Some wuxia names are harder to remember than others...

[Ken Cheng]

One of the stranger experiences I've had in wuxia fandom is that for some reason, certain names are really hard to remember. Obviously, the main character names, the names of Elites/Greats, etc., are absolutely unforgettable. The following characters' names, however, always manage to slip my mind somehow:

DGSD

1. For some reason, I can only remember the name "Chu Dan Sun" from among Deun Jing Tsun's four guardsmen/sworn brothers. I know the surnames of the others are Chui, Fu, and Koo, but their given names usually escape me. For now, I've sort of gotten the name "Chui Man Lei" into my head and it'll probably stick, but the Fu and Koo guys' names always become a blur very soon.

2. Ditto the senior two of Mo Yung F'uk's henchmen. No problem with Pau But Tung (#3) and Fung Bo Ngok (#4), but the other two I know only as "Deng" and "Gung Yeh," and I'm not sure which one is # 1 and which one is # 2.

3. I always get 72 Islands and 32 Caves mixed up. I'm not sure I don't have it backwards in the previous sentence.

4. I'm also sort of hit and miss with the names of Deun Jing Tsun's women. Deun Yu's mom was Dao Bak Fung. Chung Ling's mom was Gum Bo Bo. Muk Yeun Ching's mom was Chan Hung Min/Yau Guk Hak. Wong Yu Yin's mom was Wong Ah Lor (kind of an ugly-sounding name for a supposedly beautiful woman). Ah Chu and Ah Chi's mom was Yeun Sing Chi (I think?). Madame Ma was Hong Mun. I think I have it down at the moment, but come a couple of weeks, I think I'll forget most of them again.

5. I keep forgetting Dr. Sit's given name too.

LOCH

No real problems with character names here. I know all the names of the Gong Nam 7 Freaks and the Cheun Jen 7 Disciples well, although I do get confused on the ranking of the Cheun Jen 7 Disciples.

ROCH

No problems with character names here.

HSDS

It's funny because I can remember obscure ones such as Wai 4 Leung of the Kunlun Sect, but some characters with comparably more prominent roles have names that just escape me. For example, I can't for the life of me remember the name of Dr. Wu Ching Ngau's wife. Moreover, I can't remember the names of the two Yeun Ming Elders. I know that the elder one is surnamed "Luk" and the younger one is surnamed "Hok," but their given names *always* escape me for some reason.

I'm also notoriously bad with monks' names. In DGSD, there was Yeun Chi - the Chief Abbot, Yeun Tung - the second-in-command at Shaolin, Yeun Fu - Kiu Fung's teacher, Yeun Bei - the one who was murdered by Mo Yung Bok. Fu Wing was the monk at Heavenly Dragon Temple in Dali who spoke through his stomach, but I can't remember the names of the other Heavenly Dragon Temple at all. In HSDS, there was Mo Sik in Gwok Seung's time, and then Chief Abbot Hung Wan, Hung Sing who lost to Cheung Mo Gei at Gwong Ming Peak, and Hung Chi who didn't like the Ming Cult very much. Then there's Hung Geen, who was killed by Tse Tsun. Of the Yeun-generation monks in HSDS, I only really know Yeun Jen (Sing Kwun) and Yeun Yip (blinded in one eye by Yan So So).

I'm not sure why I find these names especially hard to remember.

[Ian Liew]

One of the stranger experiences I've had in wuxia fandom is that for some reasons, certain names are really hard to remember. Obviously, the main character names, the names of Elites/Greats, etc., are absolutely unforgettable. The following characters' names, however, always manage to slip my mind somehow:

DGSD

1. For some reason, I can only remember the name "Chu Dan Sun" from among Deun Jing Tsun's four guardsmen/sworn brothers. I know the surnames of the others are Chui, Fu, and Koo, but their given names usually escape me. For now, I've sort of gotten the name "Chui Man Lei" into my head and it'll probably stick, but the Fu and Koo guys' names always become a blur very soon.

