The Lone Ranger of a Thousand Miles

Name: The Lone Ranger of a Thousand Miles
ISBN: 9787520529181

张个侬China Culture and History Press · ChinaSep 2024

3.4

Word count: 136K words
Chapters: 39
ISBN: 9787520529181

Report an error Find this book

Summary

A collection of three novellas by Zhang Genong: The Lone Ranger (approx. 66,000 characters), The Eccentric Knight Clears Out Traitors (approx. 55,000 characters), and The Chivalrous Woman Takes Revenge (approx. 52,000 characters). Zhang's surviving works are few but gripping; this volume in the Republican-Era Wuxia Fiction Collection series restores them for today's readers.

Editor's review

The Lone Ranger gathers three novellas by Zhang Genong—The Lone Ranger, The Eccentric Knight Clears Out Traitors, and The Chivalrous Woman Takes Revenge—totaling roughly 170,000 characters, a moderate length that never feels heavy. Zhang, a Mandarin Duck and Butterfly school writer under the pen name Fengchousheng, worked across social, wuxia, detective, and historical fiction, excelling at wuxia; his few surviving works reward rereading. Issued in the Republican-Era Wuxia Fiction Collection: Zhang Genong Volume, the book revives old work and preserves a readable, referenceable text of Republican popular literature. The three novellas stand alone—lone knight-errant, punishing traitors, and a woman's revenge—with tight plotlines suited to reading in fragments. Approach it as a sample of Republican wuxia, savoring its character ethics, jianghu codes, and language rather than expecting a contemporary long-form genre novel.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want wuxia in short bursts and prefer novella length
General readers curious about Republican-era wuxia and the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly school
Wuxia fans drawn to classic motifs of knights punishing traitors and women seeking revenge
Those needing Republican popular fiction texts for teaching or research

Not a good fit for

Contemporary wuxia readers who only read epic-length works with vast worldbuilding
Readers with low tolerance for old-style vernacular and Republican narrative pacing
Academic readers expecting modern annotations and line-by-line textual criticism

Reading tips

The three novellas read independently; start with the title piece, then continue.
Pause between pieces to compare character setups and revenge motifs.
Note the conventions of old-style vernacular; follow the plot rather than parsing every word.
For research, log each piece's length and subject as samples of Republican novella-length wuxia.

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.

版权信息
千里独行侠
序
第一回明曲直师事百鸟仙辨是非徒授千里侠
第二回赠宝刀良师传遗命抚孤儿益友助善举
第三回代友报仇英雄初出手为兄杀奸豪杰再施威
第四回见字柬县令勘冤狱送消息豪杰避奇祸
第五回避祸惹祸独侠落店杀贼遇贼英雄洗山
第六回冤家路窄巧遇仇人黑店锄奸欣逢侠客
第七回傻儿见师兄殷勤留榻巧妇嫁莽汉冶容诲淫
第八回假意殷勤独侠入狱真心送饭傻儿探监
第九回独行侠大闹朱仙镇九头鸟剪径费家坟
第十回郑华雄结识独行侠净街王逞强黄花铺
第十一回透瓶香醉倒千里侠三绝计陷诬郑华雄
第十二回邓飞雄取租救佃户金眼雕演说佟家雾
怪侠锄奸记
自序
第一回纸帐梅花春未晓红袖添香夜读书
第二回盟啮臂名士钟情煞风景纨绔用武
第三回急主难义仆求医抱不平侠客出手
第四回逢奇僧练武成游侠宿客店深宵闻凄泣
第五回管闲事任侠反遭疑肆技击仗义作快举
第六回刁妇诡词诬英雄义士青眼识好汉
第七回装怪癖远行作义侠托滑稽游戏走京津
第八回耳闻目击挥拳创侍卫刀光人影遗柬警权奸
第九回才子佳人有情眷属波谲云诡无意冤家
第十回宸威独断权奸辞行巨憝为患孝女寻仇
侠女诛仇记
自序
第一回杀人越货巨贼留名缉凶追赃捕头领限
第二回惊血案县令失色缉巨盗孝女改装
第三回三镖师闲谈露消息一侠女窃听得佳音
第四回老和尚游方暂挂锡小强盗指路赚英豪
第五回怪侠士被欺落圈套名捕头受聘定计策
第六回老英雄智激小英雄众好汉议救一好汉
第七回破贼窟侠士立功赎罪越监狱巨憝暴动逃刑
第八回名捕智料众逸犯侠女巧诛二寇仇
第九回老学究正言训令子小青皮谑语戏娇娃
第十回豪杰愤怒除强霸侠女义勇锄凶顽

FAQ

Which works does this book contain, and how long are they?

It collects three wuxia novellas: The Lone Ranger (approx. 66,000 characters), The Eccentric Knight Clears Out Traitors (approx. 55,000), and The Chivalrous Woman Takes Revenge (approx. 52,000)—about 170,000 characters total. Each stands alone, so you can read them separately or straight through, scheduling by piece.

Can I read this without having read other works by Zhang Genong?

Yes. It is a collection of three independent novellas with no prior continuity. Zhang, a Mandarin Duck and Butterfly school writer strongest in wuxia, uses language and narrative typical of Republican popular fiction. New readers can start with the title piece, then move to the other two once accustomed to the style; there will be no barriers to understanding.

What themes do the three novellas share?

Judging by titles and materials, all three center on knight-errantry, punishing traitors, and revenge: a lone knight in The Lone Ranger, an eccentric knight punishing villains in The Eccentric Knight Clears Out Traitors, and a woman's vengeance in The Chivalrous Woman Takes Revenge. They share traditional wuxia's clear good-versus-evil and action-driven plots, while specific plots and characters differ—read them side by side to see how Zhang handles similar motifs.

Is this edition suitable as research material on Republican wuxia?

It can serve as a primary text. Part of the Republican-Era Wuxia Fiction Collection: Zhang Genong Volume, it was compiled by the publisher from Zhang's wuxia fiction and has documentary value. But it is a reading edition, not necessarily with detailed collation or scholarly annotation; for deeper study, consult other Republican popular-literature sources and edition information.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

张个侬 Author · Chinese

Zhang Genong was a writer of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School during the Republican era. A native of Dantu in Jiangsu (present-day Zhenjiang), he wrote under such pen names as Feng Chousheng, Feng Shisheng, and Zhuobi Shanren. Public information about his birth and death dates and early life is limited, but his surviving works show that he ranged across social, martial arts, detective, and historical fiction with ease, achieving his greatest success in martial arts novels. His representative works include Sh Potian Jinglu (Stone-Breaking Record), Guan Dong Qixia Zhuan (Tales of Strange Heroes of the Northeast), and the Four Great Swordsmen series. This library holds 41 of his works, most of them martial arts novels, including multiple installments of Stone-Breaking Record. His writing occupies a place in the history of Republican-era martial arts fiction, with intricate plots and diverse subjects that offer valuable texts for the study of popular literature of the period.