Guo Jing
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Guo Jing (Chinese: 郭靖; pinyin: Guō Jìng, died January 31, 1273) is the fictional main character in The Legend of the Condor Heroes, a novel written by Chinese author Jinyong. He also plays a supporting role in the second part of the Condor Trilogy, The Return of the Condor Heroes (The Giant Eagle and his Companion).
[edit] Biography
- Family name: Guō (郭)
- Given name: Jìng (靖)
- Gender: Male
- Birth: November 1200 (disputed)
- Death: 31 January 1273
- Father: Guo Xiaotian
- Mother: Li Ping
- Wife: Huang Rong
- Children: Guo Fu, Guo Xiang, Guo Polu
[edit] Character Description
Guo Jing is described in the story as having thick eyebrows and large eyes, of sturdy and strong stature, and a complexion that is somewhere between dark and fair. He is frequently described as "dumb", "slow", and inarticulate, thereby the complete opposite of his love interest, the clever and witty Huang Rong.
His most distinguishing feature, apart from his slowness, is his constant strife for moral rectitude. From the simple young Mongolian-raised Han boy in the Legend of the Condor Heroes who considered personal loyalty to be the highest virtues, he gradually learnt the importance of the sworn word, and then eventually compassion and the nature of violence. In Return of the Condor Heroes, we see the now matured and intelligent Guo, who became the very pinnacle of Confucian virtue and the Xia ideal. Indeed, his definition of the duty of a Xia, "wei guo wei min, xia zhi da zhe", roughly translated "To serve the nation and the people, that is true chivalry" remained the most accepted definition of the term, even outside Jin Yong novels. The matured Guo is characterised by a supreme dignity, a complete unconcern for personal interests, magnanimity, generosity and an overriding desire to protect the people. His character, of course, is not without fault, for the flipside of his moral rectitude is his intolerance for things that run against traditions, and his sometime rigid interpretation of what is right (he almost cut off his daughter's arm after she cut off Yang's arm), although his compassion usually won out at the end.
One important fact of Guo's philosophy is that his formulation of the Xia began the process of divorcing the notion of the Xia from martial prowess in real life. It's influence can be seen generally, and in Jin's later novels cases can be made that the greatest Xias were not martial artists at all, such as for instance the Indian monk who gave his life to cure a plague, or the Emperor Kangxi.
He is widely considered to be the platonic ideal of the Confucian Xia, a somewhat ironic fact given that he is only barely literate, of lowly birth and is raised amongst the Mongols, and in no way the learned Confucian scholar.
[edit] Guo Jing's Martial Arts
By the time he reached middle age, Guo Jing was among the most accomplished and powerful martial artists of his era. He had a broad and deep body of martial arts skills that was unsurpassed among the martial artists of the Central Plains. At the end of The Return of the Condor Heroes, he takes his place among the five great martial artists, known as Northern Hero (Bei Xia, 北俠), the successor of his teacher Northern Beggar, Hong Qigong (北丐, 洪七公), for his years of devotion in defending the Song Dynasty. His repertoire included:
[edit] Mongolian Archery and Wrestling
Guo Jing was among the finest archers in the Mongol Empire, having trained with the great Mongolian archer and military leader Jebeh for over a decade. Guo Jing famously shot down two eagles (since condors don't exist in China) with a single arrow during his youth in Mongolia. He was also an accomplished wrestler in the Mongolian style of wrestling.
[edit] Martial arts of the Jiangnan Qi Guai (江南七怪武功)
Guo Jing's first introduction to the martial arts of his Chinese homeland came from the Jiangnan Qi Guai (lit. "Jiangnan's Seven Freaks") - seven martial artists from the southern Chinese city of Jiaxing who located Guo Jing at the age of six and trained him in their various martial arts so that when Guo Jing turned eighteen years of age, he could compete against Yang Kang (楊康), the student of Quanzhen Taoist Qiu Chuji (丘處機). The Jiangnan Qi Guai were not elite martial artists, but their early training provided Guo Jing good foundation for the more advanced martial arts he would learn later in his life.
[edit] Quanzhen Pai Wu Gong (Quanzhen Sect Martial Arts) (全真派武功)
Quanzhen Sect elders Ma Yu (馬鈺), Qiu Chuji (丘處機), and Wang Chuyi (王處一) taught Guo Jing various aspects of the Quanzhen Sect's martial arts, including their qigong (氣功) techniques and Big Dipper Formation.
