Wuxia and the influence of Jin Yong

johnyii

Nerd
Wuxia is basically the Chinese version of Marvel! The novels and stories from Jin Yong are so popular In China and Hong Kong that the characters are household name names. The main characters in the books are superheroes with extraordinary (mostly Qi) skills.


Reading Jin Young's novel as a teenager back in Hong Kong greatly influenced me. His book is being turned into TV series and movies repeatedly. That means at any time, you will find one of Jin Yong's novels turn, TV series, and or movies. So just like Marvel, if you don't read the comic, you will know the characters.
 

Edmond

Wuji
My family had the Chinese channel when I was growing up, so I had the pleasure to watch many incarnations of these Wu Xia stories in TV series, mainly the TVB ones from Hong Kong. I didn't read the novels, but I was quite interested in the stories and characters. I pretty much like all the Jin Yong ones, and the Condor Heroes series would probably be my favourite. I like how they blend real historical people and events into the stories.

I am pretty sure it influenced my interest in martial arts, particularly Chinese styles. I wonder how much box horse I need to do before I achieve the Qinggong ability.

It's the first time I see it compared to Marvel and the comic book culture. I can really see the similarities there.
 

Marin

Lao Tou
Staff member
Wuxia was also not entirely fantasy based. Although they definitely took things quite far, the idea of something like Qinggong comes out of history, as far as I know. There are real Qinggong practices, even in Taijiquan, but they are quite practical and not magical. I think people would have practiced high jumping extensively and jumping with weights etc, not so different from Parkour today or the trend of high jumping onto higher and higher pads at the gym that some people are into.

As the story goes, a fugitive Monk from (maybe Shaolin or another temple) was being pursued by some imperial soldiers, either for being a criminal (many monks took vows to escape their past) or because Shaolin had run afoul of imperial demands. He allegedly ran to or through Chen Village and jumped high over a courtyard wall into someone's private home and received shelter and hiding from them. In exchange he taught them Qinggong, which became part of the family quan.
 

Edmond

Wuji
As the story goes, a fugitive Monk from (maybe Shaolin or another temple) was being pursued by some imperial soldiers, either for being a criminal (many monks took vows to escape their past) or because Shaolin had run afoul of imperial demands. He allegedly ran to or through Chen Village and jumped high over a courtyard wall into someone's private home and received shelter and hiding from them. In exchange he taught them Qinggong, which became part of the family quan.

That's a pretty amazing story, almost as if it's straight from Wuxia. Are those skills hidden in the jumping form movements?

The Parkour kind of training makes sense as something practical that could be extrapolated into Qinggong. I got a book describing Shaolin skills which included things like running up walls. A lot of the descriptions are like what you described regarding jumping with weights. Many were not mystical, but some did get into the Qi topics.

Now if I remember correctly, a lot of the Wuxia books were novels, so they were all text. I wonder how much of the Wuxia visuals that we see on TV and movies these days were intended by the authors. Maybe it was more a creation of the readers' imagination?
 

johnyii

Nerd
I got a book describing Shaolin skills which included things like running up walls
If collecting books count as improving in Gongfu skills. I would be a grandmaster by now. As a teenager, I brought a lot of books in QiGong, internal martial arts, etc.

The thing with words that it is pure imagination and fantasy . Take Jin Yong‘s Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Sabre, I don’t think anyone has been able to duplicate the some of the epic flight scenes on either small or big screen.
 
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Adam Liu

I'm Hungry Again
I think people would have practiced high jumping extensively and jumping with weights etc, not so different from Parkour today or the trend of high jumping onto higher and higher pads at the gym that some people are into.

I have heard similar things, like tying bags of sand to the ankles.

There is a folklore story about this wuxia guy who has, allegedly, two magical golden hoops around his ankles that makes him super fast.

My favorite explanation of this myth is that the general public heard bits and pieces of his training routine, and made it more mythical. The story goes that an old man saw potential in him when he was a young boy, and told his family that he could be the fastest runner if he went to train under another master. The old man tied two bags of sand to his ankles, and he was told he had to run hundreds of kilometers to the other guy except when eating, resting or sleeping. When he got to the first destination, the master said that he had an older gongfu brother that would be a better teacher hundreds of kilometers away, and added a bit more sand to his ankle pouches. He gets to the second destination, and more sand is added and he runs to a third master. After years of this running around, the sand in his pouches became really heavy, and the last place he went to the old master said: "oh, how silly of us. The best teacher to learn from is actually the old man who started you on this journey." He was allowed to take his ankle pouches off, and he ran like the wind all the way home. When he got there, the original old man said that he had successfully inherited the art.

Dunno if it's real or not, but the idea that bags of sand as a training method over the years was twisted into a legend about golden hoops is a much more interesting story.
 

Edmond

Wuji
Sorry for reviving a zombie thread, but seeing this guy made me think of this discussion.

For those who doubt Qinggong, there's Hironori Nakajima:


I saw an English version of this video on Facebook, but couldn't find it on YouTube.

The interesting thing is I can't help but look at his butt in the squatting position after learning Box Horse. It looks like he's also pulling the hips back (Shou Kua), and avoiding the "butt wink".
 

Assad

Jingang
I bet that guy has no problem doing the er qi jiao kick , he may be able to kick twice before his left foot touches the ground :D
 
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