Oriental Heroes (manhua)

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Cover of Oriental Heroes, volume 288

Oriental Heroes is a popular Hong Kong-based manhua created by writer Wong Yuk Long, a writer responsible for also creating a number of other popular manhua titles. It was created in 1970, and it continues to be published today. The book was the first Hong Kong manhua title based on action and fighting, often borrowing from the wuxia literary world. It established a new action genre of Hong Kong manhua and spawned many imitators. The theme of its stories often revolve around brotherhood and the fight for justice. The 2006 movie Dragon Tiger Gate was based on this manhua.

1 Name
2 History
3 Main characters
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Name

"Oriental Heroes" is the book's official English name, but it is more commonly known by its Chinese name, pronounced in Cantonese, Lùhng Fú Mùhn (Traditional Chinese: 龍虎門; Simplified Chinese: 龙虎门; pinyin: Lóng Hǔ Mén). This name translates as "Dragon Tiger Gate" in English, and is in reference to the name of the fictional kungfu school and organisation that is a major subject matter in the book.

[edit] History

Oriental Heroes was first published in 1970 under the title Little Rascals (Traditional Chinese: 小流氓; Cantonese Yale: Síu Làuh Màhn). It featured stories about young people living in public housing estates in Hong Kong fighting gangsters and criminals. The heroes of the stories exhibited antisocial behaviours, but routinely fought for justice. In the early years of the book's run, the fighting was very graphically illustrated. Various weapons were used, where spilled blood, internal organs, guts, and bones were shown in the injuries that the characters sustained. People criticised the graphic violence depicted in Oriental Heroes and other similar action genre manhua, eventually leading to the enactment of the Indecent Publication Law in 1975, banning explicit violence in manhua.

As the Indecent Publication Law only applied to manhua, Wong Yuk Long established a daily newspaper, called Sàng Bou (Traditional Chinese: 生報; Simplified Chinese: 生报; pinyin: Shēng Bào), with which to publish Oriental Heroes. In the first month of Sàng Bou's run, the newspaper published actual news together with various manhua titles, including Oriental Heroes on the back cover. After a month, Sàng Bou switched to a manhua-only daily newspaper. Oriental Heroes was published everyday in the newspaper, and a full week's stories were collected and published in book form every week. Wong Yuk Long changed the name of the book to its current name of Lùhng Fú Mùhn, with the English name of Oriental Heroes. He also explored less graphic means of depicting violence, and improved upon his drawing techniques, most notably in his illustration of muscles and his denotation of action.

Responding to the success of writer Ma Wing Shing's manhua, The Chinese Hero, Wong Yuk Long modified Oriental Heroes again in the mid-1980s. The drawing style became more realistic, and the stories became more serious and less comical. After 1991, Oriental Heroes started being drawn by other artists instead of Wong Yuk Long himself.

[edit] Main characters

The stories in Oriental Heroes mostly centre around three main characters who are leaders of the kungfu organisation and school, Dragon Tiger Gate.

[edit] Wong Siu Fu

Eighteen years old and with a strong sense of justice, Wong Siu Fu (Chinese: 王小虎) fights to protect the weak from those who would oppress them. He is both calm and courageous, fighting against powerful and evil forces without any fear. Being from a family of martial artists, he is a naturally talented fighter. His signature technique is the self-invented Leuih Dihn Sahn Teui (Traditional Chinese: 雷電神腿); the name of this technique translates to "Thunder and Lightning Kick". Wong Siu Fu's name means "Little Tiger".

[edit] Wong Siu Luhng

Wong Siu Luhng (Traditional Chinese: 王小龍) is twenty years old and is the elder half-brother of Wong Siu Fu by the same father. Sentimental and a loner, he values righteousness but is an indecisive person. He and Wong Siu Fu fought each other once, before they realised they were brothers. Although they have a good relationship, Wong Siu Luhng secretly hates Wong Siu Fu's parents. Wong Siu Luhng's name means "Little Dragon".

[edit] Sehk Hak Luhng

Eighteen-year old Sehk Hak Luhng (Traditional Chinese: 石黑龍) is of mixed Chinese and Russian descent. Together with his parents and his younger sister, his family of four lived in Macau. His father, being a Judo master, attracted the attention of the evil organisation, Seui Gwat Muhn (Traditional Chinese: 碎骨門). Seui Gwat Muhn's leader invited Sehk Hak Luhng's father to join his organisation, but Sehk Hak Luhng's father refused. The two fought, and Sehk Hak Luhng's father mysteriously disappeared after the fight. Sehk Hak Luhng's mother then led her family to find refuge in Cheung Chau, under the protection of master Gam Mouh Si Wong (Traditional Chinese: 金毛獅王). Sehk Hak Luhng usually fights using his nunchucks. His name means "Dark Dragon" or "Black Dragon". However, due to his blond hair, in English translations he is called "Gold Dragon".