Mandarin Duck Blades translation

WuxiaSociety’s translation of Mandarin Duck Blades brings this classic wuxia novel to English-speaking readers with careful attention to literary and cultural nuances. It is based on Jin Yong’s Third Edition.

The in-house translation by Jenxi began in February 2024 and we released the first chapter on 1 March 2024, and completed the translation on 20 May 2025. This project represents our commitment to producing high-quality translations and marks the start of our efforts to provide improved fan translations. We aim to capture both the excitement of wuxia action and the subtle cultural elements that make these stories uniquely compelling.

While we acknowledge the 2010 fan translation posted on the now defunct SPCNET forum, which helped introduce this work to English readers, we’ve chosen to create a new translation that aligns with WuxiaSociety’s standards for accuracy and literary quality.

Our goal is to deliver a translation that honors both the original text and our readers’ desire for an authentic wuxia experience.

Looking for progress updates or want to discuss the translation? Join the conversation in our forum or on Discord. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates!

Translation

This translation is based on Jin Yong’s Third Edition. Check the See also section for related content.

Statistics

The English translation contains 23,146 words with 262 footnotes. The original Chinese text contains 37,000 characters.

Part 1 – 2,145 words with 34 footnotes
Part 2 – 2,329 words with 20 footnotes
Part 3 – 2,310 words with 22 footnotes
Part 4 – 2,268 words with 34 footnotes
Part 5 – 2,116 words with 15 footnotes
Part 6 – 2,125 words with 13 footnotes
Part 7 – 2,161 words with 17 footnotes
Part 8 – 2,207 words with 18 footnotes
Part 9 – 2,060 words with 22 footnotes
Part 10 – 2,011 words with 21 footnotes
Part 11 – 2,130 words with 26 footnotes
Part 12 – 1,322 words with 24 footnotes

Changelog

1 March 2024

Created the Mandarin Duck Blades translation index page.
Added Chapter 1 of the in-house translation.
Chapter 1 contains 2,345 words with 32 footnotes.

11 Mar 2024

Added Chapter 2 of the in-house translation.
Chapter 2 contains 2,542 words with 22 footnotes.

23 March 2024

Added Chapter 3 of the in-house translations.
Chapter 3 contains 2,144 words with 20 footnotes.
Fixed broken novel index links.

1 April 2024

Added Chapter 4 of the in-house translations.
Chapter 4 contains 2,510 words with 21 footnotes.
Fixed broken pagination links for Chapter 2 and 3.

28 June 2024

Added Chapter 5 of the in-house translations.
Chapter 5 contains 2,302 words with 21 footnotes.

2 August 2024

Added Chapter 6 of the in-house translations.
Chapter 6 contains 2,218 words with 17 footnotes.
Added footnotes for Chapter 1 and 5.

23 August 2024

Added Chapter 7 of the in-house translations.
Chapter 7 contains 2,345 words with 12 footnotes.
Added footnotes for Chapter 4 and 6.

30 November 2024

Added Chapter 8 of the in-house translations.
Chapter 8 contains 2,039 words with 16 footnotes.

14 January 2025

Added Chapter 9 of the in-house translations.
Chapter 9 contains 2,232 words with 32 footnotes.

20 May 2025

Added Chapter 10 of the in-house translation.
Chapter 10 contains 1,811 words with 23 footnotes.

24 May 2025

Added Chapter 11 of the in-house translation.
Chapter 11 contains 2,291 words with 32 footnotes.

18 October 2025

Renamed Chapters as Parts since the novella doesn’t have actual chapters.
Some parts were erroneously based on the Second Edition. All parts now based on Jin Yong’s Third Edition.
Restructured the flow for better narration across the parts, there are now 12 parts instead of 11.
Added the Mandarin Duck Blades 3rd Edition changes page to detail the changes between the Second and Third Editions.