News

Eric Rosenfield of Wet Asphalt has kindly given us permission to reprint his article on Wuxia. Check it out here.

I have also restructured the About > The Wuxia Genre section. From now it will start featuring introductory or general articles, Q&As and reviews. Our goal is to inform those who are new to this genre and attract new readers. If you have written or read such wuxia articles, let us know.

Here is another update of The Legendary Siblings, featuring Chapters 63 to 66. We are now into the second and concluding half of this Gu Long novel.

The article Imperial Bloodline of the Duan Family of Dali has been updated with graphics and additional information. Read about:

• Duan Siping - the patriach of the Duan Family of Dali.
• Duan Lianyi - the father of Prince Yanqing, who is better known as the First of the Four Evils.
• Prince Yanqing - the disfigured cripple who wreaks havoc in Demi-Gods, Semi-Devils.
• Duan Zhengming - the upright and benevolent Emperor Baoding.
• Gao Shengtai - the Marquis of Shanchan who nearly ended the reign of the Duan Kings of Dali, and almost prevented Duan Yu and Duan Zhixing (the Great Master Yideng) from becoming the individuals whom wuxia fans worldwide have come to know.
• Duan Zhengchun - the real man behind the Old Playboy.
• Duan Yu - the alter-ego of Duan Heyu, who became the longest-reigning monarch of Dali.
• Duan Zhixing - the beleaguered king who eventually lived on for eternity as the Great Master Yideng in Eagle-Shooting Hero and Divine Eagle, Gallant Knight.

Features excerpts from Chapters 8, 10 and 48 of Demi-Gods, Semi-Devils; and Chapter 31 of Eagle-Shooting Hero.

If you are wondering what happened to Shi Potian after he vanished from the dilapidated yellow-walled temple on the shore of the Long River, find out in Chapter 8 of Ode to Gallantry today!

But, be prepared for the twist that follows! :-D

PS: The Facts and Figures of OTG have been updated as well, with a few new martial arts techniques and a very elegant weapon. Check it out!

The translation of Chapter 26 of Gu Long's Bordertown Wanderer is complete! Here's what a reader says about it:

"I really like the description of Hero Bai's fight. Gu Long paints the fight scene almost like an impressionist painter. He gives the colors and the pattern, but not the explicit details." - fastclock, spcnet.tv/forums.

Translator Jean has given Wuxiapedia a very big birthday present with her massive update of The Legendary Siblings. With Chapters 55 to 62 done, the translation of this well-known novel by Gu Long is finished by almost exactly half!

Happy birthday, Wuxiapedia!

This day last year, May 29th 2005, Wuxiapedia was brought into this chaotic and dangerous online life, quite similar to wulin, the half historical, half fictional wuxia world. In the first week, she looked hideous and demanded lots of attention even at ungodly hours at night but we still loved her and did our best to feed her with love and as many translations as we could. It was our decision to give birth to her, after all. She wasn't an accident!
In the first full calendar month (June 2005), she had 700 unique visitors (hang on, that doesn't sound right in this wulin context...) which was quite alright for a brand new website. Thanks to the great translators and editors, she kept growing and growing in size (she's not fat, though!) and by her 1st birthday, she now has 6500 7000 unique visitors per month! We are very proud of her and we would like to thank you, the readers, for your fondness of her and your feedbacks. We've enjoyed reading your comments on her, and our most favourite would be from a blogger who called her "a time blackhole" and blamed her for his loss of work productivity. Although we're very sorry that 16% of our readers spend half an hour or more with her on average (half of those spend more than an hour, with a few spending too long with her that our nanny lost track of time) and lose valuable work or study time, we cannot take any responsibility for it. Don't sue us!

So far, Wuxiapedia has got the largest collection of wuxia novel translations and related articles on the online wulin, but embarassingly, she still marks many of them as "work in progress". Her excuse is that the translators and editors are all working or studying full time and only get to work on the translations or articles when they have time to breathe. In this second year, she promises more frequent updates (which she has been trying to do since NYE) and some extra stuff that she'd rather not talk about right now in case readers hold her to them.

Anyway, that's enough rambling on her behalf. Bring out the cake for the kids and Xiao-Feng-special wine for the adults! Let's celebrate Wuxiapedia's 1st birthday!

