Dongfang Bubai
Encyclopedia
Dongfang Bubai is a fictional character in the wuxia
novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer
by Jin Yong.
Dongfang is the leader of the Sun Moon Holy Cult (日月神教). He castrated himself to learn the skills in the Sunflower Manual and becomes a formidable pugilist. His castration and supreme prowess in martial arts make him one of the most memorable and classic characters in Jin Yong's wuxia world, and his name has become synonymous with homosexuality and sexual perversion in Chinese popular culture.
. Dongfang treats his subordinates cruelly, forcing them to submit to him by making them consume poison pills. After taking the pill, the person will be subjected to severe agony and suffer a long and painful death. If the person agrees to submit to Dongfang and obey him, he / she will be given an antidote to temporarily ease their suffering.
's help and gradually wins back allegiance from his former followers. Ren, together with his daughter Ren Yingying, Linghu, and another follower Xiang Wentian, sneak back to the cult to confront Dongfang. In the ensuing fight, Dongfang is invincible and remains on the victorious edge despite being outnumbered three-to-one. However, he loses concentration after Yang Lianting is injured and abused by Ren Yingying on the sidelines. His three opponents seize the advantage to deal devastating blows to him. Dongfang is critically wounded and eventually killed by Ren Woxing. Just right before his death, he manages to blind Ren in one eye with his needles.
(Yue Su and Cai Zifeng) during a visit to Shaolin Monastery. In an attempt to copy the manual, each of them reads half of it and memorizes his part before returning to Mount Hua. When they try to compile their parts, they find it to be incomprehensible. Each believes his memory and interpretation of the manual is better but neither can come up with something substantial. Subsequently, Yue and Cai become rivals and the Mount Hua Sect is split into the Qi
(氣宗) and Sword factions (劍宗), respectively led by them.
The head abbot of Shaolin
recognises the evil nature and inherent dangers of practising the manual's skills. He sends a monk named Duyuan to act as a mediator between the two factions and dissuade them from practising the manual's skills. The two rivals apologise for their folly and request Duyuan's help in understanding the manual better. Duyuan is able to make logical conclusions from Yue and Cai's recollections of the manual and compiles a comprehensible version of the manual, which later falls into the hands of the Sun Moon Holy Cult during a raid on Mount Hua.
At the same time, Duyuan gradually becomes obsessed with the manual and his mind is corrupted by it. He secretly creates his own copy of the manual on his cassock and renounces his vows as a monk, returning to a secular life and assuming his former name "Lin Yuantu". The manual he secretly copied becomes the "Bixie Swordplay" manual (辟邪劍譜), which bears similarities to the original Sunflower Manual. One of the similarities is the requirement for one to castrate himself before practicing the skills in the manual.
Wuxia
Wuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...
novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer
The Smiling, Proud Wanderer
The Smiling, Proud Wanderer is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong, first published as a serial in Ming Pao from April 20, 1967 to October 12, 1969. The term "Xiaoao Jianghu" means to live a carefree life in a mundane world of strife...
by Jin Yong.
Dongfang is the leader of the Sun Moon Holy Cult (日月神教). He castrated himself to learn the skills in the Sunflower Manual and becomes a formidable pugilist. His castration and supreme prowess in martial arts make him one of the most memorable and classic characters in Jin Yong's wuxia world, and his name has become synonymous with homosexuality and sexual perversion in Chinese popular culture.
Sun Moon Holy Cult's leader
Dongfang is first introduced as the second leader of the Sun Moon Holy Cult. Through a scheme, he removes the leader, Ren Woxing, from power and takes over Ren's place and imprisons Ren in an underground dungeon in HangzhouHangzhou
Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
. Dongfang treats his subordinates cruelly, forcing them to submit to him by making them consume poison pills. After taking the pill, the person will be subjected to severe agony and suffer a long and painful death. If the person agrees to submit to Dongfang and obey him, he / she will be given an antidote to temporarily ease their suffering.
Castration
Dongfang is arguably the most powerful character in the novel in terms of martial arts prowess. He castrated himself in order to master the skills in the Sunflower Manual and becomes a formidable pugilist. His personality becomes more feminine after that and he develops a close relationship with a male lover, Yang Lianting. He neglects the cult's affairs and leaves them to Yang to handle.Death
Ren Woxing eventually escapes from the dungeon with Linghu ChongLinghu Chong
Linghu Chong is the fictional protagonist of the wuxia novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer by Jin Yong.-Biography:Linghu is an orphan and was taken into Yue Buqun's care as a child. Yue accepted him as a disciple and Linghu became a member of the Mount Hua Sect as Yue's most senior disciple. He...
's help and gradually wins back allegiance from his former followers. Ren, together with his daughter Ren Yingying, Linghu, and another follower Xiang Wentian, sneak back to the cult to confront Dongfang. In the ensuing fight, Dongfang is invincible and remains on the victorious edge despite being outnumbered three-to-one. However, he loses concentration after Yang Lianting is injured and abused by Ren Yingying on the sidelines. His three opponents seize the advantage to deal devastating blows to him. Dongfang is critically wounded and eventually killed by Ren Woxing. Just right before his death, he manages to blind Ren in one eye with his needles.
