douqi

Gu Long's literary output is a little harder to pin down than Jin Yong's. For one thing, he was immensely prolific, having published upwards of 70 novels. For another, he was known to work with ghostwriters, especially later in life, and not all of the ghostwritten books/parts of books are properly labelled. And finally, I have somehow managed to avoid reading any of Gu Long's early work, though this was not a conscious choice on my part, but merely a function of what they had in stock at the bookshop where I went to get my wuxia fix.

The most notable of Gu Long's works have also been adapted for both film and television, though less frequently than Jin Yong's. Again, I'll focus on the television adaptations here, and for the same reasons. I do want to note that, personally, I feel that Gu Long's works are more easily adaptable to film than Jin Yong's, because what's really striking about them is the mood, the premise and the character portraits, rather than the plot.

Early Works

As I've said, I haven't read a single one of these early works, but I do know enough of them to identify the three most iconic: (1) Cleansing Flowers, Refining the Sword (浣花洗劍錄 | 浣花洗剑录); (2) The Legend of the Banner Heroes (大旗英雄傳 | 大旗英雄传); and (3) Unofficial History of the Wulin (武林外史) (the title being, of course, a pun on 儒林外史, or Unofficial History of the Scholars).

There are two television adaptations of Cleansing Flowers, Refining the Sword: a 1978 Hong Kong production starring Cheung Kok-wing (Leslie Cheung) and a 2007 Taiwanese production starring Tse Ting-fung (Nicholas Tse). The latter can be found subtitled here. There are several adaptations of The Legend of the Banner Heroes, of which the most notable is the 1989 Hong Kong production starring everyone Chan Shek Shau (Bill Chan). The most recent adaptation is a 2007 mainland production, but I've not been able to find it online. There is a 2001 mainland adaptation of Unofficial History of the Wulin, which is available on iQiyi (though there may be regional restrictions, and I'm not 100% sure whether there are English subtitles).

Mid-Career Works

Classic #1: Handsome Siblings (絕代雙驕 | 绝代双骄). Twin brothers are separated at birth and raised to become mortal enemies and fight each other to the death once they come of age. The two brothers, of course, grow up to have diametrically opposed personalities: one is a charming, (seemingly) happy-go-lucky lovable rogue and the other an ever-graceful, ever-courteous, emotionally repressed jade prince. Add in the greatest swordsman in the world, who dresses like a vagabond and favours rusty swords; a valley where the darkest and most reviled souls in the jianghu gather, a sinister gang named and styled after the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, the jianghu's foremost gentleman-warrior, who to absolutely no one's surprise turns out to be the jianghu's foremost evil mastermind, and a whole host of beautiful ingenues in various forms of distress that only our two heroes can save them from, and the whole thing is somehow much less than the sum of its parts. The plot is an overstuffed, meandering, glorious mess, and Gu Long even repeats a chapter title, almost certainly not on purpose.

Has been adapted multiple times for the screen, the most recent and most accessible one being the 2020 mainland adaptation which is currently on Netflix. Possibly also of interest is the 1998 Hong Kong adaptation, with an all-star cast led by Leung Chiu Wai (Tony Leung) (playlist here, though there are no English subtitles). The 2004 Hong Kong adaptation should be avoided if you want a faithful adaptation, as it makes multiple changes.

