Twin Knights of the Frontier

Zheng ZhengyinChina Culture and History Press · ChinaNov 2024

Rating 3.5
Word count
283K words
Chapters
23
ISBN
9787503486074

Tags

Martial Arts Fiction Adventure JourneyDual HeroesVengeance and GratitudeJianghu FeudHeroismChivalrous SpiritMartial ArtsPopular NarrativeRepublican WuxiaFrontier Landscape

Summary

A peerless masterpiece of grand ambition, appreciated by both scholars and lay readers; a rare and wondrous book, restored to the world. Republican-era wuxia fiction is a brilliant landscape in the history of Chinese literature and Chinese culture. With the stated aim of promoting traditional Chinese culture and discovering and organizing classic Republican-era literature, our press is launching on a large scale the Republican Wuxia Fiction Collection Library by the ten leading wuxia novelists of North and South China in the Republican period. Zheng Zhengyin was an important Republican-era wuxia novelist whose works are imbued with a spirit of justice and distinguished by their martial-arts combat detail, and are much loved by readers. The Republican Wuxia Fiction Collection Library · Zheng Zhengyin Volume comprises 83 works by Zheng Zhengyin. This book is one of them.

Editor's review

One of Zheng Zhengyin's more representative full-length wuxia works, this book is included in the Republic-Era Martial Arts Fiction Collection: Zheng Zhengyin Volume from Chinese Literature and History Press. Zheng is known for his combat writing, with a style that emphasizes fist and foot techniques and a sense of real combat, while threading a chivalrous spirit through stories of vengeance and gratitude; the result has a hard-edged, plainspoken old-school wuxia flavor. This newly edited edition gives general readers a reliable text for rediscovering Republican-era wuxia and offers scholars of Republican popular literature convenient access to the text. Readers accustomed to new-school wuxia will need to adjust to the narrative pace and language habits here, but precisely for that reason they can better appreciate the distinctive aims of Republican-era wuxia in plot organization and combat description. Suitable as an introductory selection for understanding Zheng Zhengyin's creative profile, and for comparative reading with wuxia writers of the same period from north and south, to sense the diverse ecology of popular literature in that era.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Begin with the preface or publisher's note to learn about Zheng Zhengyin's life and the Republican-era wuxia background before entering the main text.
  2. There's no need to read it all in one sitting; read in chapters and sections, noting how combat description relates to plot development.
  3. Read alongside works by other Republican-era wuxia writers of the same period to appreciate different styles.
  4. When you encounter old-style expressions or martial-arts terminology, mark them and look them up afterward to avoid interrupting your reading.

About the publisher

China Culture and History Press China · Founded in 1980

China Culture and History Press has long devoted itself to modern and contemporary literature and culture-and-history reading matter, with publishing directions centered on classic works, social novels, prose and miscellaneous writings, and Eastern philosophy, alongside culture-and-history periodicals such as Zongheng. Among the more than 1,500 titles in the collection, representative books include Zhang Henshui's Ti Xiao Yin Yuan, Lu Xun's Complete Classic Works (10 volumes) and Wild Grass, and Lao She's Four Generations Under One Roof series and the boxed set of Lao She's Classic Works (10 volumes), while its author resources are concentrated on figures such as Zhang Henshui, Lu Xun, Lao She and Sima Qian. Its publishing character lies in solid editorial work on culture-and-history source texts and in issuing famous authors' works in sets, balancing the readability of individual texts with the systematic presentation of complete collections for focused reading and collecting. Beyond these directions, public information on the press's contemporary original publishing is limited, so it is not elaborated here.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 郑证因论
  3. 边塞双侠
  4. 第一章 故态复萌 铁燕子京城留盗迹
  5. 第二章 一朝显达 忘旧恩翻脸竟成仇
  6. 第三章 手眼通天 卢总镇含冤遭缧绁
  7. 第四章 双侠仗义 誓复仇夜走玉龙山
  8. 第五章 辣手频施 黄花谷协力斗三凶
  9. 第六章 双小被劫 入川边奇侠释恶怨
  10. 天山四义
  11. 第一章 宦海回槎 卢向乾全家遭惨祸
  12. 第二章 兄仁弟义 访仇踪双小走江湖
  13. 第三章 被诱遭擒 九连环舍生救师弟
  14. 第四章 深明大义 盛贞娥山洞匿仇敌
  15. 第五章 磨难未消 入天山峰前遇怪蟒
  16. 第六章 奇侠援手 齐天岭含泪入师门
  17. 五凤朝阳刀
  18. 第一章 晴天霹雳 含恨出榆关
  19. 第二章 断锁开槛 惊鸿脱网罗
  20. 第三章 力避敌踪 寒宵寻老父
  21. 第四章 挥拳仗义 踏雪访知交
  22. 第五章 掌震恩师 激怒义侠人
  23. 第六章 五凤神刀 立斩黑煞手

FAQ

Is this book a complete full-length novel or an anthology? According to publishing information, this book is one work in the Republic-Era Martial Arts Fiction Collection: Zheng Zhengyin Volume, one of Zheng Zhengyin's wuxia novels; the specific structure of contents should follow the physical book's table of contents. The collection includes more than eighty of Zheng Zhengyin's works, and this book is one standalone volume within it.
I've never read Republican-era wuxia. Can I start directly with this book? You can try. Zheng Zhengyin's works center on combat and chivalric stories, and the plots are relatively self-contained, not dependent on earlier works. But the feel of Republican-era vernacular and the pace of old-school narrative differ from contemporary fiction; it's advisable to read the publisher's note first, give yourself an adjustment period, and then gradually enter the story.
What are the characteristics of Zheng Zhengyin's wuxia style? According to related materials, Zheng Zhengyin's works are full of a spirit of justice, embody combat characteristics, and are deeply loved by readers. His wuxia writing organizes stories around classic chivalric patterns such as bonds of vengeance and gratitude and gatherings of heroes, and on the foundation of traditional chivalry it carries a modern narrative coloring; the overall style is hard-edged and emphasizes realistic combat description.
Is this edition suitable for academic citation? This book was published by Chinese Literature and History Press in 2024 as an edited outcome of the "Republic-Era Martial Arts Fiction Collection: Zheng Zhengyin Volume" and can serve as a formal reading text for understanding Zheng Zhengyin's works. For strict academic citation, it is advisable to check the physical book's copyright page, editorial notes, and specific page numbers, and to cross-check against original editions or authoritative edited editions.

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About the author

Zheng Zhengyin Author · China · 1900–1960

Zheng Zhengyin (1900–1960), originally named Zheng Rupei and a native of Tianjin, was one of the "Five Masters of the Northern School" of old-style martial arts fiction in the Republican era. In his early years he studied Taijiquan under Xu Yusheng and was skilled with the nine-ring broadsword; he also served as martial-arts adviser to Bai Yu and ghostwrote the latter's Mu Ye Xiong Feng. From 1937 he devoted himself to writing wuxia fiction. His representative work is The Eagle-Claw King (Yingzhua Wang), in twenty-two volumes, and he also wrote the "Iron Lion King" series and Bashan Swordsman. Over his lifetime he produced more than eighty wuxia novels and was known as a writer of the "secret-society and martial-arts school." His works focus on sect and gang conflicts and on combat techniques, with meticulous attention to martial-arts moves, forming a distinctive path within Republican-era wuxia and influencing later writers of the genre.