Tributes pour in for celebrated author who inspired generations
Print Edition
Readers across China continue to pay tribute to celebrated author Louis Cha Leung-yung, remembering him as a guru of martial arts novels and a source of inspiration in their adolescence and beyond.
Cha, more widely known by his pen name Jin Yong, died at the age of 94 at a hospital in Hong Kong on Tuesday. He is universally regarded as the most influential wuxia (martial arts and chivalry) novelist in the 20th century. He published 15 novels from 1955 to 1972 and sold hundreds of millions of copies. His stories have also inspired various cultural and creative products including movies and TV series.
For many Chinese fans, reading Cha鈥檚 novels under flashlights during sleepless nights or swarming in front of a small TV set for a new episode in the 1980s and 90s are collective memories from their adolescence.
鈥淛in Yong鈥檚 novels were a companion throughout my younger days,鈥 said Guo Yuanjing, a graduate student at Tianjin University, who fondly recalled that her mother would reward her with a Cha novel whenever she ranked in an exam.
鈥淚t is often said martial arts novels are fairy tales for adults,鈥 said Guo. 鈥淛in Yong has created a utopian world of martial arts for us ordinary people who long for the spirit of chivalry.鈥
Zhu Xiaoshan, an office worker in Beijing, said his first encounter with Cha鈥檚 martial arts world was through an adapted TV series when he was 7 years old.
鈥淚t was a household event in my hometown when the TV series was aired,鈥 38-year-old Zhu said. 鈥淣ot every family had a TV set but nearly everybody had watched it.鈥
鈥淚n his novels, Cha has created a lot of memorable characters, many of whom have even become our models for seeking spouses,鈥 said Zhu, who read all Cha鈥檚 novels during college.
On the social media platform WeChat, a netizen said Cha鈥檚 novels and their television adaptations fascinated so many readers because of a 鈥渃hivalrous tenderness鈥 and a strong sense of justice and caring for the weak.
鈥淚nside the heart of every boy, there is always a dream of becoming a martial arts master,鈥 said the same netizen. 鈥淭hrough his novels, Jin Yong has conveyed to the readers his values and views toward life and love.鈥
For many kung fu practitioners, certain characters in Cha鈥檚 novels were a constant model for both martial arts expertise and moral integrity.
鈥淭here is a commonality for many main characters in Cha鈥檚 novels: They believe the essence of chivalry is for the country and the people,鈥 said Guo Yuancheng, who has taught kung fu in New Zealand for more than two decades. 鈥淓very kung fu practitioner can find their hero in Cha鈥檚 novels.鈥
Many critics have also spoken highly of their artistic value and status in the history of Chinese literature.
Li Chun, an art professor at the Communication University of China, said the martial arts world Cha created offered readers a kind of 鈥渟piritual retreat鈥 during the 1980s and 90s when his novels entered the Chinese mainland market. 鈥淛in Yong鈥檚 works filled the spiritual vacuum of many readers who had longed for a new value system after living through a time of turbulence,鈥 said Li.
Zhou You, a lecturer at Tianjin University, said the mesmerizing plots of Cha鈥檚 novels have sometimes overshadowed the literary value of his works.
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