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First Episode 34: 笑傲江湖 (Smiling, Proud Wanderer)


renzhe

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A part of the Grand First Episode Project -- See this thread for more info.

Overview - Emule - youku

Language difficulty level: Intermediate

This is another one based on a rather complex Jin Yong Wuxia novel, so people who really want to understand all intricacies without reading the book should look over at wikipedia.

For those who just want to watch along, the short story is that the Fortune-Prestige Escort Agency guards the secret of a powerful sword technique that is coveted by many gongfu sects from the martial arts world, most of all by the Qingzheng sect. We follow a young (but extremely powerful) martial artist who was temporarily thrown out from the Huashan sect for being too mischievous, and he gets caught in the middle of it.

--- Plot Summary ---

We follow a young martial artist, 令狐冲, who runs into a mysterious old man 曲洋 and drinks some of his wine. Soon, people arrive and try to get 曲洋 to go and see 圣姑. Turns out they all practice some sort of magic, and 令狐冲 defeats the lot, before threatening to kill 曲洋.

At that time, a group of hunters arrives, led by 林平之. He demonstrates great skill with the whip, killing a bunch of birds, and they head to an inn to get some food. The inn is run by none other than 令狐冲 and his student, a girl with a disfigured face. Two Sichuan guys walk in and make fun of her, which angers the hunting expedition. They attack the two men, but both 郑镖头 and 林平之 are soundly beaten, and we end up with 林平之 cornered and having to listen to a never-ending insult blah blah. The inn-keeper decides to interfere and distracts the Sichuan guy with a quick projectile, but the resulting commotion results in 林平之 stabbing the guy dead.

The other Sichuan guy runs off to inform the guy's father, and the hunting expedition decide to bury the body and run away. They return to their school (林平之 has a sparring session with his father 林震南 before his mother rescues him by calling them to eat dinner), but it is not long before people who went hunting start mysteriously dying, without any visible injuries.

林震南 finds out about the event with the two Sichuan guys, and figures out that one of them could be 余沧海, and they organise a group headed back to the inn in the middle of the night, trying to dig out the corpse. They become suspicious when they find the girl's handkerchief (too expensive for a simple servant), and then there are screams as the people digging outside find the corpse of 史镖头 (another one who went hunting) instead of the body they buried.

They return to their school, where some more sabotage has been going on. There is a meeting to discuss what to do, and 林平之 feels responsible for everything and wants to take the punishment himself. The night passes and a group of dead disciples returns from a patrol carried by their horses. Despite his suspicion, 林震南 still doesn't know who is responsible, even when a message shows up outside that everyone who leaves through the main gate will die after taking ten steps.

Later, an autopsy confirms that 余沧海 is indeed personally responsible. They devise a plan whereby they all leave through the back door (there's no threatening message there).

We get to see 余沧海 in front of his 青城 sect, getting word of their plans. He orders their school searched thoroughly. 令狐冲 heard the conversation, though, and his student convinces him to save 林平之 and others. They pretend to be inn-keepers again, when 林平之 arrives, followed by a bunch of guys from 青城 sect, trying to beat him up. They are led by 罗人杰. 林震南 interferes, and is injured, as the attackers claim that their sect has acquired the 辟邪剑法 technique, and capture them.

Then they demand food, but 令狐冲 serves something despicable, so they attack him too, and he has to beat them all up, while his student releases the prisoners. 余沧海 shows up, which wraps up the episode.

--- Summary End ---

Characters that appear or are mentioned in this episode and their classification:

Huashan sect (华山派):

令狐冲 (our hero)

岳靈珊 His martial sister, whose name isn't mentioned here, but who was referred to as 婉儿 once

岳不羣 (君子剑)

Sun-Moon God Sect (日月神教):

曲洋

圣姑

Fortune-Prestige Escort Agency (福威鏢局):

林平之 (少镖头)

郑镖头

史镖头

林震南 (总镖头)

白二

Qingcheng Sect (青城派):

余沧海

罗人杰

Vocabulary:

琴 qín guqin or zither

曲 qǔ tune / song

嚷嚷 rǎng rang to shout

剐 guǎ cut off the flesh as punishment

华山派 the Huashan sect

勾搭

轻功 qīng gōng light gongfu, a type of gongfu in wuxia novels characterised by the ability to move fast and jump high

前辈 qián bèi senior / older generation

魔教 mó jiào evil sect, magic teaching

对头 duì tou (longstanding) opponent / enemy

正邪 right or wrong

善恶 good or evil

长老 zhǎng lǎo elder

不共戴天 bù gòng dài tiān (of enemies) cannot live under the same sky / absolutely irreconcilable

死而无憾 to die without regret (??)

废物 fèi wù rubbish / waste material / useless person

鞭 biān a whip or lash / to flog / to whip

一鞭双雕 to kill two birds with one whip lash, a variation of 一箭双雕

剑气冲天

福威镖局 the Fortune-Prestige Escort Agency

竹叶青 zhú yè qīng Trimeresurus stejnegeri (poisonous snake)

自幼 zì yòu from or since childhood

福建 Fú jiàn Fujian province (Fukien) in east China

钉鞋

烂泥 làn ní ooze

狗崽子 gǒu zǎi zi little puppy, some kind of insult

撒野 sā yě terrible bad manners

上台 shàng tái to rise to power (in politics) / to go on stage (in the theater)

花旦 huā dàn role of vivacious young female in Chinese opera

太岁

埋 mái bury

川西 Chuān xī Western Sichuan

分号 fēn hào semicolon --- but this cannot be right in this context. Help ??