[edit] Xianglong Shiba Zhang (18 Dragon-Subduing Palms) (降龙十八掌)
- 亢龍有悔 / 亢龙有悔
- 飛龍在天 / 飞龙在天
- 龍戰於野 / 龙战于野
- 潛龍勿用 / 潜龙勿用
- 利涉大川 / 利涉大川
- 鴻漸於陸 / 鸿渐于陆
- 突如其來 / 突如其来
- 震驚百里 / 震惊百里
- 或躍在淵 / 或跃在渊
- 神龍擺尾 / 神龙摆尾
- 見龍在田 / 见龙在田
- 雙龍取水 / 双龙取水
- 魚躍於淵 / 鱼跃于渊
- 時乘六龍 / 时乘六龙
- 密雲不雨 / 密云不雨
- 損則有孚 / 损则有孚
- 履霜冰至 / 履霜冰至
- 羝羊觸藩 / 羝羊触藩
The famous and fearsomely powerful martial art of the Beggars' Sect was taught to Guo Jing by Northern Beggar Hong Qigong (洪七公), then the eighteenth reigning Beggars' Sect Chief and one of the five greatest martial arts masters of the time. Xianglong Shi Ba Zhang became Guo Jing's most powerful martial art skill and his default fighting technique.
[edit] Kongming Quan (Vacant Fist) (七十二路空明拳) / Shuang Shou Hu Bo (Technique of Ambidexterity)(雙手互搏)
These skills were taught to Guo Jing by his sworn brother Zhou Botong (周伯通) at Peach Blossom Island (桃花島). Kongming Quan gave Guo Jing an alternate attacking skill to Xianglong Shi Ba Zhang (no less powerful, but far more subtle) and Shuang Shou Hu Bo enabled Guo Jing to simultaneously use a different martial art with each arm, often bewildering and overwhelming his enemies in the process.
[edit] Jiu Yin Zhen Jing (True Manual Of Nine Yin)(九陰真經)
The most coveted martial art of its era, which included incredible qigong generation techniques and extraordinary martial art skills. Mastering the lessons of this text enabled Guo Jing to maximize the potential of the various skills he learned, which ultimately enabled him to become one of the greatest martial arts masters of his age.
[edit] Peach Blossom Island Martial Arts (桃花岛武功)
After his marriage to Huang Rong (黃蓉), Guo Jing also learned the martial arts of his father-in-law, Eastern Heretic Huang Yaoshi (黃藥師) (the Lord of Peach Blossom Island). It is uncertain whether Guo Jing learned his father-in-law's complete set of martial arts, but at the very least, Guo Jing did learn Huang Yaoshi's finest and most celebrated martial art: the Divine Finger Thrust (弹指神通).
[edit] Roles
[edit] The Legend of the Condor Heroes
The book follows Guo Jing's formative years in the steppes of Mongolia, where his mother, Li Ping fled after the Jins attacked South Song.
Being a pleasant-mannered child, Guo Jing befriended Tolui, the son of Genghis Khan and became sworn brothers with him. Later on, after Guo Jing learned martial arts from the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, the Khan came to rely on him as a loyal follower.
But because of a promise made years ago, Guo Jing left Mongolia for Jin country to meet Yang Kang, the lost son of his father's (Guo Xiaotian) sworn brother. And here began Guo Jing's journey from an obscure lad in the steppes to a martial arts hero, revered by the citizens of South Song.
[edit] The Return of the Condor Heroes
The story follows several years after the end of The Legend of the Condor Heroes. Now a prominent figure in South Song's military, Guo Jing is faced with the task of raising the orphaned son of his deceased sworn brother, Yang Kang. The boy was named Yang Guo, which means to "correct mistakes" (the Guo in Guo Jing is a surname and is a different character from Yang Guo's (Guo) which means "to pass or to correct".
The book focuses more on the forbidden relationship between Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü (the latter was to some extent Yang Guo's master and therefore could not engage in a love relationship). However, Guo Jing and his wife, Huang Rong play active supporting roles, serving to shape the characters of the main protagonists and provide conflict as well in the form of Guo Jing's protest against the young couple's relationship and Huang Rong's suspicions of Yang Kang's son.
In the story, Guo Jing and Huang Rong had three children, a daughter named Guo Fu, and in the later part of the story, a pair of twin brother and sister, Guo Polu and Guo Xiang, both had meaningful given names. Polu means "to defeat or drive the barbarians away" the barbarians at that time pertaining to the "Mongols". Xiang was named after the besieged city of Xiangyang which lies by the banks of the Han River and is crucial in the control of the waterways of the Southern Song because it is a main tributary into the Yangtze River. Guo Xiang appeared briefly in the third installment of the Condor trilogy, The Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Saber.
[edit] The Birth and Death
Guo's birthday can't be determined exactly. There are conflicts among different chapters in the novels. His birthday must be in month 10. According to chapter 3 in The Legend of the Condor Heroes, "the moon rose high in the sky at midnight", so the birthday should be a full moon or approximately full moon day, may be day 11 to 20 in Chinese calendar. All these days in month 10 in possible birth years in western calendar is in November. So Guo's birthday should be in November, 1188/1196/1200/1201.
According to Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber, Guo died exactly on the day Xiangyang was conquered. According to history, Xiangyang was conquered on the day Yichou of month Zhengyue, 1273. It was January 31, 1273 in western calendar.
[edit] Film and TV Adaptations
Many actors have played the role of Guo Jing in film and television productions, including:
