Jin Yong's novel ----a feast for martial art mania
By shirly on 2016-03-30

All the martial arts mania may know his name ----Jin Yong, a master of Wuxia (martial arts) fictions. With his former name as Cha Liangyong, Jin Yong was born in Zhejiang Haining. He is now a renowned Wuxia fiction writers with 15 outstanding martial arts novels. His works have won universal praise and been adapted into television series, games, cartoons and other products. What's more, his works are also translated into different languages and spread all over the world.

The Book and the Sword is Jin Yong's first full-length novel, written in 1955 which depicts the battle between the Qing and Ming Dynasty during the years of Qianlong emperor. As a work with history and legend combined, it reveals the contradiction between power and ethnic groups.

Then Sword Stained with Royal Blood followed in 1956. It tells the story of Yuan Chengzhi, the son of the general Yuan Chonghuan, about his experience of being a swordman. This book, since having defects on the depiction of the protagonists, is regarded as failure.

In 1959, Jin Yong wrote The Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain. It is mainly about the exloration of the treasure left by Li Zicheng and revenge story as well as the love affairs of Hu Fei, the son of Hu Yidao that was once the follower of Li Zicheng. The complicated relations of the characters. This time, with delicate skills of description and distinct characteristics of protagnists, the book wins overwhelming praise.

Next comes the Legend of the Condor Heroes, boasting the representative of Jin Yong's novels. The book tells the story of the growth of a great hero, Guojing. In this book, Jin gave great space to the sole heroine, Huang Rong, emphasizing the female aesthetics instead of just promoting the power of male. The combination of the power of Guojing and wisdom of Huang Rong makes readers have a different view of Wuxia fictions. And excepting praising the virtue and punishing the vice, the hero in this book also makes great contributions to protecting the nation and country, which gives the book a grand theme.

Except these books, Jin Yong has 10 more famous novels. All of them are regarded as the classics on the history of Wuxia fictions. So if you are interested in Chinese martial art, why not read Jin's novel to have a profound knowledge of the Wuxia world while having the enjoyment of reading a good novel?