Cheers,
Linh*

*Candide's boyfriend, for those who know her from Spcnet forums

I've added the proper chapter pictures and captions for all Divine Eagle, Gallant Knight chapters. Check out the folder listing of Book 1, Book 2, Book 3 and Book 4. :-) Many thanks to Frans Soetomo for scanning the pictures and translating the captions. He also translated a few chapters himself and was a part of the team that made the complete translation of this popular novel possible.

It has been terribly long in coming, but Chapter 7 of Ode to Gallantry is finally here! Find out what happens when three of the finest swords in the realm of the rivers and lakes cross paths in a dilapidated yellow-walled temple by the shores of the Long River. The three-way clash between Shi Qing, Min Rou and Bai Wanjian is not to be missed!

The Facts and Figures of Ode to Gallantry is now available in an improved format, with quick-jump links to the various categories of information presented, as well as the original Chinese characters for the names of the people, places, organisations, weapons, martial arts skills, etc. Many thanks to reader, Junzi, for her invaluable feedback that has led to this new format.

Many thanks to reader, Long Tan, for highlighting a portion of Chapter 11 of Heavenly Sword, Dragon Slaying Sabre that was inadvertantly left out when the chapter was updated. Now, with this portion added, the transition between Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 is complete.

If you have ever wondered how Zhang Wuji became such a brilliant physician while he was still in his teens, read Chapter 12 of Heavenly Sword, Dragon Slaying Sabre today! Now available on wuxiapedia.com as a showcase of the sheer volume of research that Jin Yong put into the writing of this exciting novel.

Translator Jean is back with a five-chapter update of Gu Long's The Legendary Siblings. Read Chapters 50-54 today!

The problem with registration and login has been fixed. However, those who registered between late February and now may still encounter this problem. If you do, please email me at webmaster(at)wuxiapedia.com (replace the (at) with @) and put your registered username and email address in and I'll activate your accounts. Those who have already emailed me (directly or via the Contact form) don't need to do so again. I'll reply to your feedback emails one by one so please check them for details. Sorry about this inconvenience and taking so long to get around to fix it. I've been up to my neck in the real life wulin matters.

Cheers,

Linh

Chapter 25 of Bordertown Wanderer is now available! Read it today!

Dear readers,

I've got a few reports about the same login problem. I'm aware of this and will be working on it. I'll post here again when it is resolved. Sorry about this, and thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Cheers,

Linh (webmaster)

With Chapter 24 done, we are now past the halfway mark in Justin Lu's translation of Gu Long's Bordertown Wanderer. If you have never read this novel, here's a comment from a reader that might just get you started:

"Gu Long certainly has a way with words. He wastes not a single word. His writing style kind of reminds me of Hemingway. The characteristically short sentences are blazing with wit every time, even if they don't seem to mean anything at first." - rayon, spcnet.tv/forums

The Legendary Siblings by Gu Long has been updated by a whooping thirteen chapters! Credits go to Bubeng for translating Chapters 37-42, and Jean for Chapters 43-49. Enjoy!

Written in 1976, The White Jade Tiger is widely considered one of Gu Long's best works, featuring a rather dark and sinister tone. Get a sneak preview here!

The translation of the popular Jin Yong novel, "Divine Eagle, Gallant Knight", also known as Return of the Condor Hero, or ROCH, has been completed! The last chapters 35-40 have been edited and posted. Some earlier chapters are still being edited for name consistency (since they were translated by various people) and other minor things.

This is the first major Jin Yong novel that has been fully translated by fans. The project was started by Noodles, who spearheaded the translation effort up to chapter 24 (out of 40). It then became a real team work, with contributions from rayon, Lanny Lin, Athena, Hanky Spanky, BeeDreamer, Dugu Seeking A Win, Xiao_Long_Nu, JinYong_Fan, Sunnysnow, and last but not least: fox-s and IcyFox, whose passion for this project helped it reach the finish line at a speed that shames all qinggong masters. Ladies and gentlemen, a virtual standing ovation for our translators!

The credits also go to JamesG, Yu Ruan and Huang Yushi for their editing and online publishing work. Many thanks to the readers, who kept harassing encouraging us as we pumped out chapter by chapter.

Here's to more translated wuxia novels!

On behalf of the Wuxiapedia team,

Linh