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Thread: Would have liked to see more Japanese antagonists in wuxia

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Default Would have liked to see more Japanese antagonists in wuxia

    One thing that CHOR LAU HEUNG 1979 has turned me on to is the idea of Japanese characters (specifically as antagonists) in wuxia. Gu Long apparently went there sometimes, but Jin Yong never did. In Jin Yong's wuxia universe, foreign adversaries are always steppe nomads from beyond China's northern and western borders, never seafaring people from the islands in the Eastern Sea (e.g. the Pacific Ocean). Granted, Japanese adversaries are more of a trope in stories set in the early Republican era (e.g. when China and Japan were actually at war) than in wuxia, but Jin Yong seemed much more reluctant than Gu Long to bring Japanese elements into his stories.

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    There wasn't conflict between Japan and China until the 1900s so it wouldn't make sense to have a Japanese bad guy. Besides, most Japanese who came to China during those times (before the 1900s) were scholars and monks. There were probably a few pirates here and there but that should be about it.

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by EdenResident View Post
    There wasn't conflict between Japan and China until the 1900s so it wouldn't make sense to have a Japanese bad guy. Besides, most Japanese who came to China during those times (before the 1900s) were scholars and monks. There were probably a few pirates here and there but that should be about it.
    The nations weren't at war, but it's not improbable that their martial societies might have had run-ins. Chinese wulin likely would not take kindly to Japanese ninja operating on their home turf.

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    Senior Member Mandred Skavenslayer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by EdenResident View Post
    There wasn't conflict between Japan and China until the 1900s so it wouldn't make sense to have a Japanese bad guy. Besides, most Japanese who came to China during those times (before the 1900s) were scholars and monks. There were probably a few pirates here and there but that should be about it.
    Both the Tang and Ming Dynasties fought wars with the Japanese so there is ample scope for Japanese characters. Even as far back as the Han dynasty there are records of receiving emissaries from the island nation.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    ... but Jin Yong seemed much more reluctant than Gu Long to bring Japanese elements into his stories.
    ... possibly because for most of Chinese history (certainly the period covered in JY's stories) the main threat to China, both existentially and culturally, came from the north and west - those peoples/societies posed a credible danger to Chinese culture and civilization in a way that the Japanese simply couldn't/didn't. The wounds left by the Sino-Japanese wars might also have been, at the time JY wrote his stories, too raw for him to want to touch upon.

    It's also more than possible that JY also considered the West's fixation with certain aspects of Japanese culture too lowbrow to be worthy of mention in his stories. Whereas GL was quite happy to rip aspects of Western pulp literature (detective, cowboy etc).

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