Why is Central Divinity Wong Chung Yeung so underrated?
Central Divinity Wong Chung Yeung defeated four other Greats (East Heretic Wong Yerk See, West Poison Au Yeung Fung, South Emperor Deun Chi Hing, and North Beggar Hung 7 Gung) in fair and square combat during the First Mt. Hua Sword Tournament to claim the title of World's Greatest Martial Artist. He founded the Cheun Jen Sect, which became the world's most powerful and respected martial arts school for a generation. His seven disciples were respected and powerful fighters in his own right, and his younger martial brother Chow Bak Tung became a Great as well. Topping all this off, Wong Chung Yeung even read and grasped the essence of the 9 Yum Jen Ging.
But at this forum and others, it seems the guy can't buy any respect as a martial artist...despite the best efforts of Athena, Dennis Chen, and others. HOWEVER, a figure such as Dook Goo Kau Bai, who didn't have to do much more than CLAIM being invincible in his time, etc., etc., is given full benefit of the doubt by many people.
Why is that?
Wang Chongyang: A Great, But So What?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Cheng
Topping all this off, Wong Chung Yeung even read and grasped the essence of the 9 Yum Jen Ging.
On top of this, the guy forsook romantic love to try and do his best for the defence of his country. Admittedly he sucked at it - defence, I mean - and then sulked about it afterwards, but you'd think this would get him a bit more respect from the forum's Guojingistas.
Apart from Wang Chongyang (like the rest of Quanzhen) being slightly unfashionable here among the long-distance-attack-fetishists, the fact is that Jin Yong (at least in 2e) did not present WCY as a romanticised legend - not in the same way he presented Dugu Qiubai and even, to a lesser extent, the likes of Huang Shang and Lin Chaoying. He's just sort of this mysterious dead guy who people talk about.
The plot arc from 'She Diao' to 'Shen Diao' can even be read as something of a debunking of WCY. From the high point of winning the 1st Mount Hua Duels pre-story, the fate of Quanzhen does not say great things about his teaching prowess nor his ability to build an institution (although it may be a harsh criticism), and the prestige of the Mount Hua Duels concept progressively loses currency at the endings of both novels. Then, of course, there's the whole LCY affair. I think the important issue here is that not only is WCY shown to have underachieved both as lover and leader, but that WCY's decision (ditch passion for the big picture) is fundamentally out of whack with the rest of the novel (which is all about passion superseding everything else, for better or worse). He is contrasted throughout with Yang Guo, who at one point even muses that he's WCY's successor and who arguably achieved both in love & leadership - something achieved by Guo Jing too, but not, conspicuously, by WCY.
These things shouldn't really have an effect on perceptions of WCY's personal martial ability, but they do. If anything, the whole point of him should be "great fighter, but so what?" Meanwhile, if we forget the big silly bird for a moment, JY reserved some fantastic ideas for DGQB's posthumous PR.