling off the cliff? Gosh...then you really have to continue to read the sequel. Remember wuxiasociety.freeforums.net/thread/75/1001-thing-learned-wuxia When a protagonist falling off the cliff, most likely s/he will find a powerful martial art I watched CTHD again the other day... now I revise my initial estimation and say it is around 70% faithful to the book. The main difference is in the character of Li Mubai. Prince Tie is also much older. The rest are pretty much similar in character as in the book, but some episodes are condensed or invented. Emerald-Eye Fox has a much longer air time in the movie than in the book, where she does not kill Li Mubai. The movie is excellent: the script, cinematography, directing, acting, set design and score are all top-notch. Some characters are pared down, but their essence is well brought out. Lee Ang also adds some Taoist and Confucian philosophies to the film. Yu Jiaolong jumps off the cliff, not falls off... she makes a deliberate decision to jump off like an Olympic diver, much like in the movie... BUT NOT QUITE FOR THE SAME REASON. And no, she already found a kungfu manual so she doesn't need another one at the foot of the cliff.
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Post by kyc on Nov 2, 2022 8:04:34 GMT
This will be my last review of a Wang Dulu wuxia novel because there will be no more to review. Iron Steed, Silver Vase (《鐵騎銀瓶》) is the last novel of the Crane-Iron Pentalogy and I have read every other wuxia novel written by this author... so there's no more to come.
Coming after the giddy heights of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Iron Steed, Silver Vase is quite a disappointment. This is the longest wuxia novel Wang Dulu wrote, and I doubt he had enough materials to write a three-volume novel... so the novel ends up feeling rather thin. There is no way I can talk about this novel without flagging a {SPOILER} tag.
At the end of CTHD, Yu Jiaolong has a last rendezvous with Luo Xiaohu, and then they part forever. Yu Jiaolong becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son. Her son is baby swapped by an official's concubine with another baby girl, and Yu Jiaolong ends up with a baby girl instead. Her baby boy becomes a rich man's son, Han Tiefang (韓鐵芳). He grows up and later learns kungfu, mistakenly thinking his mother is abducted by a brigand chief and leaves home to rescue her. The baby girl also grows up, learns kungfu under Yu Jiaolong, and is named Chun Xueping (春雪瓶). The mother and daughter become very famous in Xinjiang as a pair of chivalrous warriors everyone fears.
The novel is long and rather formulaic, so to cut a long story short, both Yu Jiaolong and Luo Xiaohu die during the course of the novel. Yu Jiaolong dies from tuberculosis before she is 40 and Luo Xiaohu is tortured to death; in the end, Han Tiefang also learns his true parentage after encountering them and is with them at their deaths. Han Tiefang and Chun Xueping meet many second and third-tier fighters whom they defeat, but the question is whether they can be together in the end, which is answered in the positive. I have to be honest... the parts in between didn't interest me very much. I actually rate this book as the most boring of the Crane-Iron Pentalogy, although it does have a happy ending.
In the end, Han Tiefang and Chun Xueping become a married couple, and they learn more kungfu from the manual Yu Jialong wrote. This becomes their "daily exercise". Li Mubai has become untraceable and Yu Xiulian dies from an illness in her 40s. Neither appears in this last book.
Although an anti-climax of some sort, I have finally finished reading every one of Wang Dulu's wuxia novel. Hopefully I can finish reading the rest of Gu Long (I'm skipping his early ones) by next year.
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Post by siuyiu on Nov 3, 2022 2:09:03 GMT
congrats on completing the canon reading! good luck with perusing GL--looking forward to your reviews!
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Post by Admin on Nov 3, 2022 7:27:19 GMT
This will be my last review of a Wang Dulu wuxia novel because there will be no more to review. Iron Steed, Silver Vase (《鐵騎銀瓶》) is the last novel of the Crane-Iron Pentalogy and I have read every other wuxia novel written by this author... so there's no more to come. Coming after the giddy heights of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Iron Steed, Silver Vase is quite a disappointment. This is the longest wuxia novel Wang Dulu wrote, and I doubt he had enough materials to write a three-volume novel... so the novel ends up feeling rather thin. There is no way I can talk about this novel without flagging a {SPOILER} tag. At the end of CTHD, Yu Jiaolong has a last rendezvous with Luo Xiaohu, and then they part forever. Yu Jiaolong becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son. Her son is baby swapped by an official's concubine with another baby girl, and Yu Jiaolong ends up with a baby girl instead. Her baby boy becomes a rich man's son, Han Tiefang (韓鐵芳). He grows up and later learns kungfu, mistakenly thinking his mother is abducted by a brigand chief and leaves home to rescue her. The baby girl also grows up, learns kungfu under Yu Jiaolong, and is named Chun Xueping (春雪瓶). The mother and daughter become very famous in Xinjiang as a pair of chivalrous warriors everyone fears. The novel is long and rather formulaic, so to cut a long story short, both Yu Jiaolong and Luo Xiaohu die during the course of the novel. Yu Jiaolong dies from tuberculosis before she is 40 and Luo Xiaohu is tortured to death; in the end, Han Tiefang also learns his true parentage after encountering them and is with them at their deaths. Han Tiefang and Chun Xueping meet many second and third-tier fighters whom they defeat, but the question is whether they can be together in the end, which is answered in the positive. I have to be honest... the parts in between didn't interest me very much. I actually rate this book as the most boring of the Crane-Iron Pentalogy, although it does have a happy ending. In the end, Han Tiefang and Chun Xueping become a married couple, and they learn more kungfu from the manual Yu Jialong wrote. This becomes their "daily exercise". Li Mubai has become untraceable and Yu Xiulian dies from an illness in her 40s. Neither appears in this last book. Although an anti-climax of some sort, I have finally finished reading every one of Wang Dulu's wuxia novel. Hopefully I can finish reading the rest of Gu Long (I'm skipping his early ones) by next year. wait, so YJL didn't die when she jumps off the cliff?
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