Action Scene as Political Debate: The Battle of Juxian Manor

[douqi]

x_los was tweeting about action scenes as a vehicle for character moments, and about how this is especially legible in written iterations of wuxia. This made me reread two of my favourite action scenes in Jin Yong's oeuvre, which can be found respectively (shocker, for anyone who has heard me go on about this) in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (天龙八部) and The Smiling Proud Wanderer (笑傲江湖). I'll lay out the action scene in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils here, and the scene from The Smiling Proud Wanderer in another post.

The relevant action scene in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils is the Battle of Juxian Manor, which occurs towards the end of the second volume. First, some necessary background: the novel is set during Northern Song Dynasty, and takes place against the backdrop of ongoing military conflict between the Song Empire and the central Asian (specifically Khitan) Liao Empire. The focus of this part of the novel is on the second of our three protagonists, Qiao Feng (乔峰). At the beginning of the novel, Qiao Feng is the leader of the Beggars' Association (丐帮) and is well-known for his mastery of the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms (降龙十八掌), a powerful technique handed down from one leader to the next. He's celebrated not just as a jianghu hero but specifically as a Han Chinese jianghu hero, having led many successful guerrilla attacks against Khitan forces. Over the course of the novel, however, it is revealed that he is actually of Khitan blood himself, having been fostered by a Han couple as a baby. In light of this revelation, he leaves the Beggars' Association, and is subsequently framed for the murders of his foster parents and his shifu, a senior Buddhist monk of the Shaolin Temple. In short, he rapidly becomes jianghu enemy number one. He is, at this point, seeking medical treatment for a gravely injured young woman (and his eventual fiancee), A-Zhu, whom he has encountered over the course of his adventures. Qiao Feng learns that a huge jianghu gathering will be held at Juxian Manor, where those in attendance will discuss strategies for capturing or killing him. He is also told that one of the best physicians in the jianghu will be in attendance. For A-Zhu's sake, he decides to brave the gathering.

Soon after he arrives at Juxian Manor, Qiao Feng is attacked by Xuanji, a senior Shaolin monk. Xuanji starts off not by using a Shaolin technique, but with a move from the Taizu Fist — the technique which the founder of the Song Dynasty himself was said to have used in fighting his battles. The narration explains that this is a very popular and well-known technique within the jianghu: it has many practitioners, and even non-practitioners are familiar with it.

Qiao Feng counters this with another Taizu Fist move. It is notable that Qiao Feng uses this instead of a Shaolin Temple technique or one of the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, and in his dialogue Qiao Feng makes it quite clear why. Since the Taizu Fist is symbolic of the founder of the Song Dynasty, for him to counter it with any other technique would be perceived as a deep national insult, given his ethnic origins. Being extraordinarily gifted at martial arts, Qiao Feng's execution of the Taizu Fist far surpasses that of any other practitioner. Even though the Taizu Fist itself is not an inherently powerful technique, he is able to unleash its full potential, and is on the verge of overcoming his opponent Xuanji.

Xuanji then hastily switches to a Shaolin Temple technique, which Qiao Feng handily counters, still using the Taizu Fist. As he does so, he comments, 'Ah, so you're using a Tianzhu technique to against the technique of my empire's founder.' Tianzhu is the ancient East Asian name for India, from which Buddhism originated. The Shaolin Temple is recognised as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism, a tradition initiated by Bodhidharma, a monk from India. Within the Jin Yong 'verse (and wider wuxiaverse), Bodhidharma is also credited with the creation of the Shaolin Temple's various martial techniques. It is not lost upon the spectators that the Khitan man they are fighting in part because of his ethnicity is using the quintessential Song (and therefore Han) martial technique to devastating effect, while the Shaolin Temple stalwart is using a 'foreign' technique against him. In making the point that Xuanji is using a 'foreign' technique, one developed by a highly revered figure, Qiao Feng also leads the spectators to reflect on the fact that perhaps not all non-Han peoples can be written off as 'evil outsiders' (obvious, I know, but given the sheer number of c-novels that still uncritically cast central Asian characters as stereotyped villains...)

These multiple layers of meaning are most effectively conveyed in written form, which gives room for exposition and explanation. I think it would be extraordinarily difficult to convey the significance of Qiao Feng's choice of technique (or even that he is using a particular technique which is not the one he is best known for) through e.g. cinematic means, unless one resorts to the clumsy device of onscreen exposition.