Classic #2: The Sentimental Swordsman and the Ruthless Sword (多情劍客無情劍 | 多情剑客无情剑). A carriage makes its way through a snowstorm. Inside is Li Xunhuan, one of Gu Long's most iconic heroes, also known as Xiao Li of the Flying Dagger. He is the master of his family's unique knife-throwing technique: none of his knives, it is said, ever misses its mark. Li Xunhuan is returning from a self-imposed exile of many years. Ahead of him lie his new friend and protege A-Fei, the fastest ~~gunslinger~~ swordsman in the ~~west~~ jianghu; his childhood sweetheart Lin Shiyin, whom he deliberately abandoned so that she would marry Long Xiaoyun, the friend who saved his life; the mysterious plum-blossom bandit; Lin Xian-er, the most beautiful woman in the jianghu; Shangguan Jinhong, the most ambitious sect leader in the jianghu; and a whole host of varied and colourful characters. Though marketed as a single novel, this book actually works better (and is less frustrating) if you read it as two shorter story arcs, the first being the hunt for the plum-blossom bandit (which has a truly unexpected ending) and the second being Li Xunhuan's quest to rescue A-Fei from the evil clutches (sigh) of Lin Xian-er against the backdrop of Shangguan Jinhong's rise to power. Emotionally, most of the characters' personal journeys feel weirdly unresolved, not helped by Gu Long's misogynistic treatment of Lin Xian-er (startling even by his own standards) and Gu Long's truly annoying habit of assigning his jaded heroes a fresh-faced ingenue for a love interest rather than exploring their established and much more complex relationships with women of the same age. But the sweeping, capital-R Romanticism of Gu Long's jianghu and his exploration of the loneliness of being a top jianghu wanderer make it a compelling read.

Has been adapted for television several times, though not with (to me) particular stellar casts. The most recent adaptation seems to be a 2007 mainland one, which for some reason has never aired. The second-most recent adaptation, the 1999 Taiwanese one, can be viewed here, though without English subtitles, and the throwing knife effects are frankly cringe

This novel forms part of a loose series consisting of five novels in total. The other four are: Bordertown Wanderer (邊城浪子 | 边城浪子), Eagle Soaring in the Ninth Month (九月鷹飛, | 九月鹰飞), Horizon Bright Moon Sabre (天涯·明月·刀), and The Flying Dagger Reappears (飛刀，又見飛刀 | 飞刀，又见飞刀). None of the main characters from Sentimental Swordsman reappear in these, but Li Xunhuan's disciple is featured in Bordertown Wanderer and Eagle Soaring in the Ninth Month, and The Flying Dagger Reappears features his grandson. Bordertown Wanderer is discussed below. I found both Horizon Bright Moon Sabre and The Flying Dagger Reappears to be rather disjointed, though in the case of the latter, it's due in part to the fact that Gu Long dictated the novel to another writer, Ding Qing, after famously getting stabbed by a wanted criminal for refusing to pay his respects to film director Ke Junxiong (Gu Long basically lived like a character from one of his books). Despite having read it at least twice, I have absolutely no memory of what happens in Eagle Soaring in the Ninth Month beyond some vague idea of a feud between Li Xunhuan's disciple and Shangguan Jinhong's daughter.

Classic #3: Bordertown Wanderer (邊城浪子 | 边城浪子). The most Western (in the genre sense) of Gu Long's novels, I always think. Set in a bleak town close to the western border of Gu Long's fantasy China, with a cast of characters who all have secrets of their own. Our two leads are Ye Kai, Li Xunhuan's disciple, whose annoyingly sunny disposition seems completely out of place in the surrounding bleakness; and Fu Hongxue, a stoic ice prince and expert sabre-wielder of very few words. Fu Hongxue is also one of the very few disabled lead characters in wuxia: he has epilepsy, and walks with a limp. This novel is significantly bleaker than the two discussed previously. Things go from dark to darker; the few innocents either die, are broken or are broken and then die; and a truly extraordinary amount of suffering is heaped on Fu Hongxue.

Has been adapted for television a couple of times, with the most recent adaptation being the 2016 mainland production starring Guardian's Zhu Yilong, available here (though annoyingly without English subtitles).

Fu Hongxue reappears as a main character in Horizon Bright Moon Sabre, a book that I read three times but is so disjointed that I cannot remember what exactly was going on, beyond a lot of women lying to Fu Hongxue, and a surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of a sex worker.

Classic #4: The Chu Liuxiang (楚留香) Series. Stars Chu Liuxiang, the 'General of Thieves': he steals only the most exquisite and refined objects, and only in the most exquisite and refined of ways. He lives on board a luxurious houseboat, together with three beautiful and talented women whose relationship to him is never made entirely clear in the text (my favourite of the three is Li Hongxiu, she of the photographic memory who can remember every single piece of information about the jianghu since time immemorial). His other close friends are, like him, martial artists at the top of their game, from cheerful childhood friend Hu Tiehua to ascetic billionaire Ji Bingyan to Zhongyuan Yidianhong, the assassin so cool we don't even know his birth name.

There are eight novels in the Chu Liuxiang series: Fragrance in the Sea of Blood (血海飄香); The Great Desert (大沙漠); The Thrush (畫眉鳥 | 画眉鸟); The Legend of the Bat (蝙蝠傳奇 | 蝙蝠传奇); The Possession (借尸还魂); The Legend of the Peach Blossom (桃花傳奇 | 桃花传奇); The Legend of the New Moon (新月傳奇 | 新月传奇); and The Midnight Orchid (午夜蘭花 | 午夜兰花). Each novel (with the exception of The Midnight Orchid) follows a similar format: there is a jianghu crisis, and Chu Liuxiang and friends must avert it, they have a rollicking adventure, and Chu Liuxiang usually meets and has a dalliance with an attractive woman on the way (to the point that Gu Long once compared him to James Bond). The tone is perhaps the brightest of all Gu Long's novels. For the full-fat Chu Liuxiang experience, I would suggest confining yourself to the first three novels, and certainly to go no later than The Legend of the Peach Blossom (whose open ending features a classic Lady or Tiger scenario). The Legend of the New Moon is very oddly plotted and paced, and The Midnight Orchid is frankly incomprehensible (is that guy sitting at the table really Chu Liuxiang, who can say, why does Li Hongxiu suddenly have an Achille Poirot-style brother who emerged out of nowhere and is apparently named Li Lanxiu).

The Chu Liuxiang series has been adapted for the screen multiple times. The most iconic television portrayal of Chu Liuxiang, for a certain generation, is indisputably Cheng Siu Chau (Adam Cheng) in the 1979 Hong Kong adaptation (playlist here, though again, no English subtitles). There's also a much more recent mainland adaptation from 2012, which can be viewed here (though again without English subtitles), which adapts The Legend of the Bat; The Possession; The Legend of the Peach Blossom and The Legend of the New Moon.

Classic #5: The Lu Xiaofeng (陸小鳳 | 陆小凤) series. Structured similarly to the Chu Liuxiang series. The main character, Lu Xiaofeng, is a sort of jianghu detective who lives by his wits. His most prominent physical feature is his moustache, which resembles his eyebrows so much that he's often called 'the one with four eyebrows'. The novels feature a rotating cast of Lu Xiaofeng's good friends, including the blind, peace-loving martial artist Hua Manlou, the master thief Sikong Zhaixing, and the stoic, ascetic sword god Ximen Chuixue.

There are seven novels in the series: The Legend of Lu Xiaofeng (陸小鳳傳奇 | 陆小凤传奇); The Embroidery Bandit (繡花大盜 | 绣花大盗); Before and After the Duel (決戰前後 | 决战前后); The Silver Hook Casino (銀鈎賭坊 | 银钩赌坊); The Phantom Manor (幽靈山莊 | 幽灵山庄); The Phoenix Dances in the Nine Heavens (鳳舞九天 | 凤舞九天); and The Sword God Laughs (劍神一笑 | 剑神一笑) (yes, Ximen Chiuxue emotes so little that Gu Long named a book after the one time he laughed). There are several adaptations, but the only one I have been able to find online is the 2006 mainland production (which can be viewed here) which adapts all seven books (plus three original stories by the screenwriter).

Next up: A Gu Long Primer - Minor Gems (plus things other people mistakenly think are minor gems)