Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain
Encyclopedia
Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain, also known as Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, is a wuxia
novel by Jin Yong. It was first serialized between February 9, 1959 and June 18, 1959 in Ming Pao
.
The novel has a prequel, Other Tales of the Flying Fox
, released in 1960. The novel is one of Jin Yong's shortest novels with only 10 chapters. The chapters are labelled in numerical order, instead of Jin Yong's typical style of using a short phrase or duilian
as a chapter's heading.
In the revised afterword to the novel, Jin Yong states his inspiration does not derive from Akira Kurosawa
's film Rashomon
(as was mistakenly assumed by many people). The literary devices used in Flying Fox have been used very often in literature, such as in One Thousand and One Nights and Sanyan Erpai.
of China, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor
in the Qing Dynasty
. It follows the classical unity of time
, taking place on a single day, which is the 15th day of the third month of the Chinese calender, in the 45th year in the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (i.e. April 19, 1780 under the Gregorian calendar
).
A group of pugilists unearth a treasure chest and begin fighting for it. The reason for them doing so is deliberately kept from the reader at this point of time. Midway during their tussle, they are overpowered and coerced by a highly skilled monk called Baoshu to travel to a manor at the top of Jade Brush Peak (玉筆峰), to help the manor's owner drive away an enemy called Hu Fei
, also known as the "Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain". They start telling stories concerning the origin of a precious saber in the chest, their mysterious foe (Flying Fox) and slowly reveal each other's personal secrets.
The saber's story dates back over a century ago to the feuds of the four bodyguards under the warlord Li Zicheng, who led a rebellion to overthrow the Ming Dynasty
. Their family names were Hu, Miao, Tian and Fan. Owing to a massive misunderstanding, which lasted several generations, their descendants had been slaying each other in a vendetta which prevented anyone of them from discovering the truth. The Hu clan were opposed to those from the Miao, Tian and Fan, the latter three which were allies.
The various pugilists gathering at the mountain manor are either all descendants of the four bodyguards or are otherwise embroiled in the feud. Hu Fei's father, Hu Yidao, was a male descendant who became involved with Miao Renfeng, a descendant from the Miao family. Both were masterful pugilists without peer. Miao Renfeng, Hu Yidao and his wife developed an uncommon friendship and grew to admire each other, but Hu Yidao and Miao Renfeng must fight unwilling duels to avenge their parents' deaths. Under the schemes of the villain Tian Guinong, Hu Yidao was slayed unintentionally by Miao Renfeng after his sword was smeared with poison by Tian Guinong. Hu Yidao's infant son, Hu Fei, was smuggled away and raised by a waiter named Ping A'si. Hu Fei eventually grew up to become the "Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain".
The various scheming pugilists are eventually punished by their greed. Hu Fei makes an appearance midway in the story.
The conflict reaches a climax when Miao Renfeng challenges Hu Fei to a duel owing to a misunderstanding that Hu Fei has intentionally molested Miao Ruolan and both of them fight for several rounds but neither emerges the victor. They are stranded on a cliff about to collapse under their weight and the novel comes to its climatic end. Hu Fei has an opportunity to attack Miao Renfeng and knock him off the cliff, but he hesitates as Miao may be his future father-in-law. If he refrains, both of them might fall to their deaths, otherwise he himself will certainly die as Miao Renfeng will kill him. The novel ends in a deliberate cliffhanger, leaving the conclusion to the reader's imagination.
.
Wuxia
Wuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...
novel by Jin Yong. It was first serialized between February 9, 1959 and June 18, 1959 in Ming Pao
Ming Pao
Ming Pao is a Chinese language newspaper published by Ming Pao Group in Hong Kong. In the 1990s, Ming Pao established four overseas branches in North America, each provides independent reporting on local news and collect local advertisements. Currently, only the two Canadian editions remain: Ming...
.
The novel has a prequel, Other Tales of the Flying Fox
Other Tales of the Flying Fox
Other Tales of the Flying Fox is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong. Its title is also translated as Young Flying Fox in English. The novel was first serialized between 1960-1 in the magazine Wuxia and History...
, released in 1960. The novel is one of Jin Yong's shortest novels with only 10 chapters. The chapters are labelled in numerical order, instead of Jin Yong's typical style of using a short phrase or duilian
Duilian
In Chinese poetry, a couplet is a pair of lines of poetry which adhere to certain rules . Outside of poems, they are usually seen on the sides of doors leading to people's homes or as hanging scrolls in an interior...
as a chapter's heading.
