Ode to Gallantry

For other uses, see Ode to Gallantry (disambiguation).

Ode to Gallantry
Author(s)	Jin Yong
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Chinese
Genre(s)	Wuxia
Publisher	Ming Pao
Publication date	1965
Media type	Print

Ode to Gallantry
Traditional Chinese	俠客行
Simplified Chinese	侠客行
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Xiá Kè Xíng Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping Haap6 Haak3 Haang4

Ode to Gallantry is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong, first serialized between June 11, 1966 and April 19, 1967 on Ming Pao.^[1] The novel shares the same Chinese title as a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai, which is used as its epigraph.

Plot

The plot centers on a case of mistaken identity between a pair of identical twins, which in his afterword Jin Yong acknowledges resemble some works of William Shakespeare (cf. Twelfth Night and The Comedy of Errors).^[2]

The protagonist, who refers to himself as "Gouzazhong" (狗雜種; literally means "the mongrel dog", a colloquialism for "bastard"), first appears as a young beggar living on the streets of Kaifeng, searching for his lost mother. He witnesses a fight between several wulin pugilists^[3] and meets the pugilist Shi couple and members of the Snowy Mountain Sect (雪山派). An accident causes him to be taken away from Kaifeng by a pugilist called Xie Yanke, to Xie's secluded home on Motian Cliff. Xie Yanke, who is frequently bothered by Gouzazhong, decides to teach him martial arts. Gouzazhong learns qi cultivation techniques under Xie Yanke's tutelage for six years. Gouzazhong is unaware that Xie Yanke actually harbours ill intentions towards him and has been teaching him the wrong methods, in hope that Gouzazhong will sustain internal wounds and die eventually.^[4]

At the same time, the leader of the Changle Sect, Shi Potian (whose real name is Shi Zhongyu), mysteriously disappears.^[5] The greater part of the novel deals with the complications that arise as Gouzhazhong is mistaken to be Shi Zhongyu, not only by members of the sect (for ulterior motives), by also by Shi Zhongyu's parents, the Shi couple, by Shi Zhongyu's lover, Ding Dang, and by the members of the Snowy Mountain Sect. Although the two bears a splitting resemblance, their characters cannot be more different: Gouzhazhong is simple, honest and clever, while Shi Zhongyu, the son of the Shi couple, has a bad reputation as a lewd and sly womanizer. In the process Gouzhazhong acquires consummate martial arts skills. Gouzazhong is hounded by members of the Snowy Mountain Sect who mistakes him for Shi Zhongyu who had molested A'xiu, the granddaughter of the head of the Snowy Mountain Sect. He acquires A'xiu as his girlfriend after various episodes, during which the misunderstandings clear up.

The novel culminates in an episode when the leaders of various sects are coerced into going to a secluded island by a pair of mysterious, highly skilled messengers to celebrate the Laba Festival by eating the Laba congee. The story then leads to a surprising conclusion: revelations on the island and more revelations concerning Gouzhazhong's true parentage.

Adaptations

Films

Year	Production	Shi Potian	Additional information
1982	Shaw Brothers Studio (Hong Kong)	Philip Kwok	See Ode to Gallantry (film)

Television

Year	Production	Shi Potian	Additional information
1985	CTS (Taiwan)	Max Mok	See Ode to Gallantry (1985 TV series)
1989	TVB (Hong Kong)	Tony Leung	See Hap Hak Hang
2002	Mainland China	Wu Jian	See Ode to Gallantry (2002 TV series)

References

1. ^ The date conforms to the data published in 陳鎮輝,《武俠小說逍遙談》, 2000, 匯智出版有限公司, pp. 57.
2. ^ Afterword
3. ^ Chapter 1
4. ^ Chapter 3
5. ^ Chapter 15

External links

• (Chinese) Ode to Gallantry on Baidu Baike
• English translation of the novel at Wuxiapedia