Sunflower Manual
The Sunflower Manual (葵花寶典) is written by a eunuch and was first discovered by two members of the Mount Hua SectMount Hua Sect
The Mount Hua Sect, also known as the Huashan Sect, is featured in three of Jin Yong's wuxia novels as one of the leading orthodox Chinese martial arts sects in the jianghu. As its name implies, the sect is based on Mount Hua. In reality, a Mount Hua Sect exists but it has nothing to do with...
(Yue Su and Cai Zifeng) during a visit to Shaolin Monastery. In an attempt to copy the manual, each of them reads half of it and memorizes his part before returning to Mount Hua. When they try to compile their parts, they find it to be incomprehensible. Each believes his memory and interpretation of the manual is better but neither can come up with something substantial. Subsequently, Yue and Cai become rivals and the Mount Hua Sect is split into the Qi
Qi
In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...
(氣宗) and Sword factions (劍宗), respectively led by them.
The head abbot of Shaolin
Shaolin Sect
The Shaolin Sect is a fictional Chinese martial arts sect featured in several wuxia works. It is one of the largest, most famous and recognised orthodox and righteous sects in the jianghu. Its home base is at present-day Shaolin Monastery in Henan...
recognises the evil nature and inherent dangers of practising the manual's skills. He sends a monk named Duyuan to act as a mediator between the two factions and dissuade them from practising the manual's skills. The two rivals apologise for their folly and request Duyuan's help in understanding the manual better. Duyuan is able to make logical conclusions from Yue and Cai's recollections of the manual and compiles a comprehensible version of the manual, which later falls into the hands of the Sun Moon Holy Cult during a raid on Mount Hua.
At the same time, Duyuan gradually becomes obsessed with the manual and his mind is corrupted by it. He secretly creates his own copy of the manual on his cassock and renounces his vows as a monk, returning to a secular life and assuming his former name "Lin Yuantu". The manual he secretly copied becomes the "Bixie Swordplay" manual (辟邪劍譜), which bears similarities to the original Sunflower Manual. One of the similarities is the requirement for one to castrate himself before practicing the skills in the manual.
Media appearances
- In 1992 Tsui HarkTsui HarkTsui Hark , born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong New Wave film director and producer. He is viewed as a major figure in the Golden Age of Hong Kong cinema .-Early life:...
's Film Workshop Co. Ltd. produced a film Swordsman IISwordsman IISwordsman II, also known as The Legend of the Swordsman, is a 1992 Hong Kong wuxia film. It was directed by Ching Siu-tung and Stanley Tong and written by Hanson Chan, Tang Pik-yin and Tsui Hark. The film was the second part of a trilogy. It starred Jet Li, Brigitte Lin, Rosamund Kwan and Michelle...
as a sequel to The SwordsmanThe SwordsmanThe Swordsman or Swordsman is a 1990 Hong Kong wuxia film. King Hu was credited as the director but he allegedly left the project midway, and the film was completed by a team led by producer Tsui Hark. The film is adapted from Louis Cha's novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer...
. The plot of the film was based on the novel but differs largely and Dongfang was featured more prominently. Taiwanese actress Brigitte LinBrigitte LinBrigitte Lin or Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia is a Taiwanese actress. She was a popular actress, regarded as an icon of Chinese cinema, who acted in both Taiwanese and Hong Kong movies...
played Dongfang Bubai.
- In 1993, the film The East is RedThe East is Red (1993 film)The East is Red, also known as Swordsman III, is a 1993 Hong Kong film loosely based on Dongfang Bubai, a character from Louis Cha's novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. The film was produced by Tsui Hark, directed by Ching Siu-tung, and starred Brigitte Lin, Joey Wong and Yu Rongguang...
was produced specially to showcase the character of Dongfang Bubai, with Brigitte Lin reprising her role. The film is largely unrelated to the novel except for its title.
Synonyms
- Dongfang Bubai inspired the character Master Asia in the Japanese anime Mobile Fighter G GundamMobile Fighter G GundamMobile Fighter G Gundam, known in Japan as , is a Japanese animated television series directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa . Created to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the franchise in 1994, it is the first of the Gundam series to be set in an alternate continuity from the original "Universal Century"...
. Master Asia is also known as Tohō Fuhai, which is the Japanese translation of "Dongfang Bubai". - In the mangaMangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
Rosario + VampireRosario + Vampire, often shortened to , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akihisa Ikeda. The story revolves around Tsukune Aono, a boy who accidentally gets enrolled in a school inhabited by monsters and demons. He quickly befriends Moka Akashiya, a vampire who soon develops an obsession with...
, a character named Dongfang Bubai is a yōkaiYōkaiare a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for "otherworldly" and "weird". Yōkai range eclectically from the malevolent to the mischievous, or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them...
and the leader of a triad family. - A set of manhuaManhuaManhua are Chinese comics originally produced in China. Possibly due to their greater degree of artistic freedom of expression and closer international ties with Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan have been the places of publication of most manhua thus far, often including Chinese translations of...
titled Dongfang Bubai was drawn in 1991 by Hong Kong artist Khoo Fuk-lung. - Dongfang Bubai was also known as "Invincible Asia" in some translated subtitles of the films.
External links
Dongfang Bubai on Baidu BaikeBaidu Baike
Baidu Encyclopedia is a Chinese language collaborative Web-based encyclopedia provided by the Chinese search engine Baidu. Like Baidu itself, the encyclopedia is heavily self-censored in line with government regulations....