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 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 worldwide. His stories have also inspired various cultural and creative products including movies and TV series.

For many Chinese fans, reading Cha's 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.

"Jin Yong's novels were a companion throughout my younger days," 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 the first in an exam.

"It is often said martial arts novels are fairy tales for adults," said Guo. "Jin Yong has created a utopian world of martial arts for us ordinary people who long for the spirit of chivalry."

Zhou You, a lecturer at School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Tianjin University, said the mesmerizing plots of Cha's novels have sometimes overshadowed the literary value of his works.

"Every Cha novel touches on a different theme," Zhou said. "It is a pity that the thematic significance of Cha's work is not yet fully recognized by the literary circle."

(Original Link: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201810/31/WS5bd98d59a310eff303285c01.html)

Source from: The School of Foreign Languages and Literature

Editor: Qin Mian