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Thread: Your life and wuxia

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Default Your life and wuxia

    How did wuxia fiction become a part of your life? To what other interests has it led you?

    My personal experience with wuxia fiction was one of love, hate, and then love again many years later. My first exposure to wuxia was in 1980, when I watched TVB's 1970s adaptation of LUK SIU FUNG. At the time, I had no idea about wuxia novels, the conventions of wuxia, or the connections of wuxia with Chinese history. I just figured it was cool fighting shows on TV.

    My formal introduction to wuxia came two years later, when I watched DGSD '81 with my father. My father explained to me that a writer named Jin Yong had written the story of DGSD as a novel many years earlier. From this series, I learned about many basic wuxia conventions (the revenge theme, xia ethics, inner power, the setting of wuxia in the context of history, the romantic subplots, etc.). My father also told me about another Jin Yong story named LOCH, which I watched with him the following year...then ROCH, SPW, DOMD, etc.

    From 1981-1985, I was a veritable wuxia obssessive. I thought about it all the time, acted it out while playing at school (I was a very young child at the time), and even talked to people as if I were living in a wuxia world (translated into English, hilariously enough). There was even one occassion when my imitation of Felix Wong's moves for Gwok Jing's Hong Lung 18 Palms saved me from getting beaten up by a schoolyard bully.

    But something strange happened in the middle of 1985. I was growing up. I had just turned 13 years old and for some reason, all the things that had previously been cool about wuxia just became hopelessly corny and stupid to me...especially the romantic subplots. I really resented the heroes all having beautiful girlfriends/wives when I had trouble attracting the attention of attractive girls at school. I couldn't watch wuxia adaptations anymore (or any Chinese series heavy on the romance theme for that matter). I literally left the room if one was playing (especially ROCH). I devoted myself to other interests: anime', rock music, NBA basketball...just not wuxia (although I did continue to enjoy Gu Long's LUK SIU FUNG during these years...mainly because the romance factor was low compared to most stories and the warriors were true bada**es).

    It was like that for ten years...my resentment of wuxia reaching a peak in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Then, as I graduated from college in 1994, a gradual thaw began. I began to remember the fantastic adventure of those Jin Yong adaptations and how fun they had been rather than my resentment of them during my teenage years. I became nostalgic for those days. To see if anything had changed since 1985, I rented LOCH '82, ROCH '83, and for the first time, HSDS '86 (missed it the first time due to my being in deep denial in 1986) and watched them all the way through. The magic was back. Having grown up and resolved my insecurities about romantic relationships, the resentment I remembered these series causing me as a teenager was gone. Furthermore, having become much more sophisticated and mature after 10 years of high school, college, and graduate school, I was able to appreciate wuxia on a much deeper level than I had as a child, when it had all been just about neat fighting scenes. I fell in love with wuxia all over again. In 1999, I discovered that there were other English-literate wuxia fans on the Web at the Yushy Wuxia Forums and in 2002, SPCNET Wuxia Forum.

    That's my story about wuxia and me.

  2. #2
    Senior Member shen long's Avatar
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    There was even one occassion when my imitation of Felix Wong's moves for Gwok Jing's Hong Lung 18 Palms saved me from getting beaten up by a schoolyard bully
    interesting...was he impressed with ur display that he believe that u know XL18 palms

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    Senior Member HuangYushi's Avatar
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    How did wuxia fiction become a part of your life? To what other interests has it led you?
    My first exposure to wuxia was TVB's LOCH 83. After watching the first of the 3-part series, I found myself clamouring for more. Then, a cousin had to tell me that there was actually a written source for these stories ... and that Zhou Botong rode on a shark in the ocean. LOCH 83 didn't have that scene, so I was pretty disappointed. I wanted to read the novels but my Chinese literacy at that point did not go beyond the 9 basic numbers and my own name! So I had to be contented with watching adaptations. I saw all the JY adaptations made in the 1980s except XAJH (I thought Chow Yun Fat and Rebecca Chan made a strange couple as Linghu Chong and Ren Yingying), but none of those made in the 1990s because I was overseas studying/working. Eventually, I bought my first JY novel (B&S), started working on my Chinese ... and well, I guess the rest is history ....
    Jin Yong's Ode to Gallantry [侠客行].
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    Quote Originally Posted by shen long
    interesting...was he impressed with ur display that he believe that u know XL18 palms

    He believed I knew *something* (he wouldn't have recognized it as Hong Lung 18 Palms; the guy was Middle Eastern)...enough that he didn't want to take any chances. In truth, though, if he'd pressed the issue, I'd have gotten beaten up for sure because like the TV moves, mine had no real bite.

