Kou Zhong is a fictional character in Wong Yi’s martial arts novel Story of the Twin Dragons of Great Tang set at the end of the Sui dynasty. Kou Zhong, whose parents passed away when he was just a little kid, was a gangster in Yangzhou. He and Xu Ziling had known each other since childhood and were dependent on each other, as intimate as brothers. Kou Zhong was bold, generous, quick-witted and valued highly of friendships. With his ambition, he explored in jianghu (martial artists’ community). Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling accidentally picked up one of the martial arts classics Secret to Longevity.
In Secret to Longevity, the key to opening the “Yang Gong Treasury” was hidden. It also contained martial artists’ longed-for treasure, i.e., the relics of the devil emperor, with which they thought they could rule the martial arts world. Since having trained his internal strength with Secret to Longevity, Kou Zhong ventured into the martial arts world and formed the “Twin Dragons” with Xu Ziling, which often engaged in battles with demonic schools as well as other righteous schools. Kou Zhong also had the great ambition of ruling the world, and he in the end helped Li Shimin became the emperor.
TVB brought Story of the Twin Dragons of Great Tang to the screen in 2004, in which Raymond Lam Fung played the heroic Kou Zhong. With the role, Raymond Lam successfully rose to become an A-list actor and was honoured as “TV King” in Malaysia (winning two awards, “Favourite Character” and “Favourite Leading Actor”, in “Astro Wah Lai Toi Drama Awards 2005”).
Bonus: Secret to Longevity in Story of the Twin Dragons of Great Tang is a sacred Taoist scripture written in oracle bone characters, and it was from the Taoist figure Guang Chengzi during the ancient Yellow Emperor period as legend has it. There is a total of seven Qi-circulation diagrams in the novel to guide cultivation. Kou Zhong cultivated the sixth diagram, mainly focusing on “movement”, while Xu Ziling cultivated the seventh diagram, mainly focusing on “stillness”. One of the two was in Yin physique, representing internal cold, while the other in Yang physique, representing internal heat. As a result, they were a perfect match. This set of martial arts skills can directly cultivate innate genuine qi, which allows one’s body to quickly recover after being injured. In the television drama, the special physiques of the two were exchanged while they were cultivating Secret to Longevity.
