Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain

Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain

Contents

Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain (simplified: 雪山飞狐, traditional: 雪山飛狐, pinyin: Xuěshān Fēihú, Syut3 Saan1 Fei1 Wu4), also known as the Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, is the fourth wuxia novel by Jin Yong. It was first serialised in Hong Kong’s New Evening Post1 from 9 February to 18 June 1959.

The novel is one of Jin Yong’s shortest works at 130,359 Chinese characters. Unlike his other novels which use poetic phrases or couplets for chapter titles, Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain simply uses numbered chapters.

The novel is unique among Jin Yong’s works for its narrative structure, employing a frame narrative and multiple narrators to tell a story that spans a single day but encompasses over a century of history through flashbacks. It is also one of Jin Yong’s shortest works at just 10 chapters and was later followed by a prequel, Side Story of the Flying Fox, in 1960.

Like his other works, Jin Yong revised the novel for the Second Edition; his postscript dates the revisions to December 1974 and August 1977. A further revision was completed in 2003 as the Third Edition.

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Title translation

The title is literally flying fox of the snowy mountain. The official English translation of the novel uses Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, which Jin Yong mentions in his Afterword.

“Volant”, a heraldic term meaning flying, is more archaic, and it loses the dynamic sense of flight that “flying fox” conveys.

The Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain is Hu Fei’s epithet. It echoes the army nickname of his ancestor, Li Zicheng’s bodyguard Hu, who was called the Flying Fox (飞天狐狸), and Hu Fei signs his messages with a winged fox. 狐 (fox) is also a homophone of his surname 胡.

Plot

Background

The story takes place beyond the Great Wall during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor2 of the Qing dynasty.3 It opens at the foot of the Changbai Mountains4 and moves to Jade Brush Peak on Wulan Mountain in Liaodong. The events unfold on a single day, the 15th day of the third month in the 45th year of Qianlong’s reign (19 April 1780).

Summary

The story opens at the foot of the Changbai Mountains, where Tao Baisui and his son Tao Zian dig up an iron box they had buried in the snow. It holds Li Zicheng5’s Treasured Dao, which Tao Zian had carried off from the house of Tian Guinong, the late head of the Tianlong School’s Northern Branch. A Tianlong party pursues them in the belief that Tao Zian murdered Tian Guinong. It includes Ruan Shizhong and Cao Yunqi of the Northern Branch and Yin Ji, head of the Southern Branch. Xiong Yuanxian of the Pingtong Armed Escort and the imperial guardsman Liu Yuanhe lie in wait for them as well.

The monk Baoshu ends the fight. He disarms Tao Baisui, seizes Liu Yuanhe and leads the whole company up Jade Brush Peak to the manor of Du Ximeng, who had invited him there as a helper. Du is away: he has gone to Ningguta to ask the Golden-Faced Buddha, Miao Renfeng, to help him against the Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain, Hu Fei, who has an appointment with him that day.

Cut off on the peak, the guests tell the history behind the iron box. The treasured dao belonged to Li Zicheng, whose four bodyguards, surnamed Hu, Miao, Fan and Tian, served him through his rebellion against the Ming dynasty.6 A century later their descendants, Hu Yidao, Miao Renfeng, Guild Chief Fan and Tian Guinong, are still bound by the feud that grew up between the four families.

Twenty-seven years earlier, Hu Yidao fought Miao Renfeng for five days at an inn near Cangzhou. Tian Guinong kept from Miao the explanation Hu Yidao had sent him. He also supplied a poison, which the bone-setter Yan Ji smeared on both men’s weapons. On the fifth day the two had exchanged weapons, and a graze from the poisoned dao in Miao’s hand killed Hu Yidao. His wife took her own life. Ping Asi, the boy who served at the inn, rescued their infant son Hu Fei from Yan Ji and raised him. Ping Asi now reveals that Baoshu is Yan Ji.

Hu Fei arrives at the manor and meets Miao Ruolan, Miao Renfeng’s daughter, and the two fall in love despite their families’ history. Liu Yuanhe takes the phoenix-head pearl hairpin from Miao Ruolan, and the map hidden inside it leads the guests to Li Zicheng’s treasure in an ice cave behind the peak. There they fight over the jewels until Hu Fei seals them in. Meanwhile Commander Sai of the Imperial Guard comes up the peak with Du Ximeng and Guild Chief Fan to trap Miao Renfeng. Hu Fei, who has been hiding in a bed with Miao Ruolan, saves him.

Miao Renfeng does not know who Hu Fei is and believes he has dishonoured his daughter. He challenges Hu Fei on the cliffs. The ledge gives way, and the two land on an overhanging rock that is working loose. Hu Fei gains the upper hand but hesitates, because he has promised Miao Ruolan never to harm her father, yet if he spares him he will die himself. The novel ends without saying whether he strikes.

Themes

Family and vengeance

The novel explores how misunderstandings and vengeance can perpetuate cycles of violence across generations. The feud between the four families illustrates the destructive nature of revenge and the importance of truth and reconciliation.

Love versus duty

Through Hu Fei’s relationship with Miao Ruolan and his conflict with her father, the novel examines the tension between personal desires and familial obligations.

Truth and perspective

The novel’s multiple narrators present different versions of past events, highlighting how truth can be subjective and how misunderstandings can have far-reaching consequences.

Historical legacy

The story connects personal conflicts to broader historical events, particularly through the legacy of Li Zicheng’s rebellion and its impact on later generations.