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    Senior Member Thai guy's Avatar
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    My exposure to wuxia started with LOCH 83. It was broadcasted in Thai television why I was around 6 years old probably. With an interesting storyline which cannot be seen in Thai series and with the continuous broadcasting from LOCH 83 to ROCH 84 and ultimately to HSDS86, without notice, I ultimately got addicted with wuxia. Like Ken, my classmates in primary school could easily see me performing those kongfu. My neighbours could easily see me carrying a stick and performing Dog Beating Stick technique in front of my house. Till this date, my interest has expanded from wuxia to some more modern Hong Kong TV series and movies.

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    Senior Member allunderheaven's Avatar
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    i would be what u call a late bloomer wuxia serials had been watched at home throughout my childhood (i just payed attention to the fight scenes) the first actual wuxia serial i got into properly was ...sadly tvb's 1999 flying fox of the snowy mountain (i was 12) it had swords and sabers, i was hooked (found out a later that the serial was a load of rubbish compared to the actual text) i then must have watched 1996 State of Divinty with jackie liu and followed HSDS 2000 until i found out about jin yong and his novels. imnot chinese literate so i got my parents to rent out other wuxia serials such as LOCH/ROCH 94/95 and the rest is history!!
    If You Love something, Let it Go...
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    Senior Member Siven's Avatar
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    Like many of you my first exposure to wuxia was also LOCH '83. However I didn't get a chance to thoroughly read all of JY's novels until 2004...then Gu Long after that, then Huang Yi, then some of the lesser known authors followed by popular self-published stories available on Chinese language sites.

    I've seen relatively few wuxia adaptations on TV. I'd like to keep myself pure.
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    Senior Member Da Bao's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Siven
    Like many of you my first exposure to wuxia was also LOCH '83. However I didn't get a chance to thoroughly read all of JY's novels until 2004...then Gu Long after that, then Huang Yi, then some of the lesser known authors followed by popular self-published stories available on Chinese language sites.

    I've seen relatively few wuxia adaptations on TV. I'd like to keep myself pure.
    Same here. My dad introduced me to the series when I was little and that was how it began.
    but it wasn't until 2002 that I actually got formally introduced. It was then I got the book RoCH. And it soon turned into a slight, but healthy obsesion. And now... I found this forum.
    有缘千里来相会
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    I was a very very late to the Wuxia genre and arrived in two steps. Step one was discovering the original Journey to the West on the local etnic channel while channel surfing one night. It was about 25% into the series when I found it so I tracked down the series in Chinatown and bought it. About 2 years later I caught an episode of the new LOCH and was enthralled by it. I searched the web to locate a source for the series and purchased it from Thailand. ( Yes Asia was out of stock) It had two soundtracks, one in Thai and the other in Mandarin (I understand neither) My web search led me here as well and here I am a Wuxia junkie.

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    I only love the boy-girl stuff in wuxia. because i wish i would be the hero and sweep all the girls in a single swoop. I do not bother who is ranked 1,2, ....x in kungfu skills.

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    Senior Member IcyFox's Avatar
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    My first encounter with wuxia was a TV adaptation of Qin Shi Huang... but this isn't really counted as wuxia as there was hardly any wu (but lots of violence) and even less xia (unless you consider Qin Shi Huang a Xia). Then I watched RoTK (3 Kingdoms). I didn't really soak up in the wuxia atmosphere then because my fav. hero was (and still is) Zhuge Liang. But among all the generals I like Zhao Zilong best.

    The first 'real wuxia' TV series I watched was the then-TCS adaptation of RoCH. Thereafter I watched HSDS, DGSD and LoCH (in that order). I also watched a lot of wuxia movies - White Hair Demoness, XAJH (starring Jet Li and the other one starring Sam Hui), Fong Sai Yuk, Wong Fei Hong, Drunken Boxing (starring Jackie Chan), Seven Swords (directed by Tsui Hark) etc. etc.

