The Chinese have always referred to a place within their
history as "Jiang Hu" (Gong wu - in Cantonese). This age is a part of
China's mythical past, and is the time when heroes, anti-heroes, and villains
feature prominently.
The term, "Jiang Hu", which literally means
"rivers and lakes", but actually describe the martial world, is where
sword-bearing men and women embark on their self-quests for honour, power, and
respect. These incredible people are an entity wholly different than their
national countrymen. They have their own rules, fights, disputes, and ideology.
They may go into seclusion for many years simply to learn a more powerful
martial art, so that they can challenge another. Defeating a worthy opponent
would lead to respect, and a name for themselves to be remembered throughout
history.
Wuxia xiaoshao (martial arts novels) is consumed eagerly by
the readers in Asia, thrilling the young and old alike with their stories of
powerful romantic swordsmen, and their adventures to rid evil. It is a
phenomenon that is comparable to the popularity of science fiction and fantasy
novels read by Westerners.
In fact, there are a lot of similarities between sci-fi /
fantasy and wuxia xiaoshao: Chinese heroes usually have unimaginable power,
learnt by ancient scrolls of text, and utilised through their inner energy.
This is comparable to the powers learnt by magicians, wizards and sorcerers;
and of which only talented people can learn them.
What differs between the two is the way both of the worlds
are viewed. There is more of a grand epic feeling in fantasy worlds, woven into
a rich tapestry of characters, political intrigue, and save the world quests.
Wuxia novels are more about individual characters in their own quests for
revenge, honour and respect. Taking revenge for a wrongdoing is often a
recurring feature in wuxia novels, and is mostly the basis of a whole novel.
The most famous writer of wuxia novels is undoubtedly Jin
Yong, whose dozen of novels have become the all-time bestsellers of Chinese
novels around the world, and have inspired many television series and films.
Jin Yong, real name Louis Cha Liang Yong, was born in 1924
in Zhejian, China. He trained as a diplomat but pursued a career in journalism
instead. He took a job as a writer for the Ta Kung Pao newspaper situated in
Shanghai, but was later sent to the Hong Kong office. Bored with reporting, he
went on to reviewing films, and later to screen-writing, but it is his dabble
into writing novels that later become his forte.
In 1955, Louis Cha wrote his first feature length novel that
would later become the Book and Sword. It serialised in the Xin Wan Bao
newspaper in Hong Kong and became immensely popular, and Cha went on to write a
dozen more novels over the next 13 years. He made an ingenious move by founding
his own newspaper Ming Pao Daily, and made sure his works only featured in his
paper. Many people bought the paper just to read the serialisation.
His last novel was in 1972, and he vowed not to write
another novel again. His vow still stands, but his name lives on.
