Alice Poon's Blog - Posts Tagged "jin-yong"

As an eleven-year-old kid, I found the world a depressing place. Always wearing blue-rimmed glasses and a less-than-bright expression, I was never a teacher’s favorite. Nor was I ever the apple of any adult’s eye, being the glum mute I was among children. Awkward might have been an apt description of my disposition. The thing is, in my juvenile mind, the adults were equally boring and dull. They all seemed to wear masks and never spoke from their hearts. Or else they spent their time bickering over trivialities. At home, my only defense was to play deaf and dumb. That summer though, to my absolute delight, I finally found my way of escape.

Like in previous years, my mother took me and my siblings to my maternal uncle’s home to spend our month-long summer vacation. It was something that I always eagerly looked forward to, as I loved spending time with my five cousins, especially Fatty and Big Eyes, who were about my age. Fatty is a natural sketcher and Big Eyes is a great storyteller. Before we arrived, they had discovered a second-hand book hawker just across the street, who had a large collection of Jin Yong’s martial arts and chivalry novels that he would lend to kids for a pittance.

For the rest of my summer holidays and the following summer, characters like Chen Jialuo (陳家洛), Fragrant Princess (香香公主), Guo Jing (郭靖), Huang Rong (黄蓉), Yang Guo (楊過), Xiaolongnu (小龍女) etc., together with their heartrending romances, thrilling ventures and moral values, found their way to my heart and were imprinted on my memory. Fatty, Big Eyes, my sister and I would often turn ourselves into those characters when we engaged in our favorite game: role-playing. Strangely, life became more bearable after those two summers, as I let the fantasyland in the novels become my soothing sanctum. Even as of this day, it still lurks in my literary consciousness and stands ready to stoke the fire of my imagination in my own creative writing.

To digress, I find it a pity that presently only two of Jin Yong’s novels are available in quality English translation on Amazon, and they are: The Book and the Sword (書劍恩仇錄) and The Deer and the Cauldron (鹿鼎記). Unfortunately no digital versions are listed; otherwise the books could’ve reached a wider audience.

Through reading novels like The Legend of the Condor Heroes (射雕英雄傳) + Return of the Condor Heroes (神雕俠侶) + The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (倚天屠龍劍) (this trilogy is set in the Southern Song and Jin Dynasty – 12th & 13th century), The Book and the Sword (書劍恩仇錄) (set in Qianlong Emperor’s era – 18th century) and The Deer and the Cauldron (鹿鼎記) (set in Kangxi Emperor’s era – 17th century), I was accidentally initiated into Chinese dynastic history in my primary school days. In my high school years, Chinese History continued to fascinate me and became one of my favorite subjects.

In the last couple of years, while writing my first historical epic, which is set in the epoch straddling end-of-Ming and start-of-Qing (17th century), research work has rekindled my passion in Chinese History. This period is interesting in that it is branded by some of the most critical and vicious battles fought near the Great Wall of China and inside China proper, and defined by some of the most riveting love stories in and around the Qing Imperial Court.

Now that the last round of rewriting and editing is finally finished and the script is awaiting its publishing fate, I am thinking that re-reading Jin Yong’s novels may be a good way to let ideas spawn for my next historical novel.

The Book and the Sword by Jin Yong

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I had read this in Chinese in my childhood, along with other Jin Yong martial arts novels. The image of the virtuous hero Chen Jialuo stuck in my mind.

Update (Sept. 14, 2016) - I'm reading the English version.

Update (October 8, 2016) - After flipping through a few pages of the English version, I became frustrated as I couldn't recognize the names of the characters due to the "pinyin" romanization (my recollection is in Cantonese). Otherwise, the translation is well done. I'm going to re-read the Chinese version.

Update (December 6, 2016) ~ I've finished rereading the Chinese version of the novel. Almost half a century after my first read, I still found this novel magical! The author skillfully weaves together three main storylines: that of the resistance movement against the Qing rulers by a powerful clique called the Red Flower Society; that of the enigmatic birth secret of Qianlong Emperor who, as it turns out, is related to the protagonist Chen Jialuo, the head of the Red Flower Society; and that of the Xinjiang Uighur tribe's loss and recovery of their sacred scriptures. A convoluted love quadrangle forms between the protagonist, Qianlong and two Uighur sisters. Apart from these key storylines, there are
several sub stories about some of the Red Flower Society's members, who are all veteran martial arts experts. The central theme is about honor and integrity of the individual, and loyalty and comradeship of the brotherhood.

For me, this was unquestionably a 5 star historical fantasy read.





View all my reviews

I'm glad that my favorite author of all times - Jin Yong - is finally getting the attention of American readers with the launch of A Hero Born. This is the first of a 12-volume translation of his popular "Legends of the Condor Heroes Trilogy" ("射鵰英雄傳", "神鵰俠侶", "倚天屠龍記").

This New Yorker's article tells Jin Yong's legend:

https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-...

I read most of Jin Yong's wuxia novels in my childhood and based on my memory, the ones I liked best were "書劍恩仇錄" (The Book and the Sword) set in Qianlong Emperor's reign, and "天龍八部" (there is no English translation yet, and the tentative English title is "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils") set in Southern Song dynasty. In the latter novel, the character that I remember most vividly is a prince named 段譽 from the Kingdom of Dali (大理國, in present-day Dali, Yunnan) and his special martial arts skill termed "凌波微步" ("mini-steps on waves").

The novels by this literary icon from Hong Kong have long since ignited my interest in Chinese history and inspired me to write historical fiction set in ancient China.

A couple of weeks ago I was thrilled to discover that my new book The Heavenly Sword is on the Staff Picks List (SFF genre) at the Seattle Public Library! Seattle Public Library Staff Picks

Then, last week Richmond News (a local newspaper) interviewed me about this wuxia-myth fantasy novel, which I wrote to commemorate the wuxia fiction grandmaster Jin Yong (his wuxia novels have sold over 300 million copies world-wide). The journalist called me to request for an interview when she found out that the book is available at the Richmond Public Library.

Richmond News Article

I had read Jin Yong's books in my childhood and I'm proud to have contributed to this unique genre of Chinese folk literature.

On April 9, 2024, the release date of my latest wuxia-myth novel The Earthly Blaze, I had the privilege of chatting on the China History Podcast with the host, Laszlo Montgomery, on my favorite subject of Jin Yong (the wuxia fiction icon) and the Wuxia Genre. The talk covers Jin Yong's life, his works, their impact on popular culture, the history and evolvement of the wuxia genre, and other interesting tidbits.

The China History Podcast is a hugely popular podcast that has a large and devoted audience, consisting of 50 percent US residents and the other 50 percent living all over the world. The Podcast is accessible via Youtube, Audible, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Here's the link to the Jin Yong/Wuxia episode on Youtube:-

CHP Jin Yong Wuxia Episode

Enjoy!