    It was only when I found http://www.wuxiapedia.com and this site with all the translations that I really got interested in wuxia fiction. This led me to the deplorable interest in translating wuxia fiction... Actually I also learn a bit of martial arts myself so I can connect with the wuxia heroes.
    Last edited by IcyFox; 01-14-06 at 09:40 AM.

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    Senior Member charbydis's Avatar
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    I was first exposed to LOCH 83 when I was 5 and 1/2 when my parents rented the tapes and probabaly due to the attractive males and funny movemnts, for the first time since I was born (source: my mum swears by it) I actually stopped running around like a little devil and watched TV.

    I then kind of lost contact with wuxia as my parents started renting modern dramas and showing me English shows, but I never forgot Au Yeung Fung, his son and his snakes. Then when I was about 10, I came across a video made by TVB which introduced all its classic works and there in ep 3, was the introduction of the JY classics, and I found LOCH again. From that video, I also found ROCH, HSDS, XAJH, and also the GL classics, LSF, CLH and FMCS.

    I went nuts over trying to rent every single wuxia series available and spent my savings to buy the whole set of JY books. my mum thought i was crazy to like wuxia so much (since mostly boys like it and girls like the mushy romance stories) and set me to the school counsellor. But my friend's dad encouraged me to continue my interest as long as it didn't affect my studies.

    Anyway, I was ruled "normal" within one session and I moved on to being interest into action movies in the mid 90's, which was a good time since Jet Li, Donnie Yen and Jackie made their best work then, and then i moved backwards in time and watched the Shaw brother's action movies.

    Then I found all you guys here in 2000 and have been here ever since then. I am still quite obsessed with AYF, wuxia movies and even wuxia fanfics. i even write some now. I have also enrolled in self-defence classes.
    "Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self."
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    Senior Member FruityPunch's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by wkeej
    I only love the boy-girl stuff in wuxia. because i wish i would be the hero and sweep all the girls in a single swoop. I do not bother who is ranked 1,2, ....x in kungfu skills.
    You always wanted to be Zhang Wuji, right?


    The first name related to wuxia that I recalled was [小李飞刀] (Little Li Flying Dagger). However, I couldn't remember whether I've watched it on tv or that somebody gave me an induction on wuxia fantasy. (Yeah, I'm suffering from synthetic memory )

    Some of the earliest wuxia series I've watched included Reincarnated [天蚕变] and [天龙八部] (Demi-God, Semi-Devils). I was quite fascinated by the outfits and the stunts, the special effects, lasers and explosions.

    But those weren't the only sort of series I would watch in my younger years. I also enjoyed watching tear-jerkers adapted from Qiong Yao's novels, war epics, period dramas such as Justice Bao plus a variety of other local and overseas productions.
    "By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart."

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    hmm i grew up watching loch 94 and roch 95, didnt know it was another "genre" called wuxia, i thought it was martial arts. later i rented loch and roch 94/95 again, and i had some questions, so i searched online, found spcnet and figured its not martial arts but wuxia. became interest and thats all. i didnt read any novels or translation, i tried to write a fan fic, but i never find the time to finish chapter 1 :P

    btw ken, are u married now?
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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LuNaR
    btw ken, are u married now?
    No. Somewhere along the way, I turned into a Luk Siu Fung-type character...minus the moustache, of course.

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    Senior Member PJ's Avatar
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    Demi Gods Semi Devils is one of the first adaptions that propelled my passion for wuxia, and it remains my favorite body of work to this day.

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    Quote Originally Posted by FruityPunch
    You always wanted to be Zhang Wuji, right?
    Actually it depends:
    1. for hsds, i will like to be zwj of course with zm, xz and zzr.
    2. for dgsg, i will like to be dy with only muwanqing.
    3. for loch, i will like to be gj with only hr.
    4. for roch, i will like to be noone.

    see, i am not greedy basically.

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    Default a player........

    No. Somewhere along the way, I turned into a Luk Siu Fung-type character...minus the moustache, of course.
    Wow.....I think its a first time that I hear a teacher to proclaim to be a player.

    Pretty cool.

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by QF
    Wow.....I think its a first time that I hear a teacher to proclaim to be a player.

    Pretty cool.
    Teachers aren't necessarily celibates; they just need to be very judicious about whom they associate with.

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    So Ken, you really have the wrong sorts of women chasing you?

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