This is the latest production by Zhang Ji Zhong the China maestro of wuxia pians, and completes Jin Yong’s Condor Trilogy which started with The Legend of the Condor Heroes, follwed by The Return of the Condor Heroes.

HSDS09  stars Deng Chao as Zhang Wuji, Ady An as Zhao Min, and Liu Jing as Zhao Zhirou. The story centres on the legendary set of weapons comprising of the Heaven Sword and the Dragon Sabre which were forged by Yang Guo and Huang Rong

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Da Tang You Xia Zhuan (Paladins in Troubled Times)

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Adapted by China director/producer Zhang Ji Zhong from Liang Yu Sheng’s wuxia trilogy and released in Aug 2008. This is the producer’s latest work right after his epic Bi Xue Jian.

It tells the story of Tie Mo Le’s adventure in wu ling as he hunts the killer of his family. Brought up from young by a leader in the Flying Tiger Mountain clan he was schooled in martial arts but endowed with a hot temper that controlled him.

He was repeatedly defeated by the henchmen surrounding his sworn enemy An Lu Shan but fortunately  encountered a very highly skilled begger who imparted to him various martial arts skills. As he became better in his martial arts he also was able to restrained his bad temper. He made friends with other righteous fighters as well as some court officials of the Tang Dynasty.

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Bi Xue Jian (???)

5th in Zhang Ji Zhong’s adaptation of Jin Yong’s wuxia novels.

Story centred around young Yuan Cheng Zhi (Bobby Dou), son of a Ming general who was executed by the emperor. Yuan ChengZhi was send away to be trained by a master swordsman but was still hunted by killers sent by the emperor. Forced to leave his hideout he embarked upon his adventures and he discovered the precious sword and martial arts manual belonging to a legendary swordsman named Xia Xue Yi. Yuan Cheng Zhi’s skills became even more powerful as a result.

Determined to aid the rebellion led by Li Zi Cheng; known as the Peasants’ King, he retrieved stolen gold meant for the rebellion. He met Qing Qing (Eva Huang), daughter of the swordsman Xia Xue Yi. Qing Qing left with Yuan Cheng Zhi after the death of her mother at the hands of her family. Together they witnessed the end of the Ming Dynasty and the eventual fall of China to the invading Manchurians.

Eventually despairing of the inability of the Chinese leaders to rally and work together against a common enemy, Yuan Cheng Zhi, together with his friends left China.

Cast:

Bobby Dou
Sun Fei Fei
Eva Huang

Links:

The story
Sina
SPCNet Forum
Jin Yong’s novel

Ratings: 4 out of 5
A great effort after the dud that was Return of the Condor Heroes, Bi Xue Jian was a return to straight forward story telling with little fluff. The acting of the main leads made this tv series a great success, although the performance of Sun Feifei was very understated when compared to that of Ping Zhong Xia Ying.
BXJ is a great show for fans of wuxia and GJ. The acting is great and the effects were not overwhelming. It was onl in the last third of the show that it starts to slow down and the protagonist gets mired in the politics of the rebel leader and his coterie.
Highly recommended for those who love wuxia.

Third in the series of Jin Yong’s novel adaptation by Zhang Ji Zhong, it is also known as Demi-Gods, Semi-Devils. An epic story about the lives of 3 young men with different aims in life and how their paths crossed and ended up sworn brothers.

Epic in proportion and scope as the story shifts among the 3 main characters. Plots range from the mundane romance to secret martial arts skills and to politics between the tribes outside of China and the China.

The story of Qiao Feng, the exiled Beggar Sect leader is the most reverting and the most depressing as he deals with the fact that he had killed his lover with his bare hands in a mistakened identity fight, having to bring up her younger sister who is desperately in love with him, and finally, living with the fact that he is not a Han Chinese as he had thought he was but was in reality a Khitan by birth. Thus he as shunned by the Han Chinese people that he had grew up with.

Cast

• Hu Jun as Qiao Feng
• Jimmy Lin as Duan Yu
• Gao Hu as Xu Zhu
• Liu Yi Fei as Wang Yu Yan
• Liu Tao as A Zhu

Links:
Wuxiapedia
Wikipedia

Forum Discussion:
SPCNet


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Rating: 4/5
Fully deserving of the rating due to the epic scope, huge cast, great acting all round. The only bad spot is Jimmy’s constant panda eyes. Qiao Feng has the saddest story of the three and died a hero’s death, unable and unwilling to help his own people conquer his adoptive Han country.

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This is another Jin Yong novel adapted by China’s Zhang Ji Zhong in a follow up of his earlier work on Xiao Ao Jiang Hu.
The title of this series is ????? (She Diao Ying Xiong Zhuan ), aka Brave Archer, Legend of the Condor Heroes.

As with all his much loved novels, various tv adaptations were done on this novel; with Hongkong’s TVB station having produced it twice.

The story’s centered around the 2 sons of 2 sworn brothers residing in the Cow Herders Village late Song period when the kingdom was weakened by corrupt officials who were bribed or intimidated by the surrounding hostile states, namely the Jin Empire. The young boys were separated when young and one (Guo Jing) was accepted into Genghis Khan’s clan, the other (Yang Kang) was adopted by a prince of the Jin Empire.

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