The Legend Of The Book And The Sword (1988)

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Contents

[edit] Introduction

I think this series is a remake of The Legend Of The Book And The Sword (1979) version starring Adam Cheng Siu-Chow & Liza Wang Ming-Chuen

[edit] First Broadcast

  • TVB - 1988

[edit] Title

  • Chinese: 書åŠ?æ?©ä»‡éŒ„
  • Cantonese: Shu Kiem Yan Sau Yeun
  • English: The Legend Of The Book and the Sword
  • Vietnamese : ThÆ° kiếm ân cừu lục

[edit] Episodes

  • 32


[edit] Cast

[edit] Theme Songs

[edit] Genre

[edit] Summaries

Background:

There have been many scandalous stories shrouding Emperor Kin Lung, the 6th emperor of the Ching Dynasty. One of the most common rumors was that he was actually an offspring of Han. In this series, originally written by Jin Yong, it also states that the emperor is not from royal blood. He was given birth to by someone with a last name 'Chan' (Lau Siu Ming) who served the previous emperor, Yung Ching. When Chan went into the palace with his newborn baby, he was forced to give up his son upon Yung Ching's order because at that time, neither the empress nor the concubines could conceive a son that would be an heir. 20 years later, before Yung Ching passed away, he ordered that the entire Chan household be executed in order to keep this secret. This was right after Chan had another baby boy, named Ka Lok. Chan's wife refused to drink the poison that was bequeathed onto them, and while struggling with an officer, her kung fu brother named Yu Man Ting rescued her baby son and her. She went to live in seclusion and handed Yu Man Ting the responsibility of raising Ka Lok because otherwise, Ka Lok would be in constant danger. The series unfolds from this point on...

Synopsis:

Yu Man Ting was the leader of the Red Flower Society, which was an anti-Ching organization. He adopted Ka Lok upon his kung fu sister's request and sent him to learn kung fu from his friend (played by Kwan Hoi San). When Chan Ka Lok (Nelson Pang) turned 20 years old, he begged his master to let him see the real world. He was permitted to do so when the master lost a bet to him. So he got out to the real world, with his younger friend (and a kung fu brother) Ah Yin (Dicky Cheung).

The emperor, Kin Lung (Simon Yam), who was in his 40's now, had big ambitions and was planning to take over a stubborn Islamic tribe that refused to surrender. To achieve this goal, he sent his henchmen to the tribe to steal their holy book, Koran. This was done successfully so the whole tribe was alarmed. The leader of the tribe and his two children went out to reclaim Koran. The stealer was very close to getting caught but he met Ka Lok and Ah Yin who were traveling, so he deviously framed his crime on them and escaped. So the tribe, especially the daughter of the leader, Fok Ching Tung (Jacqueline Law) thought Ka Lok and Ah Yin had stolen Koran. But after a couple of incidents, Ka Lok and Ah Yin were proven innocent. Ching Tung and Ka Lok became good friends afterwards.

On the other hand, Yu Man Ting and the 4th brother of the Red Flower Society named Mun Tai Loi (Sek Sau), snuck into the emperor's palace to notify him of his true identity. The Emperor was startled and shocked to hear that he was not a royal blood, and in order to keep this secret, he sent his men after Yu Man Ting and Mun Tai Loi to kill them. Yu Man Ting did get killed while being chased after, but Mun Tai Loi escaped with his wife Lok Bing (Money Chan). Mun Tai Loi and Lok Bing were constantly attacked everywhere they went. They joined with their 14th brother Yu Yue Tung (Lawrence Ng) and continued to escape.

When Ka Lok heard about Yu Man Ting's death, he was very upset. The other members of the Red Flower Society told him to take over and be the next leader, but he refused saying that he was not competent enough. With all of them kneeling down in front of him, he reluctantly accepted the responsibility and became the new leader of the RFS.

Lee Yuen Chi (Kitty Lai) was a mischievous young girl with a lot of curiosity. She was the only daughter of an influential man that worked for the government. She was highly interested in learning kung fu and begged her master Luk Fei Ching (Lau Kong) to teach her, but he only taught her writing. She always fooled around and steathily learned kung fu from her dad's soldiers.

But an opportunity finally came for Yuen Chi to learn kung fu one day. Luk Fei Ching was formerly a student of Mo Dong Clan and because of his righteous personality, he had made enemies with many evil people. He was severely attacked by one of them one night and Yuen Chi took care of him. From then on, Luk Fei Ching decided to teach her kung fu.

One day, Yuen Chi got to meet Ching Tung who came to China again to reclaim their Koran. Yuen Chi had always been disguised as a guy, so at first they had some misunderstandings, but they soon became very good friends.

Yuen Chi's dad was promoted and the whole family had to move down south. On her way, she met a handsome young man who played a golden flute. It turned out to be Yu Yue Tung and she began taking a great interest in him. (*Note: Yu Yue Tung's nickname is Golden Flute Genius). Yuen Chi also discovered that she was a kung fu sister of Yu Yue Tung, since his master was the current leader of Mo Dong.