Structure
Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain is unique in structure amongst Jin Yong's novels, because it employs a frame narrative as well as the literary devices of unreliable narrators and storytelling flashbacks. The actual time frame of the novel lasts only a day, but the stories encapsulated within stretch back months, years and even decades before.In the revised afterword to the novel, Jin Yong states his inspiration does not derive from Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
's film Rashomon
Rashomon (film)
The bandit's storyTajōmaru, a notorious brigand , claims that he tricked the samurai to step off the mountain trail with him and look at a cache of ancient swords he discovered. In the grove he tied the samurai to a tree, then brought the woman there. She initially tried to defend herself with a...
(as was mistakenly assumed by many people). The literary devices used in Flying Fox have been used very often in literature, such as in One Thousand and One Nights and Sanyan Erpai.
Plot
The story begins in the northeastern Changbai mountainsChangbai Mountains
The Changbai Mountain Range or Jangbaek Mountain Range are a mountain range on the border between China and North Korea...
of China, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor
Qianlong Emperor
The Qianlong Emperor was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. The fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, he reigned officially from 11 October 1735 to 8 February 1796...
in the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
. It follows the classical unity of time
Classical unities
The classical unities, Aristotelian unities or three unities are rules for drama derived from a passage in Aristotle's Poetics. In their neoclassical form they are as follows:...
, taking place on a single day, which is the 15th day of the third month of the Chinese calender, in the 45th year in the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (i.e. April 19, 1780 under the Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
).
A group of pugilists unearth a treasure chest and begin fighting for it. The reason for them doing so is deliberately kept from the reader at this point of time. Midway during their tussle, they are overpowered and coerced by a highly skilled monk called Baoshu to travel to a manor at the top of Jade Brush Peak (玉筆峰), to help the manor's owner drive away an enemy called Hu Fei
Hu Fei
Hu Fei is the fictional protagonist of the wuxia novels Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain and Other Tales of the Flying Fox by Jin Yong.-Biography:...
, also known as the "Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain". They start telling stories concerning the origin of a precious saber in the chest, their mysterious foe (Flying Fox) and slowly reveal each other's personal secrets.
The saber's story dates back over a century ago to the feuds of the four bodyguards under the warlord Li Zicheng, who led a rebellion to overthrow the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
. Their family names were Hu, Miao, Tian and Fan. Owing to a massive misunderstanding, which lasted several generations, their descendants had been slaying each other in a vendetta which prevented anyone of them from discovering the truth. The Hu clan were opposed to those from the Miao, Tian and Fan, the latter three which were allies.
The various pugilists gathering at the mountain manor are either all descendants of the four bodyguards or are otherwise embroiled in the feud. Hu Fei's father, Hu Yidao, was a male descendant who became involved with Miao Renfeng, a descendant from the Miao family. Both were masterful pugilists without peer. Miao Renfeng, Hu Yidao and his wife developed an uncommon friendship and grew to admire each other, but Hu Yidao and Miao Renfeng must fight unwilling duels to avenge their parents' deaths. Under the schemes of the villain Tian Guinong, Hu Yidao was slayed unintentionally by Miao Renfeng after his sword was smeared with poison by Tian Guinong. Hu Yidao's infant son, Hu Fei, was smuggled away and raised by a waiter named Ping A'si. Hu Fei eventually grew up to become the "Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain".
The various scheming pugilists are eventually punished by their greed. Hu Fei makes an appearance midway in the story.
The conflict reaches a climax when Miao Renfeng challenges Hu Fei to a duel owing to a misunderstanding that Hu Fei has intentionally molested Miao Ruolan and both of them fight for several rounds but neither emerges the victor. They are stranded on a cliff about to collapse under their weight and the novel comes to its climatic end. Hu Fei has an opportunity to attack Miao Renfeng and knock him off the cliff, but he hesitates as Miao may be his future father-in-law. If he refrains, both of them might fall to their deaths, otherwise he himself will certainly die as Miao Renfeng will kill him. The novel ends in a deliberate cliffhanger, leaving the conclusion to the reader's imagination.
