Condor Trilogy
The ''Condor Trilogy'' (射鵰三部曲) is a series of three wuxia novels written by Hong Kong-based Chinese writer Jin Yong (Louis Cha). The series is amongst the most popular of Jin Yong's works. The novels in the trilogy are: * ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes'' (射鵰英雄傳), published in 1957. * ''The Return of the Condor Heroes'' (神鵰俠侶), published in 1959. * ''The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber'' (倚天屠龍記), published in 1961. An English translation into 12 books is to be published by MacLehose Press beginning in February 2018. Historical background The first novel, ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes'', is set against a backdrop of a series of wars fought between the Han Chinese-dominated Southern Song dynasty and the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty. Concurrently, Mongol tribes led by Temüjin (Genghis Khan) emerge as a rising power in the north. The second novel, ''The Return of the Condor Heroes'', is set in the period when the Mongols attack the Souther ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wuxia
( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted for such diverse art forms as Chinese opera, manhua, television dramas, films, and video games. It forms part of popular culture in many Chinese-speaking communities around the world. The word "" is a compound composed of the elements (, literally "martial", "military", or "armed") and (, literally "chivalrous", "vigilante" or "hero"). A martial artist who follows the code of is often referred to as a (, literally "follower of ") or (, literally "wandering "). In some translations, the martial artist is referred to as a "swordsman" or "swordswoman" even though they may not necessarily wield a sword. The heroes in wuxia fiction typically do not serve a lord, wield military power, or belong to the aristocratic class. They often originat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Genghis Khan
''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin , dynasty = Genghisid , regnal name = Genghis Khan () , temple name = Taizu () , posthumous name = Emperor Fatian Qiyun Shengwu () , father = Yesügei , mother = Hoelun , religion = Tengrism , birth_date = , birth_place = Khentii Mountains, Khamag Mongol , death_date = (aged 64–65) , death_place = Xingqing, Western Xia , burial_place = Unknown(presumptively Ikh Khorig, Burkhan Khaldun, Khentii Province) Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; ; xng, Temüjin, script=Latn; ., name=Temujin – August 25, 1227) was the founder and first Great Khan (Emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death. He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Condor Trilogy
The ''Condor Trilogy'' (射鵰三部曲) is a series of three wuxia novels written by Hong Kong-based Chinese writer Jin Yong (Louis Cha). The series is amongst the most popular of Jin Yong's works. The novels in the trilogy are: * ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes'' (射鵰英雄傳), published in 1957. * ''The Return of the Condor Heroes'' (神鵰俠侶), published in 1959. * ''The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber'' (倚天屠龍記), published in 1961. An English translation into 12 books is to be published by MacLehose Press beginning in February 2018. Historical background The first novel, ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes'', is set against a backdrop of a series of wars fought between the Han Chinese-dominated Southern Song dynasty and the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty. Concurrently, Mongol tribes led by Temüjin (Genghis Khan) emerge as a rising power in the north. The second novel, ''The Return of the Condor Heroes'', is set in the period when the Mongols attack the Souther ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Xu Da
Xu Da (1332–1385), courtesy name Tiande, was a Chinese military general and politician who lived in the late Yuan dynasty and early Ming dynasty. He was a friend of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder and first ruler of the Ming dynasty, and assisted him in overthrowing the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty and establishing the Ming dynasty. He was also the father of Empress Xu, who married the third Ming ruler, the Yongle Emperor. Biography Xu Da was described as a stalwart man with slim face and high cheekbones, he joined the Red Turban rebels in 1353 to overthrow the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty in China. Xu served as a general under Zhu Yuanzhang, a prominent rebel leader, and assisted him in defeating other rival warlords and opposing forces. In 1368, the year when the Ming dynasty was founded, Xu Da and other Ming generals led an attack on Khanbaliq (present-day Beijing), the Yuan capital, and forced the last Yuan ruler, Toghon Temür, to flee northward. Xu Da led a pursuit on the retreati ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mount Song
Mount Song (, "lofty mountain") is an isolated mountain range in north central China's Henan Province, along the southern bank of the Yellow River. It is known in literary and folk tradition as the central mountain of the Five Great Mountains of China. Since at least as early as the early 1st millennium, Chinese astronomical mythology had acquired the idea that Mount Song is "the centre of Heaven and Earth." It was respected as such by the successive dynasties of the Chinese Empire. The name Songshan also applies to a peak of the range located at , elevation . It is the 4th highest peak, but second in prominence at . Songshan National Scenic Spot is named after it. The highest peak in the range is Lian Tian Feng at , also most prominent at . It is located at the coordinates shown for the article. On its upper slopes is the Sanhuangzhai Scenic Spot, further west seen from Route G1516 (Yanluo Expressway), which skirts the range on the south. The location is across the Shaoyang vall ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Zhang Wuji
