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The Legend of the Condor Heroes
The Legend of the Condor Heroes
Traditional Chinese	射鵰英雄傳
Simplified Chinese	射雕英雄传
Literal meaning	Story of the Eagle Shooting Hero
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Shè Diāo Yīng Xióng Zhuàn
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Seh Diū Yīng Hùhng Jyuhn
Jyutping	Se6 Diu1 Jing1 Hung4 Zyun6

The Legend of the Condor Heroes
	Cover of a 1960s edition of the 1st volume of the novel
Author	Jin Yong
Original title	射鵰英雄傳
Language	Chinese
Series	Condor Trilogy
Genre	Wuxia
Publisher	Hong Kong Commercial Daily
Publication date	1 January 1957 to 19 May 1959
Publication place	Hong Kong
Media type	Print
Preceded by	Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils
Followed by	The Return of the Condor Heroes

The Legend of the Condor Heroes (Chinese: 射鵰英雄傳) is a wuxia novel by Chinese writer Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It is the first part of the Condor Trilogy and is followed by The Return of the Condor Heroes and The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. It was first serialised between 1 January 1957 and 19 May 1959 in Hong Kong Commercial Daily.^[1] Jin Yong revised the novel twice, first in the 1970s and later in the 2000s. The English title is imprecise since neither species of the condor, the Andean condor and Californian condor, is native to China.

Plot

The story is set in imperial China during the wars between the Jurchen-led Jin Empire and the predominantly ethnic Han Song Empire. Yang Tiexin and Guo Xiaotian, a pair of sworn brothers, pledge that their unborn children will become either sworn siblings (if both are of the same sex) or a married couple (if they are of opposite sexes). One day, Yang Tiexin's wife, Bao Xiruo, saves a wounded Jurchen warrior, who turns out to be Wanyan Honglie, the sixth prince of the Jin Empire. Smitten by Bao Xiruo's beauty Wanyan Honglie later sends his troops to attack Yang Tiexin and Guo Xiaotian's village. Guo Xiaotian is killed while Yang Tiexin goes missing.

Guo Xiaotian's pregnant wife, Li Ping, wanders into Mongolia, where she gives birth to their son, Guo Jing, who grows up in Mongolia under the care of Genghis Khan. He learns martial arts from the "Seven Freaks of Jiangnan" and Ma Yu of the Quanzhen School, as well as archery skills from Jebe. The Chinese title of the novel is derived from an incident in Guo Jing's youth when he shot two eagles with a single arrow. On the other hand, a pregnant Bao Xiruo captured by Wanyan Honglie, believing her husband to be dead agrees to marry Wanyan Honglie. She gives birth to a son, Yang Kang, who is raised as a Jurchen nobleman. Although he is mentored by Qiu Chuji of the Quanzhen School, he also secretly learns the evil "Nine Yin White Bone Claw" technique from Mei Chaofeng.

Guo Jing is honest, loyal and righteous, but outwardly slow-witted. In contrast, Yang Kang is clever, but scheming and treacherous. They eventually meet each other and their respective lovers, Huang Rong and Mu Nianci. The main plot follows Guo Jing and Huang Rong's adventures and their encounters with the "Five Greats", the five most powerful martial artists in the wulin (martial artists' community). During their adventures, both Guo Jing and Huang Rong learn various martial arts techniques from the most powerful martial artists in wulin at that time. Guo Jing also discovers who was behind the death of his father.

Meanwhile, Yang Kang plots with the Jurchens to conquer his ancestral ground. Yang Kang refuses to acknowledge his Han ethnicity and is strongly driven to acquire wealth, fame, glory, and powerful skills. His treachery is slowly unveiled throughout the novel in the feuds he has with Guo Jing and Huang Rong.

With Guo Jing's assistance, the Mongols conquers the Jin Empire and subsequently turn their attention towards the Song Empire. Guo Jing is unwilling to aid the Mongols in attacking his ancestral ground, so he leaves them and returns to the Song Empire to help his fellow Han people counter the impending Mongol invasion. On the other hand, Yang Kang dies from poisoning after attempting to kill Huang Rong with a palm strike, but ends up hitting her spiked soft armour, which was accidentally stained with poison. He leaves behind Mu Nianci and their unborn son, whom Guo Jing names "Yang Guo". In the meantime, the Mongol invasion of the Song Empire is temporarily halted when Genghis Khan dies.

Characters

English translation

The novel has been translated into English in 4 volumes:

A Hero Born by Anna Holmwood^[2]
A Bond Undone by Gigi Chang
A Snake Lies Waiting by Anna Holmwood and Gigi Chang
A Heart Divided by Gigi Chang and Shelly Bryant

Adaptations

Films

Year	Production	Main cast	Additional information
1958	Emei Film Company (Hong Kong)	Cho Tat-wah, Yung Siu-yee, Lam Kau, Lai Kwan-lin	See Story of the Vulture Conqueror
1977	Shaw Brothers Studio (Hong Kong)	Alexander Fu, Tien Niu, Lee I-min, Kara Hui	See The Brave Archer
1978		Alexander Fu, Niu-niu, Lee I-min, Kara Hui	See The Brave Archer 2
1981		Alexander Fu, Niu-niu, Yu Tai-ping	See The Brave Archer 3
1993	Scholars Ltd. (Hong Kong)	Leslie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Jacky Cheung	See The Eagle Shooting Heroes
1994	Scholars Ltd. (Hong Kong)	Leslie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Jacky Cheung	See Ashes of Time
2021	Lajin, Media Asia Film, CFM, M&H Pictures	Eddy Geng, Lin Yu Rou, Alex To, Eddie Kwan, Lam Chi Chung, Yue Dong Feng	See The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Dragon Tamer
2021	Lajin, Media Asia Film, CFM, M&H Pictures	Kevin Yan, Ruan Ju, Tracy Wang, He Changxi, Tim Huang, Charles Lin	See The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Cadaverous Claw
TBA	China Film Group Corporation	Xiao Zhan, Sabrina Zhuang, Vanda Margraf	See The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero

Television

Year	Production	Main cast	Additional information
1976	CTV (Hong Kong)	Jason Pai, Michelle Yim, Bruce Leung, Mang Chau	See The Legend of the Condor Heroes (1976 TV series)
1983	TVB (Hong Kong)	Felix Wong, Barbara Yung, Michael Miu, Sharon Yeung	See The Legend of the Condor Heroes (1983 TV series)
1988	China Television Co, Ltd. (Co-production)(Taiwan)	Howie Huang, Idy Chan, Poon Wang-ban, Chiu Shu-yi	See The Legend of the Condor Heroes (1988 TV series)
1992	TVB (Hong Kong)	Ekin Cheng, Fiona Leung, Gallen Lo, Eddie Kwan, Vivian Chow	See Rage and Passion
1993		Julian Cheung, John Chiang, Fiona Leung,	See The Mystery of the Condor Hero
1994		Julian Cheung, Athena Chu, Gallen Lo, Emily Kwan	See The Legend of the Condor Heroes (1994 TV series)
1994		Ekin Cheng, Marco Ngai, Wong Siu-yin, Charine Chan, Chan Wai-yee, Wayne Lai	See The Condor Heroes Return
2003	Ciwen Film & TV Production Co. Ltd. (Mainland China)	Li Yapeng, Zhou Xun, Zhou Jie, Jiang Qinqin	See The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2003 TV series)
2008	Chinese Entertainment Shanghai Ltd. (Mainland China)	Hu Ge, Ariel Lin, Justin Yuan, Cecilia Liu	See The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2008 TV series)
2017	Dragon TV (Mainland China)	Yang Xuwen, Li Yitong, Chen Xingxu, Meng Ziyi, Michael Miu	See The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017 TV series)
2024	Tencent Video (Mainland China)	Ci Sha, Bao Shang En, Gao Weiguang, Meng Ziyi, Chen Duling, Hankiz Omar	See The Legend of Heroes: Hot Blooded (2024 TV series)

Comics

In 1998, Hong Kong's Ming Ho Press (明河社) published a 38 volume manhua series illustrated by Lee Chi Ching. This was published in Indonesia by MNC Comics in 2000.

Video games

Shachou Eiyuuden: The Eagle Shooting Heroes is a video game developed by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation.
Street Fighter Online: Mouse Generation is a PC fighting game that included Mei Chaofeng and Zhou Botong as playable characters.

References

^ The date conforms to the data published in Chen Zhenhui (陳鎮輝), Wuxia Xiaoshuo Xiaoyao Tan (武俠小說逍遙談), 2000, Huizhi Publishing Company (匯智出版有限公司), p. 56.
^ Senior, Antonia (17 February 2018). "Historical fiction round-up: Attack of the flying squad". The Times.