The Young Flying Fox

The Young Flying Fox is a full-length martial-arts novel Jin Yong wrote in 1960–1961, first serialized in the magazine Wuxia and History and later revised for the Collected Works of Jin Yong. It is a prequel to Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, yet not a seamlessly consistent continuation: Jin Yong uses it to fill in Hu Fei's experiences from youth to young manhood and to shape his character step by step. The story is set during the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty. As a youth, Hu Fei first ventures into the jianghu at the Shang family fortress in Shandong, is helped by Zhao Banshan of the Red Flower Society, and is drawn into the siege of the Iron Hall by an old feud tied to the fortress. He then travels south to Foshan, Guangdong, where he witnesses the bully Feng Tiannan oppressing Zhong Asi's family and, moved by outrage, pursues the villain. On the way he meets the mysterious young woman Yuan Ziyi, whose repeated interventions conceal an unspeakable tie to Feng Tiannan; by the shores of Dongting Lake he encounters Cheng Lingsu, heir to the Poison Hand Medicine King, who helps him treat Miao Renfeng's eye ailment and from whom he learns that his father Hu Yidao was wounded years ago by Miao Renfeng. The novel's second half culminates in the Grand Gathering of Martial-World Leaders hosted by Fukang'an, drawing together revenge, intrigue, and the feuds of every martial sect. Jin Yong said he wanted to write a hero who rushes to others' aid and upholds justice, yet Hu Fei's attachments to Yuan Ziyi and Cheng Lingsu end only in regret. At roughly 560,000 characters, the book is full of strange twists and balances chivalric spirit with sorrow, and is essential to understanding the origins of the characters in the Flying Fox series.