Zhang Wuji () is the fictional protagonist of the ''wuxia'' novel ''The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber'' by Jin Yong. Fictional character biography Zhang Wuji's parents are from opposing sides of the ''wulin'' (martial artists' community). His father, Zhang Cuishan, is an apprentice of Zhang Sanfeng, the highly respected leader of the "orthodox" Wudang Sect; his mother, Yin Susu, is the daughter of Yin Tianzheng, the chief of the "evil" Heavenly Eagle Cult. Zhang Wuji was born on a reclusive volcanic island, where he spent his childhood with only his parents and his godfather, Xie Xun. When he was about ten years old, his parents brought him back to China and they soon found themselves the target of several martial artists trying to force them to reveal the whereabouts of Xie Xun, who possesses the highly coveted Dragon-Slaying Saber. His parents refused to betray Xie Xun and took their own lives. The orphaned Zhang Wuji is initially mortally wounded but he wanders into an iso ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yue Fei
Yue Fei ( zh, t=岳飛; March 24, 1103 – January 28, 1142), courtesy name Pengju (), was a Chinese military general who lived during the Song dynasty, Southern Song dynasty and a national hero of China, known for leading Southern Song forces in Jin–Song Wars, the wars in the 12th century between Southern Song and the Jurchen people, Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty (1115–1234), Jin dynasty in northern China. Because of his warlike-stance, he was put to death by the Southern Song government in 1142 under a concocted charge, after a negotiated peace was achieved with the Jurchens. Yue Fei is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu (, Table of Peerless Heroes) by Jin Guliang. Yue Fei's Ancestral home (China), ancestral home was in Xiaoti, Yonghe Village, Tangyin, Xiangzhou, Henan (in present-day Tangyin County, Anyang, Henan). He was granted the posthumous name Wumu () by Emperor Xiaozong of Song, Emperor Xiaozong in 1169, and later granted the noble title King of È () posthumously by the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Book Of Wumu
The ''Book of Wumu'' is a fictional military treatise mentioned in Jin Yong's ''Condor Trilogy''. The book was written by the Song dynasty general Yue Fei. Early history Prior to his execution, Song general Yue Fei detailed his military tactics and experience against the Jin forces in writing during captivity, titled ''Vital Information Against the Jins'' (), in hopes that future generations will continue his mission to restore China with his text. After his death, the book is later renamed ''Book of Wumu'' and was hidden in a cave covered by a waterfall, 15 steps east of Cuihan Hall in the imperial palace in Lin'an (present-day Hangzhou). The book was later stolen by Shangguan Jiannan, the chief of the Iron Palm Gang, and brought back to Iron Palm Peak and hidden in the gang's forbidden grounds. The Legend of the Condor Heroes The book is highly sought after by the Jurchens of the Jin Empire, enemies of the Han Chinese-ruled Song Empire. The Jurchens hope to use the military st ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ming Dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han Chinese, Han people, the majority ethnic group in China. Although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng (who established the short-lived Shun dynasty), numerous rump state, rump regimes ruled by remnants of the House of Zhu, Ming imperial family—collectively called the Southern Ming—survived until 1662. The Ming dynasty's founder, the Hongwu Emperor (r. 1368–1398), attempted to create a society of self-sufficient rural communities ordered in a rigid, immobile system that would guarantee and support a permanent class of soldiers for his dynasty: the empire's standing army exceeded one million troops and the naval history of China, navy's dockyards in Nanjin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire from the Borjigin clan, and lasted from 1271 to 1368. In orthodox Chinese historiography, the Yuan dynasty followed the Song dynasty and preceded the Ming dynasty. Although Genghis Khan had been enthroned with the Han-style title of Emperor in 1206 and the Mongol Empire had ruled territories including modern-day northern China for decades, it was not until 1271 that Kublai Khan officially proclaimed the dynasty in the traditional Han style, and the conquest was not complete until 1279 when the Southern Song dynasty was defeated in the Battle of Yamen. His realm was, by this point, isolated from the other Mongol-led khanates and controlled most of modern-day China and its surrounding areas, including ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of Xiangyang
The Battle of Xiangyang () was a protracted series of battles between the Yuan dynasty and the Southern Song dynasty from 1267 to 1273. The battle was a significant victory for the Yuan dynasty and ended a 30-year defensive campaign waged by the Southern Song dynasty, allowing Yuan forces to advance into the Southern Song heartland. The capture of Xiangyang also allowed the Yuan dynasty to take control of the Han and Yangtze rivers, thereby depriving the Southern Song dynasty of two formidable natural barriers. The defeat devastated the Southern Song dynasty, which collapsed several years later at the Battle of Yamen. The battle consisted of skirmishes, ground assault, and the siege of the twin fortified cities of Fancheng and Xiangyang in modern-day Hubei, China. Lü Wenhuan, commander-in-chief of the Southern Song dynasty, surrendered to Kublai Khan in 1273. The conventional use of Mongol cavalry was restricted by the woody terrain and numerous military outposts of the South ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mongols
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of Mongolic peoples. The Oirats in Western Mongolia as well as the Buryats and Kalmyks of Russia are classified either as distinct ethno-linguistic groups or subgroups of Mongols. The Mongols are bound together by a common heritage and ethnic identity. Their indigenous dialects are collectively known as the Mongolian language. The ancestors of the modern-day Mongols are referred to as Proto-Mongols. Definition Broadly defined, the term includes the Mongols proper (also known as the Khalkha Mongols), Buryats, Oirats, the Kalmyk people and the Southern Mongols. The latter comprises the Abaga Mongols, Abaganar, Aohans, Baarins, Chahars, Eastern Dorbets, Gorlos Mongols, Jalaids, Jaruud, Kharchins, Khishig ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |