Is Dongfang Bubai name mean he unbeaten only in East Asian but not rest of Asian ?

[galvatron]

Hello ,i have a question ,is Dongfang old name of China ,Korean and Japan or East Asian?
If yes ,is this mean Dongfang Bubai name mean that he only unbeaten in China ,Korea and Japan but he can beaten by fighter from in Mongolia ,South East Asian ,European ,Arab states?
Is he same level with Dugu Qiubai since Dugu is unbeaten in his whole life and his name mean Dugu want defeat ,am i right?


Thanks.

[Ren Wo Xing]

The thing is, Dongfang is an actual, real (if rare) surname in China, and there's an actual historical personage named Dongfang Shuo. Given that people in the novel refer to DFBB as 'Brother Dongfang' or 'Sect Leader Dongfang', this strongly suggests that Dongfang is his actual, real surname, whereas 'Bubai', 'Undefeated/Invincible', is his nickname/pseudonym.

So 'Dongfang Bubai' literally just means 'Dongfang the Invincible'. Since Dongfang can also mean 'The East' or East Asia, later movies have translated this into the 'Invincible Asia'. But in the novels itself, there was never even any hint of using 'Dongfang' as anything but a surname.

As to whether DFBB was on the same level as DGQB, well....

[Ren Wo Xing]

魔教教主东方不败更有“当世第一高手”之称，他名字叫做“不败”，果真是艺成以来，从未败过一 次

The Demon Cult's chief, Dong Fang Bu Bai, had the title of "The Number One Expert in the World". His name was "Undefeated", and it was true that ever since he had completed his martial arts training, he had never been defeated a single time.

So actually, it's possible that 'Bu Bai' (Undefeated) is his actual name, and Dongfang is his actual surname. Given that another character is named Ren Woxing (I do as I please), I guess it's not totally impossible.

[tape]

Yeah even people like Ke Zhen'E and his brother have names that are pretty weird for parents to be naming their children, but are perfect for jianghu. 'Bu Bai' is definitely not any weirder...he just happened to have a great surname to go with it. Change the surname of a lot of characters to 'Dongfong' or 'Dugu' and they are much more awe inspiring...Dugu Wuji suddenly feels like he can beat the Greats now

[PJ]

Hello ,i have a question ,is Dongfang old name of China ,Korean and Japan or East Asian?
If yes ,is this mean Dongfang Bubai name mean that he only unbeaten in China ,Korea and Japan but he can beaten by fighter from in Mongolia ,South East Asian ,European ,Arab states?
Is he same level with Dugu Qiubai since Dugu is unbeaten in his whole life and his name mean Dugu want defeat ,am i right?


Thanks.

Actually, "dongfang" refers to the Eastern part of China, as the ancient Chinese saw themselves as the center of earth and referred to the eastern part of the Middle Kingdom as dongfang. This implies there may be extraordinary fighters in the Western parts of China such as Ningxia and Gansu that may overpower Brother Bubai. This makes sense since there are lots of mountains in Western China which are conducive to long term meditation which is a precursor to becoming undefeatable.

// post not to be taken seriously.

BTW just for kicks, in the movie East is Red, Brigitte Lin (playing DFBB) changes his/her name to "Dong Xi Fang Bu Bai" (East AND West Invincible).

[Ian Liew]

If I remember correctly, one of the main characters in the Six-fingered Zither Demon was called "Dongfang Bai", so it is definitely a surname which was used during wuxia days, if rarely.