My new Jianghu blog

Pinterest (let me know if you are the artist)

Dear readers, to accommodate the growing wuxia/jianghu posts I have on my personal blog, today I just published this new blogspot specifically for that topic. Called 'The Realm of Rivers and Lakes', with the blog address RiverAndLakeRealm, this blog is specifically for wuxia, jianghu or wulin posts, in particular those featuring Michael Miu Kiu Wai and Barbara Yung Mei Ling. 

As such, I have copied all Michael/Barbara related posts to this blog. All comments have been imported there too.  I've noticed some funny lay-out as well (e.g., the white-blocked paragraphs) which might have happened during the copying; I will fix those issues in weeks to come. I will also replace the old post hyperlinks with the new post hyperlinks from this blogspot.

The summaries of new MB-related posts will still be posted on my personal eclectic mix blog, but full articles are only posted here. Non-MB posts (e.g., if I want to write a summary on Return of Condor Heroes 1983) will only be posted in this Realm of Rivers and Lakes blog.

Note to those new with the 'Jianghu (江湖)', the literal translation is 'rivers and lakes', usually to convey the world explored by martial artisans or the wulin communities. There is a very interesting article by Helena Yuen Wai from the University of Hong Kong that explored this matter. Click here for said article. Abstract is below the break. I've read the paper; it was a very informative read. To learn more about "wuxia" (武俠) as a genre in ancient Chinese fictions, read One Second Spring's article on this matter (very interesting!).

Thank you for visiting my new site!

Yang Kang's demise (LOCH 1983 screen caps)

Below are the screen caps of the final scene of Yang Kang where he finally accepted his demise. It's a total tearjerker for me that I delayed it for two weeks since I saw this ep 52, but I feel like I owe myself and MB/LOCH fans the screen caps. The screen caps started from the moment Guo Jing found the poisoned Yang Kang inside the Iron Spear Temple. 

GJ trying to save YK but the latter knew he had no hope

LOCH 1983 episode guides (eps 50-59) and final impression

The followings are the episode guides of the last 10 episodes of LOCH 1983. More screen caps will be posted later (still haven't really gotten over Yang Kang's death...).

The Quanzhen Sect's Tiangang Beidou Formation Ep 50

Ep 50: Wong Yung kidnapped First Freak Master Ke to ask him about the Peach Blossom Island massacre. GJ intervened, and Master Ke hit WY instead, and she was imprisoned. GJ asked Hong Qigong and Old Imp’s help to release WY; she was released. The three of them then went to the inn where Huang Yaoshi and Quanzhen Sect were about to have their duel (must be an expensive venue...). Master Ke and GJ also went to the same inn to side with Quanzhen. Yet, across that inn, we saw Wanyan Honglie and Ouyang Feng observing the inn.

LOCH 1983 episode guides (eps 40-49) and interim impressions

Yang Kang tried to usurp Kaypang, Ep 41

Ep 40: Wong Yung et al arrived at the main Kaypang town with the first task at hand: facilitating the enmities between two main Kaypang sects. Later, as the new leader, WY downgraded the ranks of four elders (one of them was Elder Peng) due to their unwise past management decisions. Satisfied that the new leader was wise despite her young age, Hong Qigong and Old Imp departed elsewhere to prepare for the Huashan tournament. Former Elder Peng (“Guardian” Peng now) was furious. Yang Kang knew about this, hence he captured Peng and offered him a chance to be the new Kaypang leader (as long as he became loyal to the Jins). Peng agreed, hence they made a drama later that resulted in the murder of several other elders. Peng, Wong Yung, Guo Jing and Elder Lu then departed to Youzhou soon after. Meanwhile, YK told the nth lie to Mu Nianci, saying that he also had to go to Youzhou (with Nianci) because Qigong had agreed to take him as a student, as long as he repented, and that he went to YZ for a mission.

"Mirror" – an LOCH 1983/CLH 1984 fanfiction

Chor Lau Heung (Michael Miu) vs Wong Yung (Barbara Yung)

What if Wong Yung meets Chor Lau Heung? This fanfiction takes place before the Peach Blossom Island massacre which eventually led to Yeung Hong's (Yang Kang) death. I wasn’t going to post this today, but after watching Yeung Hong’s death this afternoon, I feel like I need something to cheer myself up (yes, I cried a bucket when YK died, despite him being a creature full of mistakes...). Legend of Condor Heroes 1983 and the New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung 1984 are the properties of Louis Cha, Gu Long and TVB Hong Kong, no copyright infringement intended. Dedicated to Michael Miu and Barbara Yung. Romanisation are mainly Yale Cantonese.

Mirror

Wong Yung screamed as she felt her body crashed with the large mirror. She was expecting a sharp hit, followed by a headache. However, unexpectedly, she felt like she hit a giant block of tofu, which later sucked her even deeper. Panic, she stretched her arms toward Kwok Ching who was blocking Lama Ling Zhi's continuous attacks. She saw Ching gor-gor's utter concern as she was sucked into a golden vortex. A weird, golden vortex with tofu-like consistency. The consistency became more liquid-like, then suddenly she felt like swimming in a golden liquid. The next thing she knew, she tumbled over the mirror and crashed to the hard cold floor, back first. 