I remember these entirely because when I was younger, my sister and I used to read a local mag called Saturday Weekly which gave English synopsis of these wuxia serials on a weekly basis, and they used Canto pinyin. They also had nice pics of many characters, all neatly named in Canto. The woodcutter was Koo Tuck Seng and the farmer was Fu Si Kwai. I have no idea how it translates to Mandarin.

2. Ditto the senior two of Mo Yung F'uk's henchmen. No problem with Pau But Tung (#3) and Fung Bo Ngok (#4), but the other two I know only as "Deng" and "Gung Yeh," and I'm not sure which one is # 1 and which one is # 2.

Gong Ye Gon and Deng Bak Chuen - in Mandarin Gonye Gan and Deng Baichuan.

3. I always get 72 Islands and 32 Caves mixed up. I'm not sure I don't have it backwards in the previous sentence.

Correct, although you left out 4 caves. I find the "sam sup look dong" very catchy, and remember it that way.

4. I'm also sort of hit and miss with the names of Deun Jing Tsun's women. Deun Yu's mom was Dao Bak Fung. Chung Ling's mom was Gum Bo Bo. Muk Yeun Ching's mom was Chan Hung Min/Yau Guk Hak. Wong Yu Yin's mom was Wong Ah Lor (kind of an ugly-sounding name for a supposedly beautiful woman). Ah Chu and Ah Chi's mom was Yeun Sing Chi (I think?). Madame Ma was Hong Mun. I think I have it down at the moment, but come a couple of weeks, I think I'll forget most of them again.

Muk Yuen Ching's mom was Chun Hung Min, which Ah Chu's mom was Yuen Sing Chook. Yuen Sing Chi was the Sword Stained in Royal Blood protagonist.

5. I keep forgetting Dr. Sit's given name too.

I can't remember ever knowing it, so you're better off than me!!

LOCH

No real problems with character names here. I know all the names of the Gong Nam 7 Freaks and the Cheun Jen 7 Disciples well, although I do get confused on the ranking of the Cheun Jen 7 Disciples.

The only ones I know are Ma Yuk at 1, Tam Chu Duen at 2 and Yau Chu Kei at 3, and then Suen Pat Yee at 7.

HSDS

It's funny because I can remember obscure ones such as Wai 4 Leung of the Kunlun Sect, but some characters with comparably more prominent roles have names that just escape me. For example, I can't for the life of me remember the name of Dr. Wu Ching Ngau's wife. Moreover, I can't remember the names of the two Yeun Ming Elders. I know that the elder one is surnamed "Luk" and the younger one is surnamed "Hok," but their given names *always* escape me for some reason.

We both know why we remember Wai 4 leung..... =)

Wu Ching Ngau's wife was Hung Ngan Koo, reminds me of some Chinese dessert.
The Yuen Ming elders were Luk Cheong Hak and Hok Pat Yung.

I'm also notoriously bad with monks' names. In DGSD, there was Yeun Chi - the Chief Abbot, Yeun Tung - the second-in-command at Shaolin, Yeun Fu - Kiu Fung's teacher, Yeun Bei - the one who was murdered by Mo Yung Bok. Fu Wing was the monk at Heavenly Dragon Temple in Dali who spoke through his stomach, but I can't remember the names of the other Heavenly Dragon Temple at all. In HSDS, there was Mo Sik in Gwok Seung's time, and then Chief Abbot Hung Wan, Hung Sing who lost to Cheung Mo Gei at Gwong Ming Peak, and Hung Chi who didn't like the Ming Cult very much. Then there's Hung Geen, who was killed by Tse Tsun. Of the Yeun-generation monks in HSDS, I only really know Yeun Jen (Sing Kwun) and Yeun Yip (blinded in one eye by Yan So So).

I'm not sure why I find these names especially hard to remember.

In DGSD you missed out Yuen Ngan, who was killed by Ding Chun Chao while travelling with Hui Juk at the beginning, and I think that pretty much covers up the more famous Yuens. The Heavenly Temple monks included Boon Yan (the abbot), Boon Foon, Boon Seong and Boon Sam (or was it Boon Cham, can't recall the word). Duen Jing Ming became Boon Chan, I think.

