Louis Cha, GBM, OBE (born 6 February 1924), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (金庸, sometimes read and/or written as "Chin Yung"), is a modern Chinese-language novelist. Having co-founded the Hong Kong daily Ming Pao in 1959, he was the paper's first editor-in-chief.
Cha's fiction, which is of the wuxia ("martial arts and chivalry") genre, has a widespread following in Chinese-speaking areas, including mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and the United States. His 15 works written between 1955 and 1972 earned him a reputation as one of the finest wuxia writers ever. He is currently the best-selling Chinese author alive; over 100 million copies of his works have been sold worldwide (not including unknown number of bootleg copies).
Cha's works have been translated into English, French, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Burmese, Malay and Indonesian. He has many fans abroad as well, owing to the numerous adaptations of his works into films, television series, comics and video games.
金庸,大紫荊勳賢,OBE(英語:Louis Cha Leung-yung,1924年3月10日-2018年10月30日),本名查良鏞,浙江海寧人,祖籍江西婺源,1948年移居香港。自1950年代起,以筆名「金庸」創作多部膾炙人口的武俠小說,包括《射鵰英雄傳》、《神鵰俠侶》、《鹿鼎記》等,歷年來金庸筆下的著作屢次改編為電視劇、電影等,對華人影視文化可謂貢獻重大,亦奠定其成為華人知名作家的基礎。金庸早年於香港創辦《明報》系列報刊,他亦被稱為「香港四大才子」之一。
My first Wuxia novel, and my first Jin Yong novel. I've heard of this "most famous author in the world, but you've never heard of him" many times before since starting to learn Chinese, but haven't tried to tackle any of his work until now. Starting with a novella was a good idea, because his most famous novels rival Game of Thrones and the Tolkien universe in length. This novella reminded me immediately of both Rashomon and The Hateful Eight.
A story is retold multiple times over by different characters, each with their own versions of the events that happened, and each with their own secrets and agendas. Trapped atop a snowy mountain while waiting for the dreaded Flying Fox to come, we hear about this dangerous master swordsman who is hellbent on vengeance for chapters on end before he finally reveals himself 2/3 into the book. Swordsmen dance with their blades in battles described with poetic language taken from China's literary classics. It seems there is one shocking revelation after another, one for every chapter. Given that it was originally serialized in a popular HK newspaper, the cliffhanger endings for every chapter make sense.
The version I read came with a very helpful preface and postscript by the author, explaining his views on literature, art, philosophy, history, and martial arts. In this novel, themes of honor, loyalty, integrity, righteousness, guilt, and hubris are explored in the characters' storytelling. I can see why Jin Yong's wuxia novels have captivated audiences young and old across Asia over the past several decades. This kind of literature could be difficult to translate into English, let alone in a way that would prove popular in the U.S., given its references to and deep roots in "traditional Chinese culture" (whatever that means anymore).
To other Westerners, I would recommend Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain to those who want to get a glimpse of this immensely popular writer and the wuxia genre, but who don't want to also be totally overwhelmed by 100,000 character+ epic trilogies at the outset. This one might also satisfy the Rashomon-loving crowd out there.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Exceptional in places, but suffered from way too many characters and way too many left field plot developments. I can't decide if it felt made up as it went along or surprisingly tight despite feeling a bit loosely wound. My own language ability is a bit lacking so I'll be trying Jin Yong again when I have improved.