Yu Yue Tung was battling against his own emotions because he loved Lok Bing who was already married to Mun Tai Loi. He scolded himself often for his sinful thoughts but couldn't help it. While he was helping Lok Bing and Mun Tai Loi escape from the soldiers sent by the Emperor, they all met Luk Fei Ching who guided them to hide out at a safe place owned by the man named Chow (Ng Man Tat). They did so and the Chow family was very nice to them, especially the wife (Ho Mei Yee). But when the Ching soldiers came to search the house while Chow was out, their little son was forced to tell the soldiers where the RFS rebels were hiding. Mun Tai Loi was thus captured but he made sure that Lok Bing escaped safely with Yu Yue Tung. When Chow came back, he yelled at his son for what he did and accidentally killed him. His wife got very upset at this and went out of the house.

As Yu Yue Tung and Lok Bing ran away, they decided to spend the night in a cave. Yu Yue Tung was unable to control his feelings (you dog Lawrence!! ^^) and he tried to kiss Lok Bing while she was asleep but she woke up and got extremely angry. After hearing his confession and having some arguments, she ran away. But due to exhaustion and stress, she fainted in the middle of the forest. She was discovered and rescued by Chow Yee (Kiki Sheung), a tomboyish daughter of Chow.

Lok Bing woke up to find out that she was back at the Chow's. Just in time, the rest of RFS came with Chan Ka Lok in the lead. When they found out that Mun Tai Loi was captured, they were all upset and they blamed it on the Chow household. Yee stood in her defense and said that they were at no fault. After engaging in a couple fights with RFS, all the misunderstandings were resolved but the house was set on fire by Lok Bing's enemy so Yee and her dad decided to stay with RFS.

Yee however, was still very angry at RFS because her little brother died and her mother ran out of the house. She was especially not chummy with Tsui Tin Wang (Liu Kai Chi), the 7th brother of RFS. Tin Wang though, was the 'brain' of this group and he was also a very caring person. For RFS at that moment, the biggest task was to rescue Mun Tai Loi that was captured. Lok Bing especially was eager to do so.

Yu Yue Tung felt guilty about what he had done to Lok Bing and in order to repent, he decided to go rescue Mun Tai Loi by himself. Unfortunately, he failed to do so and he too was captured by the Ching soldiers and was jailed with Mun Tai Loi. Everyone from RFS thought that he just disappeared so they didn't pay much attention. (Damn!)

Yuen Chi and her master Luk Fei Ching were traveling around together (Yuen Chi completely neglected her family in the midst of moving!). They found out about RFS and decided to be their company because Luk Fei Ching had some acquaintances.

RFS had to try many times to get Mun Tai Loi out but they all failed. Then they met an opportunity where they could rescue him. Both Mun Tai Loi and Yu Yue Tung were being transported to the Emperor's palace so RFS attacked the line. Yuen Chi safely got Yu Yue Tung out and Mun Tai Loi was on a verge of being rescued as well but they failed - on top of that, Tin Wang was also shot with an arrow and everyone in RFS was dispersed to many different places when they escaped.

Yuen Chi took Yu Yue Tung with her and took care of him because he was injured. Yee escaped with Tin Wang and she took care of his wounds (then there goes love hahaha). After RFS members reunited, they planned on the rescuing process again but it wasn't all so easy. Meanwhile, the Emperor was trying to convince Mun Tai Loi to reveal where they hid the secret items related to his birth. But Mun Tai Loi refused to speak.

Even though things were chaotic, Chan Ka Lok and Ching Tung still remained good friends. With Tin Wang's wisdom and the help of RFS, they were able to claim Koran back for Ching Tung. Chan Ka Lok didn't know that Yuen Chi was a girl (remember, she always dresses up as a guy) and thought that Ching Tung and Yuen Chi were going out. He too had liked Ching Tung somewhat and he felt weird by it.

In Ching Tung's tribe, everyone had to constantly worry about being attacked by the Ching soldiers. As their solution, Ching Tung's father decided to offer the Emperor with their valuables - two vases where the faces of his daughters are engraved. He had two daughters - Ching Tung was one of them and the other one was Princess Heung Heung (Fiona Leung) which meant that she was a fragrant princess (she appears way later in the series though). When RFS heard about this news, they decided to steal one of the vases so they can persuade the Emperor to trade it with Mun Tai Loi. This plan didn't really work either but in some skewed way, RFS did succeed in getting him out.

