The Duel - did Gu Long err?

[Ian Liew]

I was just reading an article on the web as follows:

http://house.tom.com/1004/2004414-5762.html

Basically it said that the Taihedian, or Hall of Supreme Harmony, was orignally christened "Fengtiandian" (Heaven-Serving Hall) by Emperor Yongle in 1420, then changed to "Huangjidian" (Extreme Royal Hall) in 1562. In 1645, one year after the Qing had conquered China, Emperor Shunzhi then changed the name to "Taihedian".

Lu Xiaofeng was set in the Ming Dynasty, and according to the TVB series Ye Gucheng and Ximen Chuixue arranged for their duel to be held at the "Peak of the Forbidden", and they also mentioned that it was the roof of the Taihedian. Does the book mention Taihedian, or was Gu Long careful enough? As we don't really know which year the Duel is set in, it could have been Fengtiandian or Huangjidian, but Taihedian would require Lu Xiaofeng (and pretty much everybody else apart from honest monk) to have that Qing pigtail.

Or is my source wrong, and Taihedian is actually acceptable for a Ming setting? My main reason for asking is that I'm writing something for a MUD I play on, and it's set in 1643 China, towards the end of the Ming, and my entire Forbidden City is using current names (which I thought were dated from 1420). If these names were really changed during the Qing I'd have to research all the original names! =(


Thanks,


Ian

[Trinie]

I heard that most of Gu Long's novels take place during the Ming dynasty but am not positive though.

[Dagger Lee]

Yep, you're right Ian Liew. I was confused too cuz of that. Well, I don't know what it says in the book but I'll read it to make sure.

[Ian Liew]

Originally posted by Trinie
I heard that most of Gu Long's novels take place during the Ming dynasty but am not positive though.

I'm not sure about the others, but with Lu Xiaofeng it's pretty much definite.

The Duel was held above the Forbidden City, and the city was only built during the Ming, and only served two dynasties. If the setting was Qing they would have had queues.

Wei Zhiyun and his friends were Jinyiwei, or Brocade Dressed Guards - these only existed during the Ming (I'm not sure if they existed in the Qing, but I don't remember any mention of them there).

Wudang and Ermei existed, and the capital was in Beijing, so it had to be later than the Yuan Dynasty (although I'm not sure if Gu Long can be bound by the chronology of Zhang Sanfeng and Guo Xiang in Jin Yong novels)


Ian

[tape]

Just curious, what MUD do you play on?

[Ian Liew]

LegendMUD

the website is www.legendmud.org

Sadly, my area will be the first China area on the MUD, so there's not going to be much there for wuxia fans. It's still an excellent MUD though, based on historical legends like Celtic Tara, Beowulf, Agrabah/Aladdin, the Odyssey, Robin Hood, Phantom of the Opera etc... I heartily recommend it. The area I'm doing is the three-way struggle between Chongzhen, Li Zicheng and Huang Taiji, allowing people to choose which side they want to help and influence the outcome.

[kidd]

What is MUD?

[Ian Liew]

Multi-User Dungeon.. it's a text-based MMORPG, and does wonders for your English and typing skills.

[tape]

I was on it a bit yesterday, seemed pretty fun but I haven't played a MUD that didn't have a class system for years. It seems interesting, so I'll probably check it out for a while.

[Ian Liew]

Gah - you were Viani?

[Ian Liew]

I've been reading the Duel, and "Taihedian" is mentioned several times, so either he made a mistake, or the website is wrong and it is an acceptable Ming name. I hope it's the latter or I got a lot of work to do =(


Ian