Analyzing Yang Kang

Analyzing Yang Kang

With this article, I hope to analyze the fictional character of Yang Kang (born ca. 1203) from the Legend of the Condor Heroes novel of Jin Yong. Since I have yet to complete the novel, I will base this analysis on the 2003 TV Series, which follows more closely the novel, with the support of the 1983 version, and the minimal use of the 2008 version, because this version changes many things about Yang Kang. I hope that this analyses will make the readers to understand better the character of Yang Kang. I assume that you know Yang Kang's story, since this analyses contains many spoilers and needs knowledge of the basic storyline of LoCH to be understood.

Yang Kang: Choosing to be a Jin Prince than a Han citizen

Why Yang Kang decides to stay by Wanyan Honglie's side than joining the Song

Yang Kang is being seen as an evil person because of choosing to stay with Wanyan Honglie, the man who tried to kill his father and killed Guo Jing's father. Wanyan Honglie, also, being a Jin Prince, was a national enemy of the Chinese, since the Jin invaded and took over Northern China. So, by staying on Wanyan Honglie's side, Yang Kang betrayed his nation.  But Yang Kang's decision seems logical, looking at how he grew up. 

For 18 years, he grew up as a Jin Prince, in the Jin Royal Palace, with Wanyan Honglie as his father. Wanyan Honglie really loved Yang Kang and treated him like his own son. For Yang Kang, Wanyan Honglie was his father. So, it is of no surprise that Yang Kang, even after learning that his biological father was a Chinese and that Wanyan Honglie separated his family, still recognized him as his father. He could not just accept a person he barely knew as his father and kill the person who he viewed for 18 years as his father. So, staying with Wanyan Honglie seems logical for Yang Kang.

Another reason why Yang Kang decided to remain a Jin Prince can be seen in the 1983 Version of LoCH, in which Yang Kang, after deciding to leave the palace and try to live as a common citizen, was bullied and humiliated by Jin soldiers, and in the 2008 Version, in which Yang Kang faces difficulties adapting to his new life. By difficulties, I mean economical ones. And really, this is one of the main reasons why Yang Kang decides to remain a Jin Prince. Having grown up in a very, very rich environment which spoiled him, he cannot accept the loss of his wealth and status. He was used to live in luxury and being a famous person of status that everyone had to obey. So, how could he accept to live a (relative) poor life and have no status at all, as well as being bullied by the soldiers who, as a Jin Prince, could command? For a rich man to live like a poor is far more difficult than one who is already poor. Because the one who is already poor, has got used into living as a poor. But for one who has used living as a rich, how can he adapt to being poor?

An other reason for Yang Kang staying by Wanyan Honglie's side is because he wanted to make a name for himself, be famous and carve out an Empire. Yang Kang, like most Royal Princes, had great ambitions. Being an egomaniac, he wanted to be famous and be known to everyone. As a Song citizen, this could not happen. But as a Jin Prince and heir to the Imperial Throne, he could gain quite some fame. As a Jin Prince, Yang Kang could also build an Empire. As a Song citizen, not.

Finally, a reason that is underrated by many, but for me is important, is that Yang Kang grew as a Jin and so it is very possible that, even after knowing that he was a Chinese, he had a Jin national consciousness. So, for him, what he did was not betraying his nation, since he viewed himself as a Jin person.

Scheming against the enemies

Yang Kang's political "genius" 

Yang Kang was a very smart, cunning and intelligent person and knew how to "scheme" against his enemies. His first scheming is the killing of Ouyang Ke, nephew of Ouyang Feng, in order to become his disciple, since Ouyang Feng could accept only one heir and that heir was Ouyang Ke. So, Yang Kang killed Ouyang Ke, blamed the murder on the Quanzhen School (in the 1983 Version) and became student of Ouyang Feng. So, with one stone, he killed two birds. Firstly, he gained the chance to learn the amazing Kung Fu of Ouyang Feng and secondly, he blamed his enemies for the murder, making them enemies of Ouyang Feng. Of course, it could be said that Yang Kang killed Ouyang Ke because he tried to rape his love, Mu Nianci. But the main reason for killing Ouyang Ke was not so much his love for Mu Nianci, but his lust for learning Ouyang Feng's Kung Fu.

The second case of Yang Kang scheming is his attempt to take the leadership of the Beggar's Sect. After killing Ouyang Ke in the old inn, Yang Kang found the Dog-Beating Stick, the symbol of leadership in the Beggar's Sect, and stole it from Huang Rong. He then pretended to be a disciple of Hong Qigong, took the leadership of the Sect and arrested Guo Jing and Huang Rong and almost managed to execute them. Yang Kang knew that the Beggar's Sect, having hundreds of thousands of members, could prove a huge obstacle for the Jin army moving South to conquer the Song Dynasty. So, he decided to exterminate this important threat to the Jin from inside. He ordered the Beggars to move south of the Yangtze River. The reason he did this was to allow the Jin army, in a possible invasion of the Song, to move freely, without having to worry about the Beggars. Of course, his plan failed, but this does not make Yang Kang's strategic plan any less ingenious.

