Mu Nianci

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Mu Nianci (simplified Chinese: 穆念慈; traditional Chinese: 穆念慈; pinyin: Mù Niàn Cí; Jyutping: Muk6 Nim6 Ci4) is a character from Jin Yong^[2]'s Wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes. She is the love interest of the primary antagonist Yang Kang. She is also the mother of Yang Guo, the protagonist of the sequel novel The Return of the Condor Heroes.

Mu Nianci and Qin Nanqin

The character of Mu Nianci in the current edition of The Legend of the Condor Heroes is actually an amalgam of the original character of Mu Nianci and another character called Qin Nanqin. In the first edition, Mu Nianci is the love interest of Yang Kang but she is not the mother of Yang Guo. Instead, Qin Nanqin is raped by Yang Kang and she gives birth to Yang Guo subsequently. Qin becomes a nun and she travels with Mu Nianci before settling down to raise her child. After Yang Kang was poisoned, Mu Nianci mercy-kills him and commits suicide to join him in death. The author Jin Yong felt that Qin Nanqin's role is unnecessary and decided to merge the characters of Mu Nianci and Qin Nanqin as one in later editions.

Biography

Mu Nianci is an orphan. She is adopted by a man named Mu Yi and becomes his foster daughter. When she comes to of age, Mu Yi decides that it is time for him to find a suitable spouse for his foster daughter. The two of them travel around the land, staging martial arts contests for interested men within a certain age range to participate. If the contestant defeats Mu Nianci, Mu Nianci will marry him. However, no man has been able to defeat Mu Nianci all these years. She learnt some martial arts from the "Northern Beggar" Hong Qigong after a brief encounter with him earlier, in addition to those taught to her by her foster father.

Once, Mu Yi and Mu Nianci arrive in the capital city of the Jin Empire to stage another contest. A young prince named Wanyan Kang joins the contest out of mischief and he defeats Mu Nianci easily. According to the rules of the contest, Wanyan Kang must marry Mu Nianci, but he refuses. He molested Mu Nianci during the contest and took her shoe as a souvenir. Mu Yi is displeased with Wanyan Kang's attitude and he insists that Wanyan Kang marries his daughter. Wanyan Kang turns violent and shoves Mu Yi away. Guo Jing, who has been watching the contest nearby, stands up for Mu Yi and he chides Wanyan Kang for his behavior. Guo Jing and Wanyan Kang start to fight.

Just then, the prince's mother Bao Xiruo arrives on the scene and stops the fight. Mu Yi recognises Bao Xiruo and he is stunned. Mu is actually Yang Tiexin, Bao Xiruo's first husband, who was apparently killed 19 years ago. The young prince Wanyan Kang is actually Yang Tiexin's biological son. Wanyan Kang refuses to acknowledge his biological father and his parents commit suicide after being cornered by Wanyan Honglie.

Mu Nianci attempts to kill Wanyan Honglie to avenge her foster father but Yang Kang intervenes and stops her. In fact, Yang Kang has fallen in love with her ever since he first met her during the contest. Their love relationship gradually becomes more complicated. Yang Kang is unwilling to give up his status as a Jurchen noble so he can enjoy wealth, fame and power. Mu Nianci tries to persuade him to give up and follow her to become an ordinary Han Chinese citizen of Song. Yang Kang reveals his treacherous nature and collaborates with the Jurchens to exploit his own race. At the same time, he lies to Mu Nianci, who is unaware of his evil actions. Mu believes that Yang has changed for the better.

Mu Nianci discovers Yang's true nature eventually and she decides to leave him for good. They never meet each other again, even after Yang Kang met his retributive end. However, Mu Nianci is already pregnant with Yang Kang's child and she gives birth to the child shortly after Yang Kang's death. The boy is named Yang Guo by Yang Kang's sworn brother Guo Jing, who hopes that the child will redeem his family's honour by doing good and never follow his father's footsteps. Mu Nianci raises Yang Guo all by herself for 11 years before her death. She is buried by Yang Guo in the Temple of the Iron Spear where Yang Kang died.

Film and TV adaptations

• List of actresses who played Mu Nianci
  • Lai Kwan Lin (1958)
  • Kara Hui (1978)
  • Lam Sau Kwan (1982)
  • Sharon Yeung (1983)
  • Emily Kwan (1994)
  • Jiang Qinqin (2003)
  • Liu Shishi (2006)

Notes and references

See also

• Yang Kang
• Yang Guo
• List of characters from The Legend of the Condor Heroes

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