This is not a news article. Purely my thought. Prereqs: “Legend of the Condor Heroes”, TVB 1994, Athena Chu, Julian Cheung, Gallen Lo; “Golden Faith”, TVB 2002, Jessica Hsuan, Gallen Lo, Deric Wan, Raymond Lam.
I once asked myself, if Yang Kang had not been born into the Sung dynasty, what would have happened? What if the setting for “Legend of the Condor Heroes” had been moved a few hundred years later where the Jin-Sung conflict might have come in some other form, such as in the case of a big bad greedy corporation being battled by a few good men who stand by the law, what would we have had, then?
Taken the character out of his social and historical backdrop, and what do you see? We see a son and a foster home. We see a devoted foster father to whom the son looks up with respect and admiration. We see, in the mind of the son, the idealization (or rather, the idolization) of how a man should be, stemming directly from the father.
Would that description fit quite a few others such as, say, Ivan Ding of “Golden Faith”?
In Ivan, we also see a son who is torn between his foster home and what are defined by the society as being the right things to do. Just like Yang Kang assumes the risk of becoming a traitor to his country, Ivan assumes the risk of becoming a criminal by sticking by his foster family. The moments the two break away from the only thing they have known in their lives so far as families, they become miserable in quite many ways. One being the inability to soar with their strengths. The foster homes provide them the much needed platform where their talents, in both cases here the ability to strategically lead, could be powerfully displayed. Regardless of whether it is the present Ding Fung or the Sung’s Jin, there our characters feel the need for their presences the strongest. Their “homes” give them somewhat a sense of being appreciated.
But that’s where the parallel lines diverge. While Ivan comes back to Ding Fung with an almost impossible, self-assumed mission on his shoulder, Yang Kang comes back to Jin for comfort and because of greed. The equivalent of Ivan’s mission to straighten Ding Fung’s business would be for Yang Kang to be true to his promise he makes to his lady Nianci, to persuade the Jin to stop invading Sung’s land, and to lead Jin the right way.
Aside from the lack of integrity in Yang Kang, other factors which force Yang Kang’s path to stray so far away from Ivan’s might include their significant others. While both Rachel and Mu Nianci hold their principles absolutely rigid, they execute them much differently. Rachel, though still loves Ivan dearly, cuts short their relationship and hence makes a very strong statement. Nianci, on the other hand, fools herself into believing Yang Kang’s excuses (read: lies) every time without failing. Nianci, in a way, greatly encourages the “duality” in Yang Kang’s personality. She is truly the lifeboat for his creative lies. This is a confusing analogy since removing this lifeboat and this Yang Kang who is willing to lead Jin the right way will drown and die. That’s true, but one never knows. He might keep trying to survive on his own and hence kill his alternate, evil persona - the Yang Kang we know. Oh well, it is just wishful thinking on my part. Afterall, the biggest problem with Yang Kang is still his lack of integrity, and we do need an antagonist for “Legend”.
Now for the sake of completeness, we can also think of some ways to turn Ivan into a baddie. But wait, isn’t he already one? Remember, Ivan kills (or thinks he kills) his foster father’s long-time business partner. If Ivan’s action can be justified and redeemed by saying he is forced to pull the trigger because his younger foster sister’s life is on the line, then Yang Kang’s killing rage toward Ouyang Ke after the later insults Nianci may as well be sympathized. Ivan also lies. He lies under oath, obstructs justice and inadvertently helps tossing Rachel’s career out of the window. Ivan’s lies, however, are for the purpose of saving other people’s reputations and lives but never his own. And I guess that makes all the differences.
Still, I want to wonder what kind of fate Ivan would have faced had he been adopted into not the Ding, but the Jin royal family, almost a thousand years ago.
MetalAZNWarrior | 03-May-08 at 9:15 pm | Permalink
Oh wow, I would never have thought to compare these two characters! Interesting comparisons, good post Mimosa.
You raise good points. I didn’t watch Golden Faith [or rather only half-watched it], so I can’t really talk about Ivan… but I do have some thoughts on Kang from your post.
Kang was raised to believe he was a royal prince of the Jin country. It’s a hard blow for anyone to take to find out everything he/she grew up knowing/believing is a lie. I don’t blame him for having difficulty accepting his real father and accepting the fact that he’s not who he thought he was. No one can readily do that. It takes time.
However, a person with morals and integrity would get over it and learn to build life anew. Sadly, Kang was raised spoiled, allowed to get what he wanted.
The big difference between Kang and Ivan would be the foster father they had. Genetics may control personality, but I do believe environment plays a huge role as well.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Mimosa | 04-May-08 at 1:11 am | Permalink
Metal, you summed him up perfectly. It was the lack of morals and integrity that destroyed him.
And I agree nurture plays as much if not more as nature does in shaping a person. The fathers, foster ones in these two cases, were whom their sons model after. And Ivan was just a little more fortunate.
Now I’m thinking about Yang Kang’s son. One could argue that he got positive influences from the environment to offset the bad genes from his father. Or one can say the environment he grew up in wasn’t exactly, well, nurturing, so he must have inherited some good genes somewhere, maybe his mother. I tend to believe that the Yang’s F1 (Kang) did pass the good genes that had been run in the family down to his son. And in this F2, all these good genes just suddenly became dominant again ^.^
Which genes were responsible for integrity and morals, I wonder. J/k.
I got carried away, didn’t I. What I originally wanted to say was that I’m honored to have you stopping by, Metal. I don’t generally write. In fact, this is my second piece only. And as I shared on my first piece, I got inspired by, well, the author of TVB Musings. I’m sure you know him.
mouse | 04-May-08 at 9:05 am | Permalink
This is an interesting comparison. Recently I got e chance to rewatch “Condor 94″ again.. the last time I watched it was maybe 10 yrs ago… it’s a whole new feeling watching it again. I dunno what to comment but I do enjoy ur writings. Write more, sistie! >:D<
MetalAZNWarrior | 04-May-08 at 11:16 am | Permalink
Aww you’re too sweet Mimosa.
By the way, I’ve linked you! Thank you for linking me.
I actually couldn’t bring myself to like Yeung Gwoh when I initially watched Return of Condor Heroes solely because I was prejudiced and biased against him because of his dad.
Haha. I think Yeung Gwoh shares similiar traits as his father - smooth-talking, “tricky”, stubborn, etc.
I don’t think he grew up in the best environment either because he was orphaned at a young age and often looked down upon, but the good thing was that he never had a big ego because of his poor conditions.
The more I watched though, the more I grew to finally accept and like him.
TkN | 06-May-08 at 5:11 pm | Permalink
I failed your prerequisites as I haven’t seen “Legend of the Condor Heroes” but decided to read on nonetheless. And, I believe it has inspired a new feature for TVB Guide.
I’m still uncertain if I really want to materialize my thinking. But of course, in the event that I will, I’ll most definitely credit you as the source of my inspiration. 
tarepanda | 09-May-08 at 9:06 pm | Permalink
It’s funny what you find when you put your heart to it, huh? I guess I should start by asking if you remember me first, shouldn’t I? :/ It’s been a very, very long time I must say. I don’t know what it is lately, but there seems to be a lot of unexpected reunions for me.
Not much particular substance and comment to this post, but I just really, really wanted to drop by and say the least.
Mimosa | 14-May-08 at 10:43 pm | Permalink
My apologies for the late reply, but I was busy flying over to Houston over the weekend to attend a friend’s wedding (rest assured, it wasn’t Bush’s daughter’s, haha), then the week has been quite hectic since. But here I am, stealing a few minutes
Metal, I caught your review on “Return”. Informative and entertaining as usual. Also, much thanks for taking your time to answer my silly questions
Mimosa | 14-May-08 at 10:48 pm | Permalink
TkN, you know that curiosity could kill
Now I have yet another reason to follow TVB Guide even more religiously, 
Mimosa | 14-May-08 at 10:53 pm | Permalink
Tara! Sai Mei!!! What a sweet surprise! Where have you been? How have you been? And how can I forget you? We still have a few… unfinished businesses, haven’t we?
I hope you could stop by more often, or better yet, drop me an email or two… We have a lot to catch up
Miss you much! I’m sure your Yee Jie feels the same. >:D<
TkN | 14-May-08 at 11:33 pm | Permalink
I’m sorry for the disappointment but I forgo the idea. On second thought, it was too… “feminine” and pointless for my liking. lol.
TkN | 15-May-08 at 12:33 am | Permalink
I feel I should elaborate because to say that you inspired an idea in which I later deem “feminine and pointless” would be too rude of me.
You see, this article made me ponder… what if characters from different series (and perhaps timezones) get the chance to interact? Who would then pair up with whom? Who would be a better best friend? Who are most compatible? And while jotting down various possibilities, I realize… OMG, I’m not about to do launch a TVB matchmaking service am I!?? lol. So, I threw away whatever drafts I had. 
Mimosa | 17-May-08 at 8:22 am | Permalink
You make me smile, TkN. I’ve just realized that I do this “TVB matchmaking” exercise quite often
Sometimes I just can’t help but feel frustrated at certain characters and/or the pairings, so naturally I start… swapping. 
tarepanda | 19-May-08 at 8:19 pm | Permalink
Mainly hiding at livejournal.
Been busy with school too. The usual. But it’s been good, what about you? I can’t believe it’s already been 3 years. I’ll definitely email you when I finally get out of high school for good this summer. Did you change your email? I did, actually. haha. If you want a head start, email me at cyberslowpoke [at] hotmail [dot] com. I’ll drop by as much as I can. 