Main characters
- Hu Fei (胡斐) - the protagonist of the novel and son of Hu Yidao. He is raised by Ping A'si after losing his parents shortly after birth. He trains hard in his family's martial arts and becomes a formidable pugilist and legendary hero, earning the nickname of "Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain" (雪山飛狐).
- Hu Yidao (胡一刀) - the legendary hero of Liaodong. He was highly respected by the ethnic minority tribes living in the north not only for his prowess in martial arts, but also for his gregarious character. He befriends Miao Renfeng despite the past feuds of their ancestors. He was killed unintentionally by Miao Renfeng.
- Miao Renfeng (苗人鳳) - a formidable pugilist nicknamed "Golden-faced Buddha" (金面佛). He forged a friendship with Hu Yidao despite the past feuds of their ancestors. He killed Hu Yidao unintentionally and has been feeling guilty for it.
- Miao Ruolan (苗若蘭) - Miao Renfeng's daughter. She is forbidden to learn martial arts by her father, who does so to remind himself of the guilt of killing Hu Yidao accidentally. She falls in love with Hu Fei.
- Tian Guinong (田歸農) - a descendant of one of the four bodyguards. He is a scheming and unscrupulous, and plots to kill Hu Yidao and Miao Renfeng in his bid for power and social status. He smeared poison on their weapons and caused the death of Hu Yidao indirectly.
- Ping A'si (平阿四) - a young man indebted to Hu Yidao, who had once saved his life. He rescued the infant Hu Fei and raised him to repay Hu Yidao's kindness. He is humble and shy by nature and always feels inferior to others.
- Nan Lan (南蘭) - Miao Renfeng's wife and Miao Ruolan's mother. She was born in an aristocrat family so she is spoilt and extravagant by nature. After her marriage to Miao Renfeng, she is unable to cope with his frugal lifestyle and decides to leave with Tian Guinong.
Films
| Year | | Production | | Cast | | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Emei Film Company (Hong Kong) |
Chiang Han, Pearl Au, Lee Yuet-ching, Shih Kien Shih Kien Shek Wing-cheung , better known as Shih Kien, was a Chinese actor from Hong Kong. He is sometimes credited as Shek Kin or Kien Shih... |
See The Flying Fox in the Snowy Mountains The Flying Fox in the Snowy Mountains The Flying Fox in the Snowy Mountains is a two-part 1964 Hong Kong film based on Louis Cha's novel Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain. The film was produced by Emei Film Company and directed by Lee Fa.-External links: on Baidu Baike... |
Television
Many of the television adaptations combine the plots of Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain and Other Tales of the Flying FoxOther Tales of the Flying Fox
Other Tales of the Flying Fox is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong. Its title is also translated as Young Flying Fox in English. The novel was first serialized between 1960-1 in the magazine Wuxia and History...
.
| Year | | Production | | Cast | | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | CTV (Hong Kong) | Barry Chan, Jason Pai, Law Lok-lam, Michelle Yim Michelle Yim Michelle Yim Wai-ling , also known by her Chinese stage name Mai Suet , is a Hong Kong actress. She graduated from St Rose of Lima College and Shaw Brothers' Training School.-Early life and career:... , Wen Hsueh-erh, Lee Tong-ming |
See The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain (1978 TV series) The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain (1978 TV series) The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain is a Hong Kong television series adapted from Louis Cha's novels Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain and Other Tales of the Flying Fox... |
| 1985 | TVB Television Broadcasts Limited Television Broadcasts Limited, commonly known as TVB, is the second over-the-air commercial television station in Hong Kong. It commenced broadcasting on 19 November 1967... (Hong Kong) |
Ray Lui, Patrick Tse, Kenneth Tsang Kenneth Tsang Kenneth Tsang Kong is a Hong Kong actor. Tsang's career has spanned 50 years and included a variety of acting roles.Tsang was born in Shanghai, China with family roots in Jida, Zhuhai, Guangdong. He attended high school in Wah Yan Hong Kong and then Wah Yan, Kowloon... , Rebecca Chan Rebecca Chan Rebecca Chan Sau Chu is a TVB actress. She joined TVB in 1979, when she competed at the Miss Hong Kong 1979 pageant. She finished as a top 10 semifinalist.-Filmography:-Variety show :*1981: Sports World TVB... , Chow Sau-lan, King Doi-yum, Margie Tsang |
See The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain (1985 TV series) The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain (1985 TV series) The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain is a Hong Kong television series adapted from Louis Cha's novels Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain and Other Tales of the Flying Fox... |
