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). He is a fictitious descendant of an illustrious military family, the Guo Clan of the Tang Dynasty. (In earlier editions of the novel, Guo Jing is said to be descended from Guo Sheng, one of the 108 Liang Shan Heroes.)

Contents

[edit] Biography

  • Family name: Guō (郭)
  • Given name: Jìng (靖)
  • Nickname: The North Hero (北俠)
  • 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
  • Other Family Member: Yang Guo (nephew, semi-adopted)
  • Martial Arts Disciples : Wu Xiuwen and Wu Dunru

[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 (almost to a fault as shown in how far he was willing to punish his own daughter in the Return of the Condor Heroes). Being a Mongolian-raised Han boy in the Legend of the Condor Heroes, he considered personal loyalty to be the highest virtues. In the Return of the Condor Heroes, the now matured and intelligent Guo Jing was very devoted to serving the people of his birth country.

[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 Jebe 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 with a 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, such as their qigong (氣功) techniques. He was also able to grasp the essence of the famed Big Dipper Formation after reading the 9 Yin Manual and watching the formation used in real combat.

[edit] Xianglong Shiba Zhang (18 Dragon-Subduing Palms) (降龍十八掌/降龙十八掌)

  1. 亢龍有悔 / 亢龙有悔 ( Mighty Dragon show Remorse)
  2. 飛龍在天 / 飞龙在天 ( Flying dragon in the sky)
  3. 龍戰於野 / 龙战于野 ( Dragon in the wild)
  4. 潛龍勿用 / 潜龙勿用
  5. 利涉大川 / 利涉大川
  6. 鴻漸於陸 / 鸿渐于陆
  7. 突如其來 / 突如其来
  8. 震驚百里 / 震惊百里
  9. 或躍在淵 / 或跃在渊
  10. 神龍擺尾 / 神龙摆尾 ( Divine dragon wagging tail)
  11. 見龍在田 / 见龙在田 ( Dragon in the field)
  12. 雙龍取水 / 双龙取水 ( Twin dragon fetching water)
  13. 魚躍於淵 / 鱼跃于渊
  14. 時乘六龍 / 时乘六龙
  15. 密雲不雨 / 密云不雨 ( Dark sky without rain)
  16. 損則有孚 / 损则有孚
  17. 履霜冰至 / 履霜冰至
  18. 羝羊觸藩 / 羝羊触藩

The famous and fearsomely powerful martial art of the Beggars' Sect. It was created using the principles from the Book of Changes (I Ching). It 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. It is mentioned in the novel that this technique is the single most powerful waijia or external style martial art in the world, being unmatched in its sheer power. 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)

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. The novel also describes this attack as the polar opposite of Xianglong Shi Ba Zhang, being the epitome of the neijia martial arts, unmatched in subtlety and yet equal to the Xianglong Shi Ba Zhang in power and ingenuity of style.

[edit] Shuang Shou Hu Bo (Technique of Ambidexterity)(雙手互搏)

Zhou Botong also taught Guo Jing the skills of Shuang Shou Hu Bo at Peach Blossom Island. This enabled Guo Jing to simultaneously use a different martial art with each arm, often bewildering and overwhelming his enemies in the process. This also means that fighting him is akin to battling 2 opponents at the same time, effectively increasing his combat prowess, even though he is not necessarily more powerful.

[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 cultivation 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, such as alternating hard and soft blows with his 18 Dragon-Subduing Palms, which enabled him to last longer in high-level fighting. This manual ultimately enabled Guo Jing to become one of the greatest martial arts masters of his age.

[edit] Peach Blossom Island Martial Arts (桃花島武功)

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 (彈指神通). Peach Blossom Island Martial Arts is extremely complicated and requires a high level of intelligence to master which does not suit Guo Jing's style of "power within simplicity".

[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".

This story focuses on the forbidden relationship between protagonists Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü (the latter was Yang Guo's master and therefore the laws of Jianghu would not allow a love relationship). However, Guo Jing and his wife Huang Rong play active supporting roles, serving to shape the characters of the main protagonists, as well as provide conflict (Guo Jing's righteous indignation against the young couple's relationship, Huang Rong's role in Yang Kang's death).

In the story, Guo Jing and Huang Rong had three children, a daughter named Guo Fu, and in the later part of the story, fraternal twin sister and brother, Guo Xiang and Guo Polu, both with meaningful names. Xiang was named after the besieged city of Xiangyang on the banks of the Han River, a crucial point in the control of the waterways of the Southern Song as a main tributary into the Yangtze River. Polu means "to defeat or drive away the barbarians", pertaining at the time to the "Mongols". 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 Jing's birthday cannot 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 Jing died exactly on the day Xiangyang was conquered. According to history, Xiangyang was conquered on the day Yichou of month Zhengyue, 1273 (in the western calendar, January 31, 1273). However, on the previously unpublished draft The Fall of the Condor Heroes (射鵰英雄後傳) by Jinyong, that he originally depicts Guo Jing and his wife retreats to Peach Blossom Island after the city was conquered and the Southern Song Dynasty beginning its fall. This, however, doesn't seems canonical to the trilogy, as Ouyang Feng (歐陽鋒) depicted as a Mongolian ally. Elements of this non-canonical story later used on canonical The Return of the Condor Heroes and Heavenly Sword & Dragon Saber. The draft also has been recently been published, along with The Rise of the Condor Heroes (射鵰英雄前傳), which also considered non-canon even though written by the author himself.

[edit] Film and TV Adaptations

Many actors have played the role of Guo Jing in film and television productions, including:

[edit] See also