Divine Eagle, Gallant Knight – A Chinese Romance Novel

Posted on by shisimin
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I always wonder if there is a general recipe for romance novels because they are always so similar. When American people are crazy about Twilight, I suddenly thought of a Chinese Novel called Divine Eagle, Gallant Knight, written by Jin Yong 30 years ago. The popularity and the love between hero and heroin reminds me about that book and the TV dramas about it. Generations of Chinese people have moved by the story.

The story happened in 13rd century of China. The hero of this book is an orphan, named Yang Guo. His father died before he was born and his mother also died when he was young. He met his father’s best friend, Guo Jing when he was cadging on the street. Guo Jing brought him home, and raised him with his wife Huang Rong. Huang Rong didn’t get well with Yang Guo, so Guo Jing had no choice but sent Yang Guo to the place where his masters live. There he wasn’t treat well by his master. When he tried to escape from the place, he met his fated lover, who was four years older than him and later became his master. Their love was not accepted by the society at that time. They went through all kinds of trial and tribulation, separated for 16 years, and then finally got together.

The hero of this novel probably is the most charming and handsome male character in all the novels I’ve read. Almost all the young female characters who ever met him love him, so do the female readers. Because of the popularity of this book, there is even an old saying in China: Once a female met Yang Guo, she won’t fall in love with any other man again. Woman like Yang Guo not only because his attractive appearance, but also because he is smart, and single-minded to his girlfriend. For so many years, Chinese woman have envied the heroin of this novel, because she got such a good man.

This novel was adapted to TV drama for 7 times in 30 years and kept popular in Asia. The one that I like most was staring by Tin Lok Koo.

Check this article for more information: http://jinyongnovelreview.blogspot.com/ 

Key words: Jin Yong, Most handsome male character, Romance novel

Posted in Contemporary Novels | 6 Replies

A web Tell-all Affair – The Most Controversial Story Online in China Recently

Posted on by shisimin
9

This topic is so hot in China these days that even New York Times covered the story. Putting politics aside, let’s talk about the story that the narrator posts online.

The beginning of the story is plain. The woman narrator, Chang Yan, had an interview for her post-graduate research position in Central Compilation and Translation Bureau in China. There she met Yi Junqing, the leading character in this story, also the director of Central Compilation and Translation Bureau. Yan got admitted after the interview and became a post-graduate research assistant.

The relationship was quite clear at the very first. He was her boss.

However, simple things always get complicated when people harbor to many desires.

The woman, Chang Yan, is a 30-year-old beautiful woman, highly educated. She is married and has one child. The man, Yi Junqing, is a high ranking officer in Beijing, also married.

Yi Junqing

Chang Yan is an aggressive woman with ambition to get a job in Beijing. These years, working in Beijing and getting a permanent residence for a person who is not born and resident here is like that our international students want to get a working visa in USA. That’s really hard for her, but she is unswerving. She felt like if she could get the help from Yi, she might be able to achieve her goal.

With the hope of staying in Beijing, Chang Yan begun to get close to Yi. She gave him money, and slept with him. According to her post online, she fell love with Yi. She confessed that the affair for her was true love. However, the same time, she expected that Yi could help her to stay in Beijing because she gave too much to him. After Yi told her that he could not help her to get a Beijing residence and she suspected Yi had a close relationship with his another staff, she wrote down this story and put it online.

The ending was like what New York Times described, Yi was brought down because of his affair and reputation problem.

The reason why this story attracted so much attention is because a high ranking officer was involved and this story reflects so many social problems in China. People like to talk about it and criticize the corrupted Chinese government. When Chang Yan and Yi was together, they talked about the bribery in their bureau. The bribery happened in many places in China. Also, the whole story mentions Guanxi everywhere, which is a necessary thing to get promoted in work place in China.

 

 

Posted in Online Novels | 9 Replies