Renowned Chinese martial arts novelist Jin Yong dies at 94

Writer:   | Editor: Jane Chen  | From: SD-News | Updated: 2018-10-31

Jin Yong

Hong Kong martial arts novelist Louis Cha Leung-yung, the world’s most famous Chinese writer who was better known by his pen name Jin Yong, has died at the age of 94.

His son-in-law, Dr. Ng Wai-cheong, confirmed that Cha died yesterday afternoon, surrounded by family members.

Cha was a world-renowned Hong Kong journalist, community leader and literary giant. In 1955, he published his first martial arts novel “The Book and the Sword,” in the New Evening Post, under the pen name Jin Yong.

The novel was an instant success and he went on to create 14 popular martial arts novels, ending with “The Deer and the Cauldron” in 1972. He was highly regarded as the most influential Chinese martial arts novel writer in the 20th century, with readers across the globe.

He had a widespread, unchallenged, almost religious following in all Chinese-speaking areas, including the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia.

His books have sold over 300 million copies worldwide (over 1 billion if one includes bootleg copies) and his works have been translated into Korean, English, Japanese, French, Vietnamese, Bahasa Indonesian and Thai.

His works have the unusual ability to transcend geographical and ideological barriers separating Chinese communities of the world, achieving a greater success than any other contemporary writer.

His martial arts novels have also inspired producers of films, TV and radio dramas, and even video games, deeply influencing the development of popular culture in Hong Kong over the past decades.

Born in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, in 1924, Cha graduated from the Law School of Suzhou in 1948. He had intended to prepare himself for a career as a diplomat.

To help support himself during his studies, he began work in 1947 as a journalist and translator for the newspaper Ta Kung Pao in Shanghai. In 1948, he went to Hong Kong to work for the paper’s Hong Kong office.

He also co-founded Hong Kong’s famous Chinese-language daily newspaper Ming Pao in 1959 and served as its first editor-in-chief.