The Legend of the Condor Heroes

The entire series of Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong is right here on Youtube for free with English subtitles. I have heard it is good, but I have not watched it yet. If you do, please leave some review comments below. 

There is a new translation of it in the works.

The background to this epic collection of Wuxia stories is fascinating. After the Boxer Uprising, there was a massive effort to eliminate martial arts, religion and theater because the way they were mixed together was blamed for China's humiliation at the the hands of foreigners and the main source of the "Sick Man of Asia" concept. But then Jingwu and similar movements in religion and theater figured out they could follow the Western model and separate theater, martial arts, and religion. For martial artists this was a huge struggle. Because what are martial arts without story and morality and aesthetics? They are nothing and not worth giving a second thought. Just get a gun. Anyway, Jin Yong was at the the center of the movement to re-think this problem. He created a whole new set of stories and mythology to go with the Martial Arts. The characters were not entirely new, but the stories were. They got rid of a the more offensive characters from Chinese Opera that were the original source of "the problem." They handle religious issues as fantasy. Which was a big step, because they did not want people believing that Martial Arts would make them bullet proof. 

It is also interesting from a Jungian Psychology point of view. It was like the new stories Yin Jong and other wrote, came from the Chinese Collective Unconscious. Such a cool idea when you dig down into it. Enjoy.