The HSDS Abbot was Hung Man.

[Ken Cheng]

ROCH

No problems with character names here.

I need to retract this statement because come to think of it, there were a few characters here whose names are difficult for me to remember. Part of the reason is that they're pretty obscure characters who don't show up until near the end of the story and aren't around for very long. Naturally, I'm talking about the Shih Brothers, the San Sai Ghosts, and the other freaks and weirdos that Yeung Gor brought with him to Gwok Seung's birthday party. I know there were Shih Brothers, but I have no idea what their individual names were (or don't remember, anyway). Among the San Sai Ghosts, I can only clearly remember the Human Chef (probably because a name like that is pretty unforgettable). Everybody else, however, is a blur.

[forgot password]

Chinese phonetic transcription of Mongolian/Jurchen/Manchu and Western names are pretty hard to remember.

[Doc Kwok]

I know there were Shih Brothers, but I have no idea what their individual names were (or don't remember, anyway).

I think ROCH '83 only mentioned one or two of their names. From eldest to youngest, their names (in Cantonese) are Si Bak Wai, Si Jung Mang, Si Suk Gong, Si Gwai Keung and Si Mang Jiet.

Among the San Sai Ghosts, I can only clearly remember the Human Chef (probably because a name like that is pretty unforgettable). Everybody else, however, is a blur.

The human chef wasn't one of the ghosts... Remember that all the ghosts had titles ending with 'ghost' - e.g long-beard ghost, big-head ghost etc.

[PJ]

DGSD

1. For some reason, I can only remember the name "Chu Dan Sun" from among Deun Jing Tsun's four guardsmen/sworn brothers. I know the surnames of the others are Chui, Fu, and Koo, but their given names usually escape me. For now, I've sort of gotten the name "Chui Man Lei" into my head and it'll probably stick, but the Fu and Koo guys' names always become a blur very soon.

Pretty much the same for me. I just don't care for the Dali guards (except Marquis Gao Shengtai and Chu Wanli, whom died b/c of Ah Zi).

3. I always get 72 Islands and 32 Caves mixed up. I'm not sure I don't have it backwards in the previous sentence.

Same here

Moreover, I can't remember the names of the two Yeun Ming Elders. I know that the elder one is surnamed "Luk" and the younger one is surnamed "Hok," but their given names *always* escape me for some reason.

I remember their names, but seriously, I think the 2 Xuanming Elders have no distinctiveness and they're totally interchangeable. That's why I can NEVER remember which one of them injured child Zhang Wuji.

[Doc Kwok]

I remember their names, but seriously, I think the 2 Xuanming Elders have no distinctiveness and they're totally interchangeable. That's why I can NEVER remember which one of them injured child Zhang Wuji.

Actually, I don't think we ever learnt their original names. Those names are derived from their favoured weapons (deer staff, crane pen) after all, and can't be what they were born with. Then again, we had those archers whose names were of the form: (surname) (number) (some mode of defeat)...

[Ken Cheng]

Pretty much the same for me. I just don't care for the Dali guards (except Marquis Gao Shengtai and Chu Wanli, whom died b/c of Ah Zi).

I like those guys just fine, but their names just don't stick to my brain very well. I've always remembered Chu Dan Sun's name, but the other three usually evaporate from my memory pretty quickly. I think I'll remember Chui Man Lei from now on, but I'm pretty sure Koo Dak Sing and Fu See Gwai's name will escape me again soon (I had trouble remembering them just now).

Same here

Must be something about those numbers.

I remember their names, but seriously, I think the 2 Xuanming Elders have no distinctiveness and they're totally interchangeable. That's why I can NEVER remember which one of them injured child Zhang Wuji.

From HSDS '86, I did gather that the two had different personalities. Luk was the pervert: he *really* liked the ladies, but didn't like wine or food more than most other guys (I'm sure he enjoyed them; they just weren't his greatest interests). Luk was the meaner of the two. Hok (was that his name...I'm blanking out again already) didn't have as great a sexual appetite, but he loved good food and wine. He was the "nicer" of the two ("nice" being a relative term because they were both a$$holes).