His third, and final, scheming was the most ingenious, the one that came closer to success, but it also failed and caused Yang Kang's death. Yang Kang, along with Ouyang Feng, went to the Peach Blossom Island, where Guo Jing's teachers, the Six Freaks, had gone to mediate a peaceful solution between the Quanzhen School and Huang Yaoshi, Huang Rong's father. Yang Kang's plan at first was only to disrupt this peaceful mediation, but seeing that Huang Yaoshi was missing and the Six Freaks were waiting in the island, he conceived the ingenious of killing the Six Freaks, putting the blame on Huang Yaoshi, separating Guo Jing and Huang Rong. Then, when both the Quanzhen School and Guo Jing went to take revenge, for their respective reasons, on Huang Yaoshi, he would wait until they exhaust themselves and then he would ambush them with the Jin army, also using poison and snakes, thus killing off the leaders of the Pugilist world and the main obstacle to the Jin's army conquest of the Song Dynasty. Yang Kang was also smart enough to let the blind teacher of Guo Jing and one of the Six Freaks, Flying Bat Ke Zhen'e, to live in order to spread the news of Huang Yaoshi killing the other Freaks and so making the story more believable. But, in the end, his attack failed (although it came really close to being a success) and Yang Kang died in the Temple of the Iron Spear a bit later. 

Yang Kang, Wanyan Honglie and Ouyang Feng escaped to the temple when their plan failed. Huang Rong appeared all of the sudden and revealed Yang Kang's plan to Ke Zhen'e (who was hiding and who still thought that Huang Yaoshi killed his brothers), as well the fact that Yang Kang was the one to kill Ouyang Ke. Yang Kang attacked her with a palm strike in an attempt to silence her. However, Yang hit the spikes on Huang's armour instead, which were stained with venom from a deadly breed of snakes. The poison seeped through the wounds into Yang's body and killed him eventually. Wanyan Honglie and his men abandon him in fear of being infected. Before dying, Yang Kang finally sees his mistakes and blames Wanyan Honglie for his plight but is too late. He is buried in the dust behind the old temple by Guo Jing. For all his attempts to achieve fame and glory, in the end, he was buried as a common man. Despite the fact that all of his schemes failed, Yang Kang proved to be an able schemer and a very cunning man.

Yang Kang's military skills

Yang Kang as a battlefield commander

Yang Kang, being the heir to the Jin Imperial Throne, needed to have some military skills. About his military skills, we do not get much insight (at least in the cannon version). Although Jin Yong and the TV Adaptions give us hints of the battlefield skills of other fictional characters, like Wanyan Honglie, Guo Jing and Huang Rong, we do not get to know the military skills of Yang Kang. Wanyan Honglie is portrayed as a very able military leader, and in the 1983 version, he even manages to beat the Mongol invaders for some time. Guo Jing is seen as an able commander in Genghis Khan's Western Campaign and Huang Rong is also seen as an able commander by her advises to Guo Jing and her plan to take over Samarkand.

Yang Kang, on the other hand, is not given a chance to display his battlefield skills. Despite this, because he is very cunning and smart, it is safe to assume that he could have made a great military commander, on the same level as Wanyan Honglie, if not even better. In the 2008 TV Version, which does not follow the cannon story, Yang Kang survives the Iron Temple and commands the Jin-Sarmakand army against Genghis Khan's Mongols. He is able to beat many times Guo Jing, thanks to his smart use of the terrain and ambushes (and the fact that he also outnumbers the Mongols many times), but he lets Guo Jing and his army to escape, instead of finishing them off, because of his ego and his confidence that he can crush Guo Jing. In the end, not killing off his enemy when he had the chance, brought him disaster. With Huang Rong's advise, Guo Jing was able to defeat Yang Kang and take over Samarkand, thus winning the war for the Mongols. Although this is an hypothetical scenario (since my analyses follow the cannon version), it is safe to assume that had Yang Kang survived, he would have acted as in the 2008 Version.

Yang Kang and Mu Nianci

Yang Kang's love interest

Yang Kang's love interest was Mu Nianci. He first met her in a martial arts contest for a spouse. He defeats her but refuses to marry her after his victory. However, Yang Kang falls for her and loves her very much. In fact, Mu Nianci even manages to make him think of leaving Wanyan Honglie's side. That is because Mu Nianci is patriotic and cannot bring herself to betray the Song Empire and marry a Jin Prince, a national enemy. But Yang Kang, for reasons stated above, wants to remain by Wanyan Honglie's side, so he lies many times to his love, until she discovers his lies and abandons him, despite being pregnant (their child, Yang Guo, is the protagonist of the sequel "Return of the Condor Heroes" and unlike his father, a "good" guy).

Yang Kang shows again and again that he really loves Mu Nianci and really wants her to live by his side. He even seriously thinks of leaving Wanyan Honglie for her. But in the end, he loved more power, wealth and glory than Mu Nianci. Yang Kang had too many reasons to remain a Jin Prince to give up his status for her. Yang Kang wanted Mu Nianci as his wife while remaining a Jin Prince. But since this could not be done, he choose to remain a Jin Prince than leave with her.

Epilogue 

Final Thoughts on Yang Kang

Yang Kang is the favorite character of LoCH for many people, and for a good reason. He is smart, cunning, handsome and divided between his love (Mu Nianci) and his lust for wealth and glory (Wanyan Honglie). He is a far more complicated character than Guo Jing. In the TV Series and the part of the novel that I have read, he is portrayed as an able man who could scheme against his enemies in order to get what he wants without fighting (killing Ouyang Ke, trying to usurp the leadership of Beggar's Sect, his killing of the Five of the Six Freaks). I hope that this analyses has given the reader a better understanding of Yang Kang's character.