| 1991 | TTV Taiwan Television Taiwan Television Enterprise, Ltd. , commonly known as TTV is launched), is the first television broadcast station in Taiwan... (Taiwan) |
Meng Fei, Mini Kung, Mu Sicheng, Tong Chun-chung, Wu Yujuan, Wang Luyao | See The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain (1991 TV series) The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain (1991 TV series) The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain is a Taiwanese television series adapted from Louis Cha's novels Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain and Other Tales of the Flying Fox... |
| 1999 | TVB (Hong Kong) | Sunny Chan Sunny Chan Sunny Chan Kam-Hung is a Hong Kong television and film actor. His breakout film role was in the internationally multi-award-winning 1998 Hong Kong film Hold You Tight, for which he won the coveted Silver Screen Award for Best Actor at the Singapore International Film Festival in... , Felix Wong Felix Wong Felix Wong Yat-wah is a Hong Kong actor and singer. Wong is best known for his performances in many Hong Kong wuxia television drama series produced by TVB, such as The Legend of the Condor Heroes , in which he played the protagonist Kwok Ching... , Wan Yeung-ming, Cheung Siu-fai Cheung Siu-Fai Eddie Cheung Siu-fai is a Hong Kong actor best known for his many supporting or everyman roles similar to Liu Kai-chi.-Filmography:-TV series:-External links:* on Sina Weibo* at the Hong Kong Cinemagic* on LoveHKFilm.com... , Maggie Siu Maggie Siu Maggie Shiu Mei-kei , sometimes credited as Maggie Shaw, is a prominent Hong Kong actress.-Career:Her career began in 1985 when she joined Hong Kong TVB. As her career developed, she took on variety of roles in TV series and movies... , Charmaine Sheh Charmaine Sheh Charmaine Sheh Sze-man is a Hong Kong TVB actress.Sheh is best known for her roles in TVB dramas, including Return of the Cuckoo, Country Spirit, Perish in the Name of Love, Angels of Mission, War and Beauty, The Dance of Passion,The Drive of Life, Maidens' Vow, Forensic Heroes II,Beyond the Realm... , Joyce Tang |
See The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain (1999 TV series) |
| 2006 | ATV (Hong Kong) | Nie Yuan Nie Yuan -Early life:Nie was born in Zhenyuan County, Guizhou. His parents named his older brother and him "Zhen" and "Yuan" respectively to remind them not to forget their hometown... , Gillian Chung Gillian Chung Gillian Chung is a Hong Kong based singer and actress. She is a member of Cantopop group Twins, along with Charlene Choi.-Early life:... , Athena Chu Athena Chu Athena Chu is a Hong Kong actress and singer.-Biography:Chu attended The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts from 1990 to 1992, during which time she hosted children's shows on the television station TVB. After graduating in 1992, she started working on films. Her roles with Chow kick-started... , Ady An An Yixuan Wu Wenjing , better known by her Chinese stage name An Yixuan or Audrey "Ady" An, is a Taiwanese actress.-Career:... , Patrick Tam Patrick Tam Patrick Tam Kar Ming is a Hong Kong film director and film editor. He directed the 1987 film Final Victory, scripted by Wong Kar-wai.He edited Wong Kar-wai's Days of Being Wild, contributing the cameo appearance of Tony Leung Chiu-Wai in the last scene, and Ashes of Time, as well as Johnnie To's... , Alex Fong, Anthony Wong |
See Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain (2006 TV series) Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain (2006 TV series) Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain is a 2006 Hong Kong television series adapted from Louis Cha's novels Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain and Other Tales of the Flying Fox... |
Radio broadcasts
- In 1981, Hong Kong's RTHKRadio Television Hong KongRadio Television Hong Kong is a public broadcasting organisation in Hong Kong that is operated as an independent department in the government under the Broadcasting Authority. RTHK operates seven radio channels, and produces television programmes that are then broadcast through local television...
made a 15 episodes radio broadcast of the novel.
Translations
An English translation by Olivia Mok was published in 1996 under the title Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain.External links
Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain on Baidu BaikeBaidu Baike
Baidu Encyclopedia is a Chinese language collaborative Web-based encyclopedia provided by the Chinese search engine Baidu. Like Baidu itself, the encyclopedia is heavily self-censored in line with government regulations....