| Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain | |
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Cover page of the English translation of the novel |
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| Author(s) | Jin Yong |
| Translator | Olivia Mok |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | Chinese |
| Genre(s) | Wuxia |
| Publisher | Ming Pao Chinese University Press |
| Publication date | 1959 |
| Published in English |
1996 |
| Media type | |
| Preceded by | Other Tales of the Flying Fox |
| Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain | |||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 雪山飛狐 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 雪山飞狐 | ||||||||||
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Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain, also known as Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong. It was first serialised in Hong Kong between 9 February and 18 June 1959 in the newspaper Ming Pao.[1] The novel has a prequel, Other Tales of the Flying Fox, which was released in 1960. Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain is one of Jin Yong's shortest novels, with only 10 chapters. The chapters are labelled in numerical order, instead of Jin Yong's typical style of using a short phrase or duilian as a chapter's heading.
Contents |
Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain is unique in structure amongst Jin Yong's novels, because it employs a frame narrative as well as the literary devices of unreliable narrators and storytelling flashbacks.[2] The actual time frame of the novel lasts only a day, but the stories encapsulated within stretch back months, years and even decades before.
In the revised afterword to the novel, Jin Yong states that his inspiration does not derive from Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon (as was mistakenly assumed by many people). The literary devices used in Flying Fox have been used very often in literature, such as in One Thousand and One Nights and Sanyan Erpai.[3]
The story begins in the Changbai mountains in northeastern China during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor in the Qing Dynasty. It follows the classical unity of time, taking place on a single day, which is the 15th day of the third month of the Chinese calendar, in the 45th year in the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (i.e. April 19, 1780 in the Gregorian calendar).
A group of jianghu pugilists unearth a treasure chest and begin fighting for it. The reason for them doing so is deliberately kept from the reader at this point of time. Midway during their tussle, they are overpowered and coerced by a highly skilled monk called Baoshu to travel to a manor at the top of Jade Brush Peak (玉筆峰), to help the manor's owner drive away an enemy called Hu Fei, also known as the "Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain". They start telling stories concerning the origin of a precious saber in the chest, their mysterious foe (Hu Fei) and slowly reveal each others' personal secrets.
The saber's story dates back over a century ago to the feuds of the four bodyguards under the warlord Li Zicheng, who led the rebellion that overthrew the Ming Dynasty. The four guards' family names were Hu, Miao, Tian and Fan. Owing to a massive misunderstanding, which lasted several generations, their descendants had been slaying each other in a vendetta that prevented any one of them from discovering the truth. The Hu clan was opposed to those from the Miao, Tian and Fan families, the latter three which were allies.
The people gathered at the mountain manor are either all descendants of the four bodyguards or are otherwise embroiled in the feud. Hu Fei's father, Hu Yidao, was a male descendant who became involved with Miao Renfeng, a descendant from the Miao family. Both were masterful martial artists without peer. Miao Renfeng, Hu Yidao and his wife developed an uncommon friendship and grew to admire each other, but Hu Yidao and Miao Renfeng must fight unwilling duels to avenge their parents' deaths. Under the schemes of the villain Tian Guinong, Hu Yidao was slayed unintentionally by Miao Renfeng after his sword was smeared with poison by Tian. Hu Yidao's infant son, Hu Fei, was smuggled away and raised by a waiter named Ping A'si. Hu Fei eventually grew up to become the "Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain".
The various scheming pugilists are eventually punished by their greed. Hu Fei makes an appearance midway in the story.
The conflict reaches a climax when Miao Renfeng challenges Hu Fei to a duel owing to a misunderstanding that Hu Fei has intentionally molested his daughter Miao Ruolan and both of them fight for several rounds but neither emerges the victor. They are stranded on a cliff about to collapse under their weight and the novel comes to its climatic end. Hu Fei has an opportunity to attack Miao Renfeng and knock him off the cliff, but he hesitates as Miao may be his future father-in-law. If he refrains, both of them might fall to their deaths, otherwise he will certainly die as Miao will kill him. The novel ends in a deliberate cliffhanger, leaving the conclusion to the reader's imagination.
| Year | Production | Cast | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Emei Film Company (Hong Kong) |
Chiang Han, Pearl Au, Lee Yuet-ching, Shih Kien | See The Flying Fox in the Snowy Mountains |
Many of the television adaptations combine the plots of Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain and Other Tales of the Flying Fox.
| Year | Production | Cast | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | CTV (Hong Kong) | Barry Chan, Jason Pai, Law Lok-lam, Michelle Yim, Wen Hsueh-erh, Lee Tong-ming | See The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain (1978 TV series) |
| 1985 | TVB (Hong Kong) | Ray Lui, Patrick Tse, Kenneth Tsang, Rebecca Chan, Chow Sau-lan, King Doi-yum, Margie Tsang | See The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain (1985 TV series) |
| 1991 | TTV (Taiwan) | Meng Fei, Mini Kung, Mu Sicheng, Tong Chun-chung, Wu Yujuan, Wang Luyao | See The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain (1991 TV series) |
| 1999 | TVB (Hong Kong) | Sunny Chan, Felix Wong, Wan Yeung-ming, Cheung Siu-fai, Maggie Siu, Charmaine Sheh, Joyce Tang | See The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain (1999 TV series) |
| 2006 | ATV (Hong Kong) | Nie Yuan, Gillian Chung, Athena Chu, Ady An, Patrick Tam, Alex Fong, Anthony Wong | See Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain (2006 TV series) |
In 1981 Hong Kong's RTHK made a 15 episodes radio drama based on the novel.
An English translation by Olivia Mok was published in 1996 under the title Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain.
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