Gasping, she used her arms to wobbly rise from the floor and checked the surroundings. The room was totally different from the dilapidated temple room she, Kwok Ching, North Beggar Hung Tsat Kung, and Old Imp Chow Pak Tung were trapped a while ago. This room was well-kept and was full of weapons and antiquities. Still wobbly, she stood and turned back to the golden mirror that just ejected her. She saw herself, Wong Yung, in the pink floral tunic she donned this morning. Her voluminous hair was a bit messy, but that was to be expected from a fight with Yeung Hong and his cronies. She then realised that she wasn't the only person in the room. Two men were standing behind her with incredulous looks on their countenance. She gasped when she realised who one of them was. She turned to see Yeung Hong looking flabbergasted. She was agog too, for she just realised that Mr Luk Sing Fung, the Lord of the Cloud Manor was standing next to the wretched Yeung Hong. Had her Peach Blossom Island senior sided with the Jurchens now?? Yet, she didn't feel like asking. Instead, she attacked Yeung Hong with the Carefree Fist Style Hung Tsat Kung taught her. Yet, to her utter surprise, Yeung Hong easily defeated her. He blocked her strikes, and four moves later immobilised her.

"Siu Ching, are you mad?!" Yeung Hong glared at her in disbelief. 

LOCH 1983 episode guides (eps 31-39) and interim impressions

Hong Qigong made Wong Yung the 19th Leader of Kaypang (Ep 33)

Ep 31: Old Heretic rescued Guo Jing and Wong Yung from Ouyang Feng’s attack, but this process disturbed his attempt to heal Wong Yung’s mother. Finally accepting that his wife was truly dead, Huang Yaoshi carried his wife to a boat he’d been preparing for their final journey. Before embarking on the boat, Zhou Botong blurted out that Guo Jing knew the Jinyun Manual inside out, hence he won the contest. Old Herectic was livid, for the Manual was the cause of his wife’s death (actually, it was his own greed, not the manual, that caused it). He confronted Guo Jing, who only then realised that a piece of human skin that he took from Mei Chaofeng was actually the copy of the Manual Vol 2. Huang Yaoshi burned Vol 2, and Botong then burned Vol 1, for he saw how the Manual had created so many miseries. Huang Yaoshi told Guo Jing to get out of the island; Hong Qigong and Zhou Botong followed suit. Yaoshi provided them with the boat he was about to use himself, knowing that the boat was actually faulty and would definitely sink in the open sea. Old Heretic immobilised Wong Yung inside her own room. WY later unblocked the accupoints and went to her dad to make leave. Yaoshi let WY saw her mother for the first time. WY then realised that her mother had been dead for 18 years, the day she gave birth to her.

LOCH 1983 episode guides (eps 20-30) and interim impressions

Wong Yung bored to death listening to Yuewen's poem recital, Ep 20

Ep 20: The start of LOCH part II. Naughty Wong Yung and innocent Guo Jing went exploring around a city inside the Song region and met Hong Qigong (Hung Tsat Kung; played by Lau Dan, who also played as Supreme Master in Fearless Duo) and Yuewen. Unknown to WY and GJ, Ouyang Ke was also looking for Yuewen. WJ/GJ warned Yuewen and Hong Qigong, not knowing that the latter was actually the leader of Kaypang (the Beggar Clan). Yuewen explained that the Jurchens might be looking for the Book of Wu Mu, a book that Yang Kang was telling Mu Nianci about (so Yang Kang wasn’t really lying back then when he said that the book was very important?). Ouyang Ke et al attacked the hut WY et al was in, but then they were met with the Beggar Clans. WJ and GJ fell into a trap, but it actually saved them from the fight. Yuewen died beaten by a poisonous snake, but Hong Qigong retrieved the Book of Wu Mu from him. Qigong then asked WY/GJ to escort him to deliver the book to the Song govt.

LOCH 1983 episode guides (ep 11-19) and interim impressions

First meeting between Yang Kang (Michael Miu) & Mu Nianci (Sharon Yang), Ep 11

Ep 11: I understand Mu Nianci. I understand why she couldn’t leave Yang Kang. His voice, the way he stared at her, the way he made her thinks that she was the queen of his world when they first met. I also recognised that voice. His voice when he was fighting a commoner on the street, even before the viewers see his face. It’s him... it’s Michael Miu’s voice as Yang Kang (Yeung Hong, Cantonese). And I was as mesmerised as Mu Nianci was when he accidentally bumped her during the fight. And I smiled a smile that cracked my face in two when he flirted with Nianci. I smiled when she blushed, for he had that effect to almost any girls... I then went “ooohhh...” as we saw Yang Kang conversing with his mother Bao Xiruo, for I was like watching Li Sai Man (The Foundation 1984) joking with his sister or an ever more spoiled Szeto Man Mo (Fearless Duo) conversing with his mother. I understand why Xiruo doted on him. I understand why Mu Nianci loved him and found it so difficult to leave him...