Tan Chuduan

Tan Chuduan

Contents

Tan Chuduan (simplified: 谭处端, traditional: 譚處端, pinyin: Tán Chǔduān, jyutping: taam4 cyu5 dyun1), the Changzhenzi (长真子, Chángzhēnzǐ), was the second disciple of Wang Chongyang and the second of the Seven Zis of Quanzhen. He was killed by Ouyang Feng at Niu Family Village, and his death was blamed on Huang Yaoshi, setting the Quanzhen Order against the master of Peach Blossom Island.

Biography

Early life

Before leaving the household life, Tan Chuduan had been a blacksmith in Shandong; on joining Quanzhen he took the Daoist name Changzhenzi. He ranked second among Wang Chongyang’s seven disciples, after Ma Yu and before Liu Chuxuan, Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi, Hao Datong and Sun Buer. When Qiu Chuji fixed the meeting with Wanyan Honglie’s retainers in Jiangnan, Tan and Liu Chuxuan were travelling elsewhere and could not be reached in time.

Death at Niu Family Village

After Huang Yaoshi knocked out half the teeth of Qiu Chuji’s disciple Yin Zhiping, Qiu Chuji insisted on going to see him, and the Seven Zis, all then near Lin’an, went together to Niu Family Village. Tan Chuduan, Liu Chuxuan and Hao Datong waited outside the village in support. They gave chase when Zhou Botong, Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng raced past, but could not keep up. On his way back Tan met Mei Chaofeng and attacked her, knowing the Twin Evils of Dark Wind only as evildoers and unaware that she had since returned to her shifu’s school and reformed. He reached the village inn with his hair dishevelled, two bloody weals across his face and his jian broken in half, with Mei Chaofeng close behind.

The Seven Zis met her inside the inn in the Big Dipper Formation, Tan holding the Tianxuan (天璇) position. When Huang Yaoshi returned and took on the formation himself, Ouyang Feng, who had been watching, cried out that he would help Huang Yaoshi and struck Tan from behind with both palms while he was locked in combat. Ouyang Feng used only three-tenths of his strength, but the blow broke Tan’s ribs and spine. Ouyang Feng fled, calling out that he had helped Huang Yaoshi break Wang Chongyang’s formation, so that the blame fell on Huang Yaoshi, who would not stoop to deny it. Before he died Tan recited the line 手握灵珠常奋笔，心开天籁不吹箫 (“Spirit pearl in hand, I ever ply the brush; my heart open to heaven’s music, I blow no flute”).

Aftermath

With Tan dead the formation was broken, and the six remaining Zis withdrew, carrying his body. Believing that Huang Yaoshi had killed both Tan and Zhou Botong, they later surrounded him again in the formation, with Ke Zhen’e and then Yin Zhiping filling Tan’s place. Guo Jing, who had witnessed the killing from the inn’s secret chamber, told them the truth, and when they turned on Ouyang Feng, Ma Yu recited Tan’s dying line to rouse them. After the fight at the Misty Rain Pavilion, knowing Ouyang Feng to be the real killer, the Quanzhen Daoists formally apologised to Huang Yaoshi.

Personality & traits

Tan Chuduan was brawny and powerfully built, with a knotted, muscular face, thick eyebrows and large eyes, and a rough, booming voice. He was quick on his feet, faster than Liu Chuxuan in the pursuit of Zhou Botong. His attack on Mei Chaofeng sprang from his sense of justice.

Martial arts abilities

Tan fought with a jian. As one of the Seven Zis he held the Tianxuan position in the Big Dipper Formation (天罡北斗阵), forming the bowl of the Dipper with Ma Yu, Liu Chuxuan and Qiu Chuji. His loss weakened the formation: in the later fight against Huang Yaoshi, had Tan still been alive the seven would have moved as one and never let Huang Yaoshi seize its key position.

Relationships

The Seven Zis

Tan Chuduan was Wang Chongyang’s second disciple and the shixiong of the five Zis below him. His fellow disciples mourned him deeply; Ma Yu wept as he held him and Sun Buer wept over his body, and their feud with Huang Yaoshi was waged to avenge him and Zhou Botong.

Ouyang Feng

Ouyang Feng killed Tan Chuduan to break the formation, to weaken Huang Yaoshi before the second contest on Mount Hua, and to set Quanzhen against Peach Blossom Island.

Behind the scenes

The historical Tan Chuduan (1123—1185), originally named Tan Yu (谭玉), was from Ninghai Prefecture. Jin Yong’s appendix on the Quanzhen Order records that he came to Wang Chongyang gravely ill with leprosy, was cured, and was named Chuduan, styled Changzhenzi; that he later served as head of the Order; and that the real Seven Zis and later heads were not necessarily martial artists. It also retells the legend of the characters “tortoise and snake” (龟蛇) he wrote for a teahouse keeper in Gaotang, whose teahouse alone escaped a neighbourhood fire. Quanzhen tradition credits the historical Tan with the Namo School (南无派), one of the Order’s later branches; it does not appear in the novel.

Portrayals

Tan Chuduan has appeared in various television and film adaptations of Jin Yong’s novels, though his role is typically smaller than those of more prominent characters like Ma Yu or Qiu Chuji:

The Legend of the Condor Heroes

See also

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