Huang Rong

Huang Rong
Traditional Chinese	黃蓉
Simplified Chinese	黄蓉
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Huáng Róng Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Wong4 Jung4

Huang Rong is a fictional character in the wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). She also appears as a supporting character in the sequel The Return of the Condor Heroes.

Roles

The Legend of the Condor Heroes

Huang was born to Huang Yaoshi and Feng Heng. Her mother died shortly after she was born and her father raised her all by himself on Peach Blossom Island. She was an intelligent child and quick learner, so her father imparted her with all his skills and knowledge. She flees from home after an argument with her father and disguises herself as a beggar by donning filthy rags.

Huang meets Guo Jing for the first time in an inn while she was arguing with a waiter. Guo feels sorry for her and decides to pay for her meal. Huang finds Guo interesting and she orders all kinds of fine cuisine and shares with him. Guo even gives her some gold ingots he received from Genghis Khan. When she asks, Guo offers her his prized Ferghana horse, a rare Central Asian breed. Since then, Huang is attracted to Guo as she sees that he is a simple, honest and innocent young lad.

Guo and Huang embark on adventure together even though Guo's teachers, the "Seven Freaks of Jiangnan", dislike Huang and oppose Guo's decision to be with her. They meet Hong Qigong, who teaches Guo his 'Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms' to repay Huang's favours of preparing fine cuisine for him every day during the brief period of time he spent with them.

Hong initially refuses to teach Huang any skills when he learns that she is his rival Huang Yaoshi's daughter. However, he starts to like her for her cute nature, and especially after she and Guo saved his life from Ouyang Feng. He fought with Ouyang and was bitten by the latter's poisonous serpent, and lost all his inner energy in purging the venom from his body. He teaches Huang his 'Dog Beating Staff Technique' after deciding to pass on his position as the Beggars' Sect's chief to her.

Huang plays a significant role in Yang Kang's death although she does not kill him directly. Yang attacks her with a palm strike in an attempt to prevent her from revealing the truth behind the murders he committed. However, instead, he hits the spikes on the armour she is wearing. The armour was incidentally stained with venom from a rare snake bred by Ouyang Feng and the poison seeps through Yang's wounds into his body and kills him eventually.

Towards the end of the novel, on the summit of Mount Hua, Huang Yaoshi finally consents to his daughter's marriage to Guo Jing.

The Return of the Condor Heroes

Guo Jing and Huang Rong play supporting roles in the character development of the protagonist Yang Guo in the sequel. The couple have three children (Guo Fu, Guo Xiang, and Guo Polu) and have also accepted the brothers Wu Xiuwen and Wu Dunru as their students.

During their first meeting with Yang Guo, Guo Jing accepts the boy immediately and wants to raise him like a son and groom him to become a young hero. However, Huang has reservations over her husband's decision. She feels that Yang bears an uncanny resemblance to his late father in his attitude and behaviour, and does not fully trust the boy. Yang was taught only literary arts and Confucian values during the brief period of time he spent with the couple.

Huang's attitude towards Yang Guo changes over time as her husband shows high regard for the boy and especially after Yang selflessly saved their family from danger again and again. At one point, she fears for Guo Fu's life, after her daughter sliced off Yang's arm in a heated argument, but Yang forgives Guo Fu and saves her life later. Huang only fully trusts Yang after he saved Guo Xiang from the Mongols in a later chapter.

Huang joins her husband in defending Xiangyang and provides him with all the support to resist the Mongol invaders. In The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, it is revealed that the couple realise that the eventual fall of Xiangyang is inevitable, so they wrote their knowledge of martial arts and military strategy on scrolls and hid them separately in the blades of the Heaven Reliant Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber, in the hope that future generations would inherit their legacy. Huang was killed along with the rest of her family (excluding Guo Xiang) after Xiangyang fell to the Mongols.

Character description

Huang is described as a young beggar dressed in filthy clothing during her first appearance in The Legend of the Condor Heroes. Her face is stained with mud and her clothes are covered in dust.Template:Jin Yong/SheDiao When Guo Jing agrees to meet her on the riverbank, she looks completely different from her earlier image, now that she is clean and dressed in beautiful clothes. Her appearance is described as "with skin whiter than snow, charm unrivaled by any, and a presence so stunning, one would almost blush from staring at her too intently". (肌膚勝雪，嬌美無比，容色絕麗，不可逼視) Guo is taken aback by her new look.Template:Jin Yong/SheDiao

Martial arts and skills

Huang Yaoshi

Huang learnt most her martial arts and skills from her father. Guo Jing is unable to fully grasp all these skills. Some of them are listed below.

• 'Peach Flower Fallen Hero Palm' (桃花落英掌), known in later editions as 'Falling Flower Divine Sword Palm' (落英神剑掌).
• 'Divine Flicking Finger' (弹指神通) is a technique of channeling a large amount of inner energy into a finger and releasing it with a precise amount of strength and control. It is used to propel objects towards enemies with force and accuracy.
• 'Jade Flute Swordplay' (玉箫剑法) is a type of swordplay that focuses on attacking an opponent's acupuncture points.

Hong Qigong

Huang meets Hong Qigong while out on adventure with Guo Jing. Hong teaches them his skills to repay Huang's favours of preparing fine cuisine for him. The skills Huang learnt from Hong are as follows:

• 'Carefree Fist' (逍遙遊) was created by Hong in his younger days. It requires flexibility and smoothness as its name "carefree" implies.
• 'Rain of Petals' (滿天花雨) is a skill created by Hong to counter Ouyang Ke and his snakes. It involves using sewing needles as dart-like throwing weapons.
• 'Dog Beating Staff Technique' (打狗棒法) is a skill known only to the Beggars' Sect's chief. This technique is one of the best among all pole weapons skills for its ever-changing styles and movements. Hong teaches Huang when he decides to pass on his position as chief to her. Huang teaches Lu Youjiao this skill later when she names him her successor.

Nine Yin Manual

The Nine Yin Manual is the most coveted martial arts manual of its time because of the incredible inner energy cultivation techniques and extraordinary skills it records. Guo Jing shares with Huang after memorising and learning the skills in the book. Mastering the manual's skills allows both of them to maximise the potential of the various skills they had learnt earlier.

Miscellaneous skills and knowledge

Huang acquired most of her knowledge of geography, medicine, strategy, mathematics, music, literature etc. from her father. She also inherited her mother's eidetic memory.

She is also versed in the art of laying formations, such as the Eight Trigrams Formation, to counter enemies' advances. She uses her powers to make huge rocks and boulders form an array and maze to confuse enemies and force them to retreat.

Huang is an excellent cook. She prepared several fine dishes for Hong Qigong to ask him to teach Guo Jing martial arts. Hong had a penchant for fine cuisine and could not resist the temptation that he had no choice but to keep his promise and teach Guo.

Family tree

Guo Jing and Huang Rong's family tree
Guo Xiaotian Guo Jing Guo Polu Li Ping Guo Xiang Huang Yaoshi Huang Rong Guo Fu Feng Heng Yelü Qi Yelü Chucai Yelü Zhu Yelü Yan Wu Santong Wu Dunru Wu Sanniang Wu Xiuwen Wanyan Ping
Notes:

References

• Template:Zh icon 黄蓉：最聪明最伶俐又最可爱的女人 (1) (2) - extracts about Huang Rong from Rankings of Characters in Jin Yong's Works (金庸人物排行榜) by Tan Xianmao (覃贤茂)