Feifeng Qianlong
| Author | Liang Yusheng |
|---|---|
| Original title | 飛鳳潛龍 |
| Language | Chinese |
| Genre | Wuxia |
| Set in | 12th-century China |
| Publisher | Cheng Wu Pao |
Publication date | November 1966 |
| Publication place | Hong Kong |
| Media type | |
| ISBN | 9789622578760 |
| Feifeng Qianlong | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 飛鳳潛龍 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 飞凤潜龙 | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Flying Phoenix and Hidden Dragon | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Feifeng Qianlong (飛鳳潛龍), literally Flying Phoenix and Hidden Dragon, is a wuxia novel by Liang Yusheng. It was first published as a serial in the Hong Kong newspaper Cheng Wu Pao (正午報) in November 1966.[1][2][3] Set between the 12th and 13th centuries in China, the story mixes espionage, romance and tragedy against the backdrop of the wars between the Song and Jin dynasties, and the rise of the Mongol Empire.
The novel is one of Liang Yusheng's shorter serials and forms part of his novels set in the Song dynasty, alongside Kuangxia Tianjiao Monü, Hanhai Xiongfeng, Mingdi Fengyun Lu and Fengyun Leidian. Critics and later scholars have described it as a compact, suspense-driven work that departs from Liang Yusheng's longer epics through its focus on betrayal and moral conflict.
Publication history
Feifeng Qianlong was first published as a serial in the Hong Kong newspaper Cheng Wu Pao (正午報) in November 1966.[1] Subsequent reprints include a 1995 edition by Storm & Stress Publishing Company,[4] and a 1996 edition by Cosmos Books.[5]
Plot summary
The story is set in 13th-century China against the backdrop of the wars between the Song and Jin empires, while the Mongols rise in the north.
In the Jin capital Zhongdu, Lu Shixiong passes a series of tests and joins the yanjingyuan, a secret institution established by the Jin prince Wanyan Zhangzhi to study martial arts manuals stolen from the Song Empire. Lu Shixiong also marries Wanyan Zhangzhi's goddaughter, Dugu Feifeng, and they have two children over the next five years.
Around the time, a Song spy known as "Hidden Dragon" is operating in Zhongdu, and he turns out to be Meng Zhonghuan, Dugu Feifeng's ex-lover. Lu Shixiong is also revealed to be a Mongol spy sent to steal secrets from the yanjingyuan with the aid of Zhuma, his former romantic partner in Mongolia.
Just as Lu Shixiong frets over how to get past the tight security, Meng Zhonghuan breaks into the yanjingyuan and disables all the traps. Wanyan Zhangzhi orders Lu Shixiong to reset the traps, providing him the perfect opportunity to steal the secrets and leave them at a collection point for Zhuma. Upon completing his mission, Lu Shixiong plans to leave Zhongdu for good, so he returns home to take one last look at his family. Dugu Feifeng, who is already suspicious of her husband, confronts him and learns the truth.
Meanwhile, Wanyan Zhangzhi has discovered Lu Shixiong's true identity and sent his men to capture the spy. Meng Zhonghuan shows up, fends off Wanyan Zhangzhi's men, and takes the prince's son hostage. It turns out that Meng Zhonghuan has stolen the secrets from Zhuma after she picked them up, and he intends to take Dugu Feifeng away with him.
Lu Shixiong, shocked by the sudden turn of events, commits suicide in shame for letting down his family and failing his mission. Meng Zhonghuan, still holding the hostage, forces Wanyan Zhangzhi to allow Dugu Feifeng and her children to leave. However, Dugu Feifeng feels guilty for betraying her godfather, so she also takes her own life. A heartbroken Meng Zhonghuan leads the children safely to his wulin allies in the Song Empire before killing himself too.
Principal characters
- Dugu Feifeng (獨孤飛鳳), nicknamed "Sky Soaring Phoenix" (沖天鳳) – Wanyan Zhangzhi's goddaughter and Lu Shixiong's wife.
- Meng Zhonghuan (孟中還), nicknamed "Hidden Dragon of the Southern Sea" (南海潛龍) – a swordsman serving as a spy for the Song Empire in Zhongdu.
- Lu Shixiong (魯世雄) – a Mongol spy who marries Dugu Feifeng.
- Zhuma (珠瑪) – Lu Shixiong's previous romantic partner from Mongolia.
- Wanyan Zhangzhi (完顏長之) – a Jin prince and general who oversees the yanjingyuan.
Reception and legacy
Feifeng Qianlong is one of Liang Yusheng's shorter works and is commonly categorised together with his other novels set in the Song dynasty. It was first published as a serial in the Hong Kong newspaper Cheng Wu Pao (正午報) from November 1966 and has subsequently been reprinted in collected editions.[2][3]
Scholarly treatments of Liang Yusheng's corpus tend to situate Feifeng Qianlong within the author's mid-1960s works, noting that it differs from many of his longer, more expansive novels by being comparatively concise and suspense-driven. Academic overviews and theses that survey Liang Yusheng's serialised works and stylistic evolution cite the novel when discussing variations in length, tone and narrative experiment across his oeuvre.[6][7]
Contemporary press and later retrospectives characterise the novel as blending espionage and melodramatic romance with traditional wuxia motifs — an approach that has invited both praise for its narrative brevity and occasional criticism for its sombre ending and massed sacrifices. Bibliographic and exhibition materials from Hong Kong show that Feifeng Qianlong has been included in collected reprints of Liang Yusheng's works, indicating continuing publisher and market interest in the title.[8]
Overall, Feifeng Qianlong is better documented within bibliographic and retrospective surveys of Liang Yusheng's corpus than it is the subject of standalone scholarly analysis. It is therefore most often discussed in relation to Liang Yusheng's narrative experimentation in the 1960s, his engagement with espionage and romance motifs, and the publisher-driven practice of reprinting his shorter serials in collected editions.[6][3]
Adaptations
The novel was adapted into a 1981 Hong Kong film The Spy in the Palace produced by Great Wall Movie Enterprises.[9]
References
- ^ a b "A list of Liang Yusheng's 35 wuxia novels". Ming Pao Monthly (in Chinese). Ming Pao Monthly. 2 March 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2025.
- ^ a b "Feifeng Qianlong (Liang Yusheng)". National Taiwan University Library. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
- ^ a b c "Feifeng Qianlong". Hong Kong Book City (in Chinese). Retrieved 28 October 2025.
- ^ "Feifeng Qianlong". Sanmin (in Chinese). Retrieved 11 November 2025.
- ^ "Feifeng Qianlong". Cosmos Books (in Chinese). Retrieved 11 November 2025.
- ^ a b "A Study of Liang Yusheng's "Pingzong" Wuxia Novel Series" (PDF). Nanhua University Institutional Repository (in Chinese). Retrieved 30 October 2025.
- ^ Lin, Mei-shu (2010). "A Study of Female Characters in Liang Yusheng's Wuxia Novels". National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan (in Chinese). Retrieved 28 October 2025.
- ^ Xie, Junye. "A major reading event: The 2016 Hong Kong Book Fair focuses on wuxia literature as its annual reading theme". National Central Library (Taiwan) (in Chinese). Retrieved 28 October 2025.
- ^ "The Spy in the Palace (1981)". Douban Films (in Chinese). Retrieved 28 October 2025.