Cast

Main article: Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain characters

Main characters

  • Hu Fei (胡斐 – Hú Fěi) – The protagonist, son of Hu Yidao, known as the Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain
  • Miao Ruolan (苗若蘭 – Miáo Ruòlán) – Daughter of Miao Renfeng who falls in love with Hu Fei
  • Hu Yidao (胡一刀 – Hú Yīdāo) – Hu Fei’s father, of Liaodong, killed in his duel with Miao Renfeng
  • Miao Renfeng (苗人鳳 – Miáo Rénfèng) the Golden-Faced Buddha – He Who Has Fought All Under Heaven and Found No Equal

Important characters

  • Tian Guinong (田歸農 – Tián Guīnóng) – The late head of the Tianlong School’s Northern Branch, whose scheme led to Hu Yidao’s death
  • Ping Asi (平阿四 – Píng Āsì) – The inn boy who rescued and raised Hu Fei
  • Nan Lan (南蘭 – Nán Lán) – Miao Renfeng’s wife and Miao Ruolan’s mother
  • Baoshu (寶樹 – Bǎoshù) – A monk, revealed to be the bone-setter Yan Ji
  • Du Ximeng (杜希孟 – Dù Xīmèng) – Owner of the manor on Jade Brush Peak

Martial arts abilities

Main article: Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain martial arts

  • Hu Family Bladeworks (胡家刀法) – The Hu family’s dao art
  • Miao Family Swordplay (苗家剑法) – The Miao family’s jian art
  • Wall-climbing Gecko Technique (壁虎游墙功) – A qinggong skill for scaling walls
  • Spring Silkworm Palm (春蚕掌法) – A purely defensive palm art with no counter-moves
  • Dharma Swordplay (达摩剑法) – A plain Shaolin jian form

Behind the scenes

In the revised afterword, Jin Yong recalled that readers had asked whether he had imitated Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 film Rashomon. He replied by pointing them to older precedents: the Sanyan Erpai story collections (he cites two tales from Feng Menglong’s Stories to Caution the World7), the One Thousand and One Nights, the Judgement of Solomon and Akutagawa’s original story.

The novel ends without a definite resolution. Jin Yong wrote that friends and readers had asked him for a definite ending, but he preferred to leave it to the reader; he had himself imagined seven or eight different endings.

Publication history

The novel was first serialised in Hong Kong’s New Evening Post from 9 February to 18 June 1959. Jin Yong’s postscript says that no edition he had authorised appeared in book form after the serialisation, and that the revised text first ran in the Ming Pao Evening News. He dates the revisions to December 1974 and August 1977, with a third revision in 2003.

Chinese editions

  • First Edition (1959) – Serialised in Hong Kong’s New Evening Post from 9 February to 18 June 1959
  • Second Edition (revised December 1974 and August 1977) – Revised edition, with preface
  • Third Edition (2003) – Final revised edition with preface

Adaptations

Film

Web film

  • The Hidden Fox (2022) by iQiyi production starring Zhao Huawei and Chen Yusi

Television series

Most adaptations combine this novel with Side Story of the Flying Fox into a single story. See the article on Side Story of the Flying Fox.

Radio

The 1981 Hong Kong’s RTHK ran a radio drama for 15 episodes from 8 June to 26 June from Monday to Fridays during the “Jin Yong wuxia world” segment.

It was directed by Stephen Shin.8 The production starred Ray Chan9 as Hu Fei, Zhu Manzi10 as Miao Ruolan, and Fu Qing-wai11 as Miao Renfeng.

Video games

Hu Fei appears as a playable character in the 2008 PC fighting game Street Fighter Online: Mouse Generation.

Manhua

Jonesky12 released Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain, produced by Fung Wan creator Ma Wing-shing,13 illustrated by Leung Wai-ka and Wong Shui-bun.

In 2018, a manhua adaptation was released on Tencent Comics platform.

Translations

The official English translation by Olivia Mok14 was published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press in 1993, with a second edition released in 1996. An earlier English translation had been serialised in the New York bimonthly Bridge.

See also

Footnotes

  1. 新晚報 – Xīn Wǎnbào. A Hong Kong evening newspaper affiliated with Ta Kung Pao. See Wikipedia. ↩

  2. 乾隆 – Qiánlóng. The sixth emperor of the Qing dynasty, who reigned from 1735 to 1796. See Wikipedia. ↩

  3. 清 – Qīng. A dynasty ruled by the Manchu people from 1644 to 1912. See Wikipedia. ↩

  4. 長白山 – Chángbái Shān. A major mountain range in northeastern China. See Wikipedia. ↩

  5. 李自成 – Lǐ Zìchéng. A Chinese rebel leader who led a peasant revolt that overthrew the Ming dynasty. See Wikipedia. ↩

  6. 明 – Míng. A dynasty that ruled China from 1368 to 1644. See Wikipedia. ↩

  7. 警世通言 – Jǐng Shì Tōng Yán. A collection of vernacular short stories compiled by Feng Menglong during the Ming dynasty. See Wikipedia. ↩

  8. 冼杞然 – Xiǎn Qǐrán. A radio drama director at RTHK. See Wikipedia (Chinese). ↩

  9. 陳偉匡 – Chén Wěikuāng. A voice actor who played Hu Fei. See Wikipedia (Chinese). ↩

  10. 朱曼子 – Zhū Màn Zǐ. A voice actress who played Miao Ruolan. See Wikipedia (Chinese). ↩

  11. 傅菁葦 – Fù Jīngwěi. A voice actor who played Miao Renfeng. See Wikipedia (Chinese). ↩

  12. 天下出版 – Tiānxià Chūbǎn. A Hong Kong publishing house founded by Ma Wing-shing. See Wikipedia. ↩

  13. 馬榮成 – Mǎ Róngchéng. A Hong Kong comic artist and creator of Fung Wan. See Wikipedia. ↩

  14. 莫若嫻 – Mò Ruòxián ↩

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