Fantastic Novels
With Jin Yong’s passing, the legacy of his novels grows stronger
‘He has left Jianghu behind, but his wuxia (martial arts) masterpieces will live forever,” said one reader on social media after hearing about the passing of Jin Yong on October 30 at the age of 94. “He has gone to another Jianghu,” said another reader, using concepts and sentences from his wuxia novels to express their condolence and sorrow.
Literally, Jianghu means rivers and lakes, while metaphorically, it refers to the world of martial artists, of thugs and heroes, beyond the reach of the imperial government.
Jin Yong is the pen name of Louis Cha Leung-yung, China’s bestselling martial arts and chivalry novelist, who was born in Haining in east China’s Zhejiang Province in 1924 and moved to Hong Kong in 1948.
Statistics from China’s online shopping giant Jd.com and online book retailer Dangdang.com show that orders began to shoot up on the evening of Cha’s death, while many online and offline retailers reportedly ran out of stock, as people rushed to buy his complete works.
More than meets the eye
Wuxia as a branch of Chinese literature has been around for centuries, but has been mostly sidelined and looked down upon by the mainstream literature world.
“The strong reaction to Cha’s passing makes the whole Chinese society aware of the extensive influence of his wuxia novels. Meanwhile, China’s literature research circles have increasingly realized that they treat popular literature like wuxia unfairly,” said Long Qilin, a professor of literature at Guangzhou University.
In 1995, a Jin Yong wuxia research course was established at Peking University and since 2007, one of the novels, Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, has been included in middle school Chinese language textbooks nationwide.
Jin Yong stories have gripped generations from all walks of life since 1955 when he published his first book in serialized form in Ming Pao, a leading newspaper in Hong Kong, which he co-founded.
“Martial artists, swordsmen and warriors in Jin Yong wuxia novels reflect the images of heroes in ordinary people’s hearts, what they admire and what they want to be. Readers can also find themselves in different characters in the books,” said Ning Jiayu, a professor of literature at Tianjinbased Nankai University. “For some, they read them for entertainment, but for quite a few readers, they find an ideal world in these fantasies that they can’t find in the real world.”
“The first time I read Jin Yong wuxia novels, I was caught up in the stories and plots, since they are so interesting. Now, the more I read, the more deeply I am impressed by the novels,” said Wei Hailun, a student and also a Jin Yong fan studying at Guangxi Normal University, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. “I’ve also read wuxia novels by other authors. What strikes me most is that in Jin Yong
wuxia novels, it’s much more than martial arts.” To Wei, they are also part of Chinese history and culture like poems, verses and ancient Chinese philosophy, such as Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. “That said, what I value most in these novels are the positive attitudes toward life that always spur me forward, especially in the face of setbacks.”
Different readers have different reasons for being glued to these books. Cha once said,
wuxia novels were a kind of entertainment, but he hoped to endow these books with some philosophy and personal ideas, and to express his views on society.
Legend of the Condor Heroes is set in the 13th century during China’s Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). The stories about the novel’s hero Guo Jing are not purely about struggles or conspiracies in Jianghu, but are also filled with efforts to defend the nation against attacks and invasions. Guo’s most famous assertion is