Other Tales of the Flying Fox

For other uses, see Other Tales of the Flying Fox (disambiguation).

Other Tales of the Flying Fox/Young Flying Fox
Author(s)	Jin Yong
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Chinese
Genre(s)	Wuxia
Publisher	Wuxia and History
Publication date	1960
Media type	Print
Followed by	Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain

Other Tales of the Flying Fox
Traditional Chinese	飛狐外傳
Simplified Chinese	飞狐外传
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Fēi Hú Wài Zhuàn Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping Fei1 Wu4 Ngoi6 Zyun6

Other Tales of the Flying Fox is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong. Its title is also translated as Young Flying Fox in English. The novel was first serialized between 1960-1^[1] in the magazine Wuxia and History. The novel is a prequel to Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain, although the former was written a year after its literary predecessor.

Plot

The story begins several years after the death of Hu Yidao. His son, Hu Fei, is raised by Ping A'si and inherits the Hu family's skills and becomes a powerful pugilist. Hu embarks on his adventures around the land. As a young man, he encounters a powerful town tyrant named Feng Tiannan and wants to kill Feng to deliver justice for the victims. He meets a young maiden named Yuan Ziyi, who shows signs of affection towards him. She stops him from killing Feng Tiannan each time when Hu Fei is close to killing the villain.

Based on his foster father's words, Hu Fei believes that the renowned pugilist Miao Renfeng is responsible for his father's death. After finding Miao Renfeng, he refrains from killing him, as Miao had been tricked by an enemy and blinded by a deadly poison. Hu Fei is impressed with Miao Renfeng's chivalry and wonders if his foster father was mistaken. He decides to help Miao Renfeng and journeys to find a cure for his eyes. He meets Cheng Lingsu, a young female disciple of the deceased "King of Venoms". Hu Fei witnesses Cheng Lingsu defeating her three wicked, older seniors of the sect through her cool wits. She agrees to help him cure Miao Renfeng's eyes.

After Miao Renfeng regains his sight, he confesses that he had indeed killed Hu Yidao unintentionally several years ago. Hu Fei is filled with anguish and grief upon hearing the truth and leaves with Cheng Lingsu. Cheng Lingsu and Hu Fei become sworn siblings. Travelling together, the two then stumble upon an election for a new leader of the wulin (martial artists' community), hosted by Fu Kang'an, the illegitimate son of the Qianlong Emperor. The election is part of Fu Kang'an's evil plans to instigate turmoil in the wulin to control the Han Chinese. Hu Fei and Cheng Lingsu disguise themselves and participate in the election. With help from Yuan Ziyi, the trio combined to expose Fu Kang'an's schemes and disrupt the meeting.

They are attacked by enemies and Hu Fei is poisoned while trying to shield Cheng Lingsu with his body. Cheng Lingsu loses her life trying to rescue Hu Fei, and reveals before her death that she is in love with him. Hu Fei is filled with anguish by the tragic loss of Cheng Lingsu. After Cheng Lingsu's funeral, he meets Yuan Ziyi again, who tells him that she became a Buddhist nun since she was a child. She cannot be with him although she loves him or she will violate her code of chastity. She places her palms together and recites a silent prayer for Hu Fei before leaving.

Characters

Protagonists

• Hu Yidao (胡一刀) – a forthright and gregarious hero whose skills were legendary. He hopes to resolve the past feuds between the four families that started in their ancestors' time. He is instigated into a fight with Miao Renfeng but becomes friends with Miao. He is killed by Miao Renfeng unintentionally, as Miao's weapon had been secretly smeared with poison.

• Hu Fei (胡斐) – the protagonist of the novel and son of Hu Yidao. He lost his parents shortly after birth and was raised by Ping A'si. He inherits his father's skills and becomes a powerful pugilist. He is chivalrous by nature and does not tolerate any form of villainy. His adventures lead him to meeting Cheng Lingsu and Yuan Ziyi, whom he love deeply, even though he is unable to be with them together eventually.

• Miao Renfeng (苗人鳳) – a powerful pugilist of equal fame as Hu Yidao. He is nicknamed "Golden-faced Buddha" (金面佛) and "Undefeated Champion" (打遍天下無敵手). He is slightly more conservative and does not know how to express his feelings well. He fights with Hu Yidao and is so impressed by Hu's chivalry and skill that he befriends Hu. His enemies smear poison onto his weapon without his knowledge and he kills Hu Yidao unintentionally after inflicting the latter with a minor cut wound.

• Cheng Lingsu (程靈素) – the disciple of the "King of Venoms". She falls in love with Hu Fei when she first met him while he was searching for a cure for Miao Renfeng. Subsequently, she follows Hu on his adventures and becomes his close companion. She gives up her own life to save Yuan Ziyi after she is poisoned because she wanted Hu Fei and Yuan Ziyi to be happy together. Hu Fei is deeply saddened by her loss and buries her besides his parents' grave.

• Yuan Ziyi (袁紫衣), also known as Yuanxing (圆性) – Feng Tiannan's daughter. Her mother gave birth to her after being raped by Feng Tiannan and was forced to commit suicide by Tang Pei. She becomes a Buddhist nun and vows to avenge her mother and kill her beastly father after saving his life thrice. Although she is in love with Hu Fei, she reveals that she is forbidden by her code of chastity to be with him.

Antagonists

• Fu Kang'an (福康安) – a military commander and aristocrat. He appears generous and gentlemanly, but is in fact scheming, selfish and cold-hearted. He organises a "Meeting of the Leaders" as part of his plan to take control of the wulin to secure power, with Tian Guinong aiding him. He has a secret affair with Ma Chunhua and tries to murder her later in order to take over the twins she bore him.

• Tian Guinong (田歸農) – a descendant of one of the four bodyguards of Li Zicheng. He is a scheming and unscrupulous. He is also a flirt and seduces Nan Lan, who abandons her husband and marries him. He desires to become a high-ranking official so he uses Fu Kang'an to help him become the leader of the wulin but his dream is shattered by Hu Fei's sudden appearance and the twist of events.

• Feng Tiannan (鳳天南) – a bully. He is pursued by Hu Fei, who wants to kill him to deliver justice for the victims. However, he is saved thrice by his illegitimate daughter, Yuan Ziyi. He is killed during the chaos during the election for the wulin leader.

• Shi Wanshen (石萬嗔) – the evil junior of the "King of Venoms". He causes the death of Cheng Lingsu, but is blinded by her and meets his end at the hands of Zeng Tie'ou.

Others

• Nan Lan (南蘭) – Miao Renfeng's wife. She feels unhappy after marrying Miao Renfeng, who leads a simple and frugal life, as opposed to her luxurious lifestyle before her marriage. She is seduced by Tian Guinong and abandons her husband and marries him.

• Ping A'si (平阿四) – a young man indebted to Hu Yidao, who saved his life once. He risks his life to save the infant Hu Fei and raises Hu after the death of Hu's parents. Humble and shy by nature, he always feels inferior to others.

• "King of Venoms" (毒手藥王) - a herbal medicine guru and Cheng Lingsu's teacher

• Ma Chunhua (馬春花) - an old friend of Hu Fei. She helped him years ago during the incident at the Shang Family Castle. She has an illegitimate affair with Fu Kang'an and secretly bore him a pair of twins. Fu Kang'an sent his men in disguise as bandits to kill her husband and take the twins. Hu Fei helps her and the boys escape from Fu Kang'an eventually.

• Zhao Banshan (趙半山) - the third leader of the Red Flower Society. He meets the young Hu Fei at the Shang Family Castle and they become sworn brothers after escaping death together.

• Tang Pei (湯沛) - a guest at the "Meeting of the Leaders". Although he is popular at first, he is blackmailed by Yuan Ziyi and is despised by all. He is killed by Yuan Ziyi.

• Disciples of the "King of Venoms" - betrayed their teacher. They acknowledged Shi Wanshen as their new teacher.
  • Murong Jingyue (慕容景岳)
  • Xue Que (薛鵲)

• Shang Jianming (商劍鳴) - the master of the Shang Family Castle. He is slain by Hu Yidao. Several years later, his widowed wife and followers attempt to avenge him by killing Hu Fei but fail.

• Zhong A'si (鐘阿四) - a peasant who owns a vegetable farm. Feng Tiannan is eyeing his farm and plots to take over the land for himself. He accuses Zhong A'si's son of having stolen and eaten a goose from his house, and forces Zhong's wife to kill the boy and cut open his belly to prove his innocence. Zhong A'si and his wife are murdered by Feng Tiannan later.

Adaptations

Films

Year	Production	Cast	Additional information
1980	Shaw Brothers Studio (Hong Kong)	Chin Siu-ho, Philip Kwok, Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng, Wang Li, Choh Seung-wan, Wong Man-yee	See Legend of the Fox
1984		Felix Wong, Bryan Leung, Alex Man, Tai Liang-chun, Kara Hui, Ku Kuan-chung, Tong Chun-chung	See New Tales of the Flying Fox
1993	Hong Kong	Leon Lai, Sharla Cheung, Michelle Reis, Elvis Tsui	See The Sword of Many Lovers

Television

Main article: Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain#Television

References

1. ^ The date conforms to the data published in 陳鎮輝,《武俠小說逍遙談》, 2000, 匯智出版有限公司, pp. 58.

External links

• (Chinese) Other Tales of the Flying Fox on Baidu Baike
• English translation of the novel at Wuxiapedia