So the ordeal ended and it was RFS' turn to get back on the Emperor. A beautiful lady from a brothel on their side named Luk Yu Yee (Jamie Chic) seduced the Emperor and RFS captured him with her help. They imprisoned him in a 6-story top and 'politely' asked him to be more kind on Chinese people. Chan Ka Lok also told him that he knew that they were blood-related brothers (Mun Tai Loi had told Chan Ka Lok this while he was captured. Also, Chan Ka Lok and the Emperor had met twice before and the Emperor really liked him). The Emperor half-heartedly agreed to their terms. After they promised each other not to kill each other, the Emperor was about to be set free but the soldiers came to rescue him, led by his nephew Fook Hong On who was actually his son. (*Fook Hong On, played also by Nelson Pang, has the same face as Chan Ka Lok). After the Emperor walked out safely, the soldiers set the 6-story tower on fire and it was about to explode... but Yu Yue Tung appeared out of nowhere and turned off the fire. Due to this, his face was severely burned and he refused to speak to anybody, even Lok Bing.

At least some people were kept happy though, and that was Tin Wang and Yee. They decided to get married and things were even better because they had also found Yee's mother who had run out. On their wedding night, Yuen Chi secretly visited Yu Yue Tung but was startled by how cold he had become. Yu Yue Tung decided to become a monk and sad his farewell to everyone. After he became a monk, he coincidentally met his master. His master was trying hard to reform his younger kung fu brother who worked for the Emperor, named Cheung. But he unfortunately got killed by Cheung and when Yu Yue Tung witnessed this, he vowed to revenge so he quit being a monk and came back to RFS.

Around this time, both the RFS and Ching Tung's tribe somehow received the news that the Emperor was going to attack the tribe soon. To help out his friend, Chan Ka Lok headed to Ching Tung's tribe with his members. On his way in the desert, he met a beautiful (GAG!) girl who was taking a bath and fell completely for her. The girl was Princess Heung Heung, whom he recognized from a flower vase awhile ago. He also found out that the girl was Ching Tung's younger sister. When Ching Tung discovered that Chan Ka Lok had fallen in love with her sister, she could do nothing but swallow her tears because she loved her sister very much. Even her father told her to yield Chan Ka Lok to Heung Heung.

As predicted, the Ching soldiers did invade Ching Tung's tribe. Even with the help of RFS, the small tribe was losing severely. The RFS was trapped and they couldn't do anything. During this period, Chan Ka Lok and Princess Heung Heung openly showed affection for each other, which made the RFS members quite unhappy because they all knew that Ching Tung had always liked their leader. One of them broke out of the trap and ran over to Ching Tung for help. Despite her family's opposition and lack of confidence in her abilities, Ching Tung bravely fought against the Ching soldiers with her wisdom and tactics to rescue her friends and her tribe. Once again, her tribe was at peace for awhile.

In this excursion, many things were discovered - Yee was pregnant, and Yu Yue Tung decided to like Yuen Chi which kept her very happy. RFS went back to China but many months later around the time Yee gave birth to her son, Ching Tung's tribe was attacked once again by the Ching soldiers - this time, everyone in the tribe got killed except Ching Tung and the soldiers captured Princess Heung Heung and took her to the Emperor. The Emperor undoubtedly fell in love with her as well but he found out that she was Chan Ka Lok's lover. He threatened her to kill Chan Ka Lok and RFS if she didn't become his. But to preserve her innocence, she committed suicide. Before she died, she warned Chan Ka Lok to look out for the Emperor (he still innocently believed what the Emperor had promised before, so he gave him the secret items related to his birth back).

Chan Ka Lok met Ching Tung and found out that the Emperor had broken his promise. They both vowed to revenge. At that time, RFS was invited to some party in the palace and they all went. It was a party planned to annihilate them. In the mean time, Cheung whom they thought was dead reappeared to RFS home and killed their 10th brother and Yee's mom. He also took away Yee's baby son. At the party, when RFS discovered that they were about to be killed, Chan Ka Lok and Ching Tung held the Emperor as their hostage but Cheung appeared in time and threatened to kill the baby if they didn't let go. Tin Wang insisted on sacrificing the baby but Yee begged Chan Ka Lok to not kill the Emperor so the baby could live. Chan Ka Lok and Ching Tung reluctantly let go of the Emperor but on their way out of the palace, they captured Fook Hong On as their hostage. They also killed Cheung in the process. The Emperor who really treasured Fook Hong On asked them to let him go. RFS requested to the Emperor to reduce tax and be a good emperor, and when the time where the whole nation is at peace, they would let him go.

In the end, the remainder of RFS which included Mun Tai Loi and Lok Bing, Tin Wang and Yee, Yee's dad, Yu Yue Tung and Yuen Chi, Luk Fei Ching and Chan Ka Lok decided to go to some place faraway until they regain strength to complete their goal of shaping a better nation for their people. In the last scene, Chan Ka Lok asked Ching Tung what her plans were, and she simply replied that she'd travel around since she has no home to go to. As Ching Tung disappears slowly, Chan Ka Lok sorrowfully yells Princess Heung Heung's name as the series ends.

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