The Jade Dragon Cups (simplified: 玉龙杯, traditional: 玉龙杯, pinyin: Yùlóng Bēi, jyutping: juk6 lung4 bui1) were eight jade cups carved with coiled dragons, the most precious of the twenty-four cups the emperor gave Fuk’anggan to bestow at the Grand Assembly of Zhangmen under Heaven (SIDE ch. 17). Whoever held one would rank among the “Eight Jade Dragon Schools” (玉龙八门), the first rank of schools under heaven (SIDE ch. 17). By dawn after the contest one had been carried off by the Red Flower Society and the other seven lay in pieces on the floor of Fuk’anggan’s hall (SIDE ch. 18, 19).
Description
The cups came in three brocade boxes: eight of jade carved with coiled dragons, eight of gold with flying phoenixes (the Golden Phoenix Cups, 金凤杯) and eight of silver with leaping carp (the Silver Carp Cups, 银鲤杯). All were thickly carved with patterns, the work of the palace’s master craftsmen (SIDE ch. 17).
History
The award
At the assembly, Fuk’anggan announced that the four “great zhangmen” seated at the head of the hall would each receive a Jade Dragon Cup outright: Chan Master Dazhi of the Shaolin Order, Wuqingzi of the Wudang Order, Tang Pei of the Three Talents Jian (三才剑), and Hailanbi of the Heilong School (黑龙门) of Liaodong. The other four jade cups, and all the gold and silver cups, would go to those who proved strongest in contest. He added that any cup stolen or seized by another school would change its owner’s rank accordingly (SIDE ch. 17). Hu Fei saw that the aim was to set the schools of the wulin fighting one another over empty names, so that they would have no strength left to resist the Qing, and Cheng Lingsu likened it to the old stratagem of killing three warriors with two peaches (SIDE ch. 17).
Under Commander An (安提督), with Tang Pei as arbiter, challengers took the chairs set for the jade cups and defended them against all comers (SIDE ch. 17, 18).
Seized and recovered
A young scholar who had sat mocking on a chair back seized two of the jade cups and fled with Sang Feihong. Tang Pei offered him a third cup as a loan, then knocked him down and brought all three back unharmed (SIDE ch. 17). The scholar was Xinyan, page to the Red Flower Society’s chief Chen Jialuo (SIDE ch. 19).
Soon afterwards a stout man in guard’s uniform hooked a cup off the table with a flying shuttle that curved back to his hand: it was Zhao Banshan in disguise. Fuk’anggan made light of the loss, declaring that whichever school recovered the cup and caught the thief would own it, which Hu Fei and Cheng Lingsu recognised as a way of setting ambitious fighters against the Red Flower Society (SIDE ch. 18). One chair was removed, leaving seven cups to be settled (SIDE ch. 18).
The winners
The last three chairs went to Tian Guinong of the Tianlong School, who broke every weapon brought against him with his treasured dao; to Shi Wanchen, posing as the Medicine King, whom no one dared challenge; and to Feng Tiannan of the Wuhu School, whose victories were won for him by Tang Pei’s hidden silver needles (SIDE ch. 18, 19). Hu Fei, in disguise as zhangmen of the Xiyue Huaquan School, beat Tian Guinong and took his dao, but at Tang Pei’s word the cup was still recorded for Tian Guinong (SIDE ch. 19).
Shattered
At dawn Commander An presented the tray, and the seven winners each took a cup. At once their hands burned as if they had seized red-hot iron, they let go together, and all seven cups smashed on the floor (SIDE ch. 19). Cheng Lingsu had thrown firecrackers during Feng Tiannan’s bout with Ke Zirong and burst them over the cups, dusting them with red scorpion powder mixed with the powdered leaves of her Seven-Heart Begonia (SIDE ch. 18, 19, 20). Yuan Ziyi, now the nun Yuanxing, accused Tang Pei before everyone of having smashed the emperor’s cups in league with the Red Flower Society (SIDE ch. 19). Retelling the night to the Red Flower Society’s heroes, Lu Feiqing said that a young hero had needed only to blink to snatch seven Jade Dragon Cups from seven masters and dash them to pieces (SIDE ch. 19).
See also
- Side Story of the Flying Fox items
- Grand Assembly of Zhangmen under Heaven — where the cups were contested
- Fuk’anggan — who bestowed them
- Cheng Lingsu — who poisoned them