Han Xiaoying

Han Xiaoying

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Han Xiaoying (simplified: 韩小莹, traditional: 韓小瑩, pinyin: Hán Xiǎoyíng, jyutping: Hon4 Siu2 Jing4) was the youngest of the Seven Eccentrics of Jiangnan, the only woman among them, and one of Guo Jing’s shifus. Known as the Yue Maiden Swordswoman (越女剑 — Yuè Nǚ Jiàn), after the Yue Maiden Swordplay she practised, she was also addressed as Han nüxia.

Biography

Jiaxing

Han Xiaoying grew up in Jiaxing with the other Eccentrics. Ke Zhen’e later remembered her at four or five, in plaits tied with red cord, clapping and laughing while the boys played in the Iron Spear Temple (ch. 35). Han Baoju, the third Eccentric, was her elder cousin (ch. 2). Though still very young when the Eccentrics fought the Huaiyang Gang on the bank of the Yangtze, she killed two of their men (ch. 3).

She first appeared at the Drunken Immortal Wineshop rowing a fishing boat with an iron oar sheathed in brass, a girl of about seventeen or eighteen (ch. 2). In the fight with Qiu Chuji that followed, she and Han Baoju attacked first, but Qiu matched her speed and drove her back against the Buddha statue (ch. 2). When the misunderstanding was cleared up, she was the first to speak, and she pressed Qiu eagerly for the terms of his wager (ch. 3).

The steppes

In the fight with the Twin Evils of Dark Wind, she struck at Chen Xuanfeng with the Yue Maiden Swordplay when he snatched the child Guo Jing (ch. 4). Zhang Asheng, who loved her, threw himself under Chen’s claws to save her and was mortally wounded. As he lay dying she offered to marry him, told him she was already of the Zhang family and would never marry another, and that she had always loved him (ch. 4).

During the years in the steppes she taught Guo Jing the Yue Maiden Swordplay and lightness skills (ch. 5). When he repeatedly failed the move “Branch Strikes the White Ape”, she thought of Zhang Asheng’s death and the Eccentrics’ wasted years, threw down her jian and ran off weeping (ch. 5). She defended Guo Jing when the other Eccentrics suspected him of colluding with Mei Chaofeng, insisting on questioning him first (ch. 6).

Return to the south

In Zhongdu she spoke for Guo Jing when he refused to marry Mu Nianci, explaining that he was already betrothed in Mongolia, and then suggested he explain matters to the Khan and take both Huazheng and Mu Nianci as wives (ch. 11). She was struck in the waist by Huang Yaoshi, wielding Mei Chaofeng’s corpse, in the fight after Mei’s death (ch. 26).

Death

She went with the Eccentrics to Peach Blossom Island, where they left a letter urging Huang Yaoshi to avoid a fight with the Quanzhen masters (ch. 34). In the tomb of Huang Yaoshi’s wife she saw Yang Kang kill Han Baoju with the Nine Yin White Bone Claw, and cut her own throat. Before she died she dipped her fingers in blood and began to write on the jade coffin lid, leaving only a small “十” (ch. 34). Guo Jing took it for the start of “Huang Yaoshi”, but Huang Rong later showed that it was the beginning of “Yang” (杨), and that Han Xiaoying had died by her own hand (ch. 35).

Personality & traits

Physical appearance

At seventeen or eighteen she was slender, with large eyes, long lashes, skin as white as snow and a mass of dark hair (ch. 2). Years later in the steppes her looks were undiminished, though she was no longer a young girl (ch. 5).

Character traits

She was quick-tempered and impatient, and wept easily, but was also tender towards her pupil, and was often the first of the Eccentrics to speak up for Guo Jing (ch. 3, 5, 6, 11).

Martial arts abilities

Yue Maiden Swordplay

Han Xiaoying’s art was the Yue Maiden Swordplay (越女剑法 — Yuè Nǚ Jiànfǎ). It traced back to the maiden who taught the soldiers of Yue to fight in the war with Wu, and had been handed down in Jiaxing, where Wu and Yue once fought. The original was made for the battlefield and was not nimble enough against jianghu masters, until a Jiaxing swordsman of the late Tang reworked it with complex variations. Han Xiaoying learnt it from her shifu, and though she had not mastered it fully, her moves were already remarkable (ch. 2). Guo Jing used it against a dao-wielder in the steppes (ch. 6), and later practised it with one hand while using Nan Xiren’s fist art with the other (ch. 17).

Qinggong

She was light and quick on her feet (ch. 4), and was one of the three Eccentrics who taught Guo Jing lightness skills (ch. 5).

Weapons

She fought with a jian, and rowed with an iron oar sheathed in brass (ch. 2).

Relationships

Guo Jing

Han Xiaoying was Guo Jing’s seventh shifu. He carried her body out of the tomb with those of Zhu Cong, Han Baoju and Quan Jinfa (ch. 34).

Zhang Asheng

Zhang Asheng loved her and died saving her. As he lay dying she pledged herself to him, saying she would never marry anyone else (ch. 4).

Family

Han Baoju, the third Eccentric, was her elder cousin (ch. 2). They died together in the tomb on Peach Blossom Island (ch. 34).

Behind the scenes

Legacy

In The Return of the Condor Heroes, Guo Jing passed her Yue Maiden Swordplay to his daughters Guo Fu and Guo Xiang in her memory (ROCH ch. 35), and the Wu brothers also practised it as an art of her line (ROCH ch. 23).

Portrayals

Han Xiaoying has been portrayed by various actresses in adaptations of The Legend of the Condor Heroes:

Television series

See also

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