账房 zhàng fáng an accounts office (in former times) / an accountant / a cashier

料理 liào lǐ to arrange / to handle / cuisine

打猎 dǎ liè hunt

恶鬼 è guǐ evil spirit / devil

冲撞 chōng zhuàng to offend / to provoke

挖 wā to dig / to excavate

伙 huǒ assistant

人心 rén xīn popular feeling / the will of the people

险恶 xiǎn è dangerous / sinister / vicious

青城派 the qingcheng sect

毒手 a particularly vicious technique meant to maim or kill the opponent

晦气

无影幻腿 shadowless kick, a fictional martial arts technique

旗杆 qí gǎn a flagpole

照样 zhào yàng as before / (same) as usual

I enjoyed this a lot, just like with the previous JinYong adaptation, 天龙八部. In this one, the language is a bit easier, but it still remains difficult to put such complex works to film.

Still, people who can understand this will probably find it enjoyable. The fights are decent, and it moves at a nice pace.

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Edited by renzhe
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Great job, Renzhe. Just a quick historical note on one translation ...

无影幻腿 shadowless kick, a fictional martial arts technique

Apparently, the "No Shadow Kick" aka "Shadowless Kick" originated as a real martial arts technique developed by Wong Fei Hung.

Said to be so fast that it casts no shadow, the Shadowless Kick actually involves launching a fast, swift front kick while an opponent's attention is drawn elsewhere, usually by keeping his arms occupied.

The traditional Chinese long robe offers an additional way to execute the Shadowless Kick. By flipping the front of one's robe towards one's opponent, his view of the kick underneath is obscured.

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His student/martial sister, whose name I cannot figure out but who was referred to as 婉儿 once

She is Linghu's 師妹 and 岳不羣's daughter. Her name is 岳靈珊(or 姍, not sure). But in the pretence of an inn keeper 婉兒 might be her name (can't recall).

They devise a plan whereby they all leave through the back door (there's no threatening message there).

This is hilarious. You've made the story look so silly. hahaha.

IMHO this TV drama is not as good as 天龍八部, 射鵰英雄傳 and 神鵰俠侶. The script is simply not as good as far as I can recall. But it is still worth watching.

The novel itself is superb. The characters in the story are very well known. If you say someone is like 岳不羣, it means he is a 偽君子. If you say someone is like 東方不敗, it could mean several things, one being that he is 不男不女. haha.

(Also check out the film of the same name directed by Tsui Hark. 林青霞 played a powerful/unforgettable role as 東方不敗, which has been invincible so far IMHO.)

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Thanks for the clarification, skylee. Indeed, she was referred to as 婉儿 while they were pretending to be the inn-keepers.

But I'm confused. She is described as a very pretty young girl, but in the show, half of her face is burnt. Is this some kind of disguise?

This is hilarious. You've made the story look so silly. hahaha.

:mrgreen: I couldn't really explain it well.

The novel itself is superb.

I'm currently reading 射雕, and I really believe you. I think that one gets the best out of these adaptations if they've read the book. You get the story and the intricacies of the characters from the book, and then you enjoy the film, having all this background.

This show, and the other wuxia adaptations I've had a look at, are fun in their own right, but it's not as deep as the book.

This is why I'm waiting to finish reading 射雕 before watching it as a series. Although I'd really like to see it.

Edited by renzhe
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  • 6 months later...

Just watched this - got to say I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. Felt like I had a clue what was going on, which is a bit more than I can say for, ie, 天龙八部. And really liked the atmosphere in the 镖局 as people and horses were dropping like flies.

分号 fēn hào semicolon --- but this cannot be right in this context. Help ??

branch, as in they want to open a new branch of their business in 四川。

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His most popular novels are 天龙八部, 射雕英雄传, 笑傲江湖 and 鹿鼎记. Most people would pick one of those as their favourite, and recommend it as the best.

I think that they appeal to different kinds of people, and it's hard to recommend a single one above others. I enjoyed reading 射雕 (the only one I've read) because its story follows an unlikely hero, a kid from the deserts of Mongolia, and we are slowly drawn into the wuxia world, with increasingly more powerful characters, and we watch the leading couple grow up and find their place in this world. It's easy to identify with Guo Jing, as he is just as surprised to see all these fantastic fighters as we are.

This one (笑傲江湖) has a strong leading male character that appeals to many. The book is supposed to be really good.

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Apart from which book is the "best", which as you say is highly subjective, there's also the issue of which is the most representative of Jin Yong's body of work. A couple of people have told me that although 鹿鼎记 is their favourite, because it is completely different to other 13, they nevertheless see 射雕英雄传 as the "classic" Jin Yong novel. But maybe 天龙八部 and 笑傲江湖 have more followers in this way than I thought.

Generally speaking, I rarely want to read more than one book by the same author. Because it takes me so long to read Chinese and because as a Westerner I started from a cultural base of zero, I feel I should expose myself to as many different sources as possible, so usually I'm looking to find the most representative work and move on.

I'm making an exception for Jin Yong, watching 射雕英雄传 right after watching 天龙八部 and reading 雪山飞狐.

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