Oversea Chinese/Asian: Are they more like Gwok Jing or Yeung Hong?

[Trien Chieu]

The vast majority of Wuxia fans worship/praise Gwok Jing and at the same time curse Yeung Hong to no end. It is easy to worship/praise Gwok Jing and curse Yeung Hong for their actions. However, in real life how many people, who live comfortable life oversea, would make the decision Gwok Jing made themselves?

[Mandred Skavenslayer]

The vast majority of Wuxia fans worship/praise Gwok Jing and at the same time curse Yeung Hong to no end. It is easy to worship/praise Gwok Jing and curse Yeung Hong for their actions. However, in real life how many people, who live comfortable life oversea, would make the decision Gwok Jing made themselves?

I really wouldn't say worship, as his flaws are made plain in the novel and every adaptation.
As for the original question, these days people's loyalty is normally with the country they are born and raised in, rather than their ethnicity.

[Ken Cheng]

It's not exactly the same. None of us Asian-Americans or Asian-Canadians are prince consorts or heirs to the throne in the "mighty foreign empire" in which we live.

[wkeej]

What decision did GJ make? Defending Xiangyang instead of living a comfortable life at Peach Blossom Island?
Looking around, there are very few people who make such sacrifices? No religion involved - would Buddha qualify? Leaving the palace to seek truth.

[GazingStar5]

Hi Trien Cheu, Trien Huynh De, Trien Dai Hiep, Trien Anh Hung, Trien Dai Ka, or whatever it is that you want to be known as.....

Because of such reasons you thought of, I have been in many discussion with some people talking about how I think some of these new young generation actors should buff themselves up so they could play in movies or drama TV series as heroic general like great heroic general Yue Fei and many other great heroic generals.....

Especially new young talented actors like Joseph Zeng that played in the 2019 version of Yi Tian Tu Long Ji.....
Some have been saying perhaps if Ding Yu Xi the actor that played as Dong Fang Bu Bai in the 2017 version of Xiao Ao Jiang Hu..... If he train more, he could fit the role of one of the brothers of the Yang Heroic General in the Yang General story.







Hi Ken,
How is your facebook WuXia group going along?
Some of my friends that doesn't have facebook said they can't even go on just to take a look around?

I saw on WuXia Society forum, A-Tumi wrote about a suggestion to do something similar and it look like Jen is getting involved. But however I'm not sure what kind of progress they have made already.....

Perhaps you guys can go on my WuXiaMist dot boards dot net forum to discuss more if eventually Spcnet is no longer with everyone?

What do you guys think?

[Patudo]

Thanks for posting a question that could be answered by reading the original source material!

When I first watched TVB's 1980s era "Legend of the Condor Heroes" I thought the story (and by inference Jin Yong himself) was trying to deliver a heavy-handed morality lesson that went roughly like: no matter where a person of Chinese heritage grows up, his ultimate loyalty should be to China. I'm not so sure of that now. I still think Guo Jing reflects what JY thinks one should do. But I also think Yang Kang - dislikeable character though he is - was written up insightfully enough for the more thoughtful reader (and also viewer, given that Yang Kang has been portrayed by some talented actors) to realize just how hard doing the "right" thing would be.

I agree that, to overseas Chinese, the decisions made by Guo Jing and Yang Kang have extra resonance because, like the two protagonists, they grew up in a different country and culture that often places itself in opposition to China (it's a really interesting coincidence (?) that the Jin empire (大金) is the main aggressor in LOCH, while Jinshan (金山) was apparently the name by which many Chinese emigrants referred to the United States), and also that they are likely better off having grown up overseas than if their parents or grandparents had remained in China.

If I was a Chinese American, it wouldn't be necessary for me to be a general in the US armed forces, or engaged to Ivanka Trump, to throw in my lot with the country and culture I grew up in (I actually think there are very strong reasons why Guo Jing should have done this, given that Donald Trump... I mean Genghis Khan had treated his mother and himself so well). The Song Empire (or the PRC regime) can go hang as far as I'm concerned. Then again, I'm happy to admit it, I'm very much more of a Yang Kang then a Guo Jing... The likes of Hero Guo are great to read about, but not quite so enjoyable to actually be.

[Stance]

The vast majority of Wuxia fans worship/praise Gwok Jing and at the same time curse Yeung Hong to no end. It is easy to worship/praise Gwok Jing and curse Yeung Hong for their actions. However, in real life how many people, who live comfortable life oversea, would make the decision Gwok Jing made themselves?

If you look at it from another angle.

If someone told you now that your parents are not your birth parents. Can you just turn on them? How many people can do this? It's actually pretty bad to do such a thing to someone that had raised you.

[wkeej]

...

When I first watched TVB's 1980s era "Legend of the Condor Heroes" I thought the story (and by inference Jin Yong himself) was trying to deliver a heavy-handed morality lesson that went roughly like: no matter where a person of Chinese heritage grows up, his ultimate loyalty should be to China. I'm not so sure of that now. I still think Guo Jing reflects what JY thinks one should do. But I also think Yang Kang - dislikeable character though he is - was written up insightfully enough for the more thoughtful reader (and also viewer, given that Yang Kang has been portrayed by some talented actors) to realize just how hard doing the "right" thing would be.

I agree that, to overseas Chinese, the decisions made by Guo Jing and Yang Kang have extra resonance because, like the two protagonists, they grew up in a different country and culture that often places itself in opposition to China (it's a really interesting coincidence (?) that the Jin empire (大金) is the main aggressor in LOCH, while Jinshan (金山) was apparently the name by which many Chinese emigrants referred to the United States), and also that they are likely better off having grown up overseas than if their parents or grandparents had remained in China.

If I was a Chinese American, it wouldn't be necessary for me to be a general in the US armed forces, or engaged to Ivanka Trump, to throw in my lot with the country and culture I grew up in (I actually think there are very strong reasons why Guo Jing should have done this, given that Donald Trump... I mean Genghis Khan had treated his mother and himself so well). The Song Empire (or the PRC regime) can go hang as far as I'm concerned. Then again, I'm happy to admit it, I'm very much more of a Yang Kang then a Guo Jing... The likes of Hero Guo are great to read about, but not quite so enjoyable to actually be.

Interesting read and analogy. Clap clap.

[_Kenny_]

Wow, what an interesting thread. One of the reasons why I still come back here from time to time. I agree with the one poster that stated what if you learned that your parents are not your birth parents, can you go against them? What a dilemma that Yk was in!

[Trien Chieu]

Wow, what an interesting thread. One of the reasons why I still come back here from time to time. I agree with the one poster that stated what if you learned that your parents are not your birth parents, can you go against them? What a dilemma that Yk was in!

Well, the difference is WYHL destroyed his family.

[CC]

How many people can do this? It's actually pretty bad to do such a thing to someone that had raised you.

Although LHC isnt my favourite character by far, I do like the fact that he could not easily turn on YBQ till the end and it took YBQ outright trying to kill him and even then, he couldnt do the death blow.