Jin Yong

Zha Lianyun was born on February 6, 1924 in Haining , Zhejiang Province, in the family of a Qing official. Since 1948, he collaborated in Shanghai newspapers. In 1955, he published his first historical novel in Hong Kong. Over the next 15 years, he wrote another 14 historical adventure novels. He considered The Three Musketeers and other works of Alexander Dumas his standard:

The Three Musketeers novel is not like Western novels; it reads like a Chinese classic novel. [one]

None of the living Chinese authors can compare with Jin Yong in the total circulation of novels. Despite its immense popularity in East Asian countries and its numerous translations into English, Jin Yong practically did not translate into Russian. Opinions differ about the artistic merits of his books. Say, Wang Sho , a popular among the younger generation of Chinese, claims that you can only read Jin Yong by holding his nose. [2]

Among the awards that Jin Yong was awarded are the Order of the British Empire (1981), the Order of the Legion of Honor (1992), and the Order of Arts and Literature (2004). When presenting him with an honorary doctorate diploma from the University of Cambridge, the 80-year-old author expressed a desire to become a full-time student at the faculty of Oriental studies at his old age. [3] In 2007, he continued his studies at Cambridge.

Zha Lianyung is the author of 15 works, one of which is a story, and the rest are novels and novels of various sizes. Most of his works were originally published in newspapers as stories with a continuation, and only then came out as books.

Three works (“Traditions about Heroes Shooting Eagles”, “The Magic Eagle and the Comrade Knight” and “Notes on“ Following Heaven ”and“ Destroying Dragons “”) make up a single trilogy and should be read in that order; some other works are also associated with this trilogy (for example, “The Eight Races of the Celestial Dragons” is a precursor to the entire trilogy). “The flying fox of the snowy mountains” and “The unofficial biography of the flying fox” complement each other, having the same main character, there are also characters from “Book and Sword: records of kindness and hatred”. Several characters from The Sword Covered with Turquoise Blood appear as minor characters in the latest novel, Notes on the Deer and the Tripod.

Reprints

Most of Zha's work was originally published in parts in Hong Kong Chinese-language newspapers. In the 1970s and 1980s, Zha Lianyung revised all his works, resulting in “new editions”, and old versions began to be called “old editions”. In the new versions, some of the previous characters and events have been completely removed.

In Taiwan, the situation was more complicated, since the books of Zha Liangyun were initially banned there. As a result, there are various clandestine versions, many of which have been reworked without author permission. It was not until 1979 that the Taiwanese Yuanjing publishing house (遠景 出版社) published a complete collection of his works.

Zha Liangyun was the first to officially publish in China since 1980, the Wuling Magazine (выход), published in Guangzhou . The full publication of his works by simplified hieroglyphs was carried out by the Beijing publishing house "Sanyan" (三联 书店) in 1994. The Singapore-Malay Mingheshe Publishing House (明河 社 星 马 分公司) released a collection of Zha's works for readers from Southeast Asia, printed in simplified hieroglyphs, in 1995.

In 1999-2006, Zha reworked his works for the second (and probably last) time. Each of the works was carefully revised, revised and republished in the order in which he wrote them. These versions, known as the “newest” or “new and revised,” are distinguished by the presence of annotations in which Zha responds to previous criticism regarding the historical accuracy of his work. In these versions, the names of a number of characters, the names of a number of places and types of martial arts were changed. The reissue was met with criticism from a number of fans already accustomed to the old names.

The time frame of works

¹ Duration of the novel The laughing pride of rivers and lakes is not specifically indicated. Zha claimed to have done this on purpose, since the work is allegorical. Nevertheless, attempts were made to establish a historical reference; the most likely candidate is the time of the Ming empire, since the Udan and Emei martial arts trends that appeared during the Mongol Empire of Yuan are mentioned, but the Manchus who destroyed the Ming empire are not mentioned. The main characters of the novel Notes on a deer and a tripod also operate in the era before the Qing Empire. In a number of movie screenings (including Virtuoso 2 ), the plot is placed during the reign under the slogan “ Wanli, ” that is, the era of the Ming Empire.

² The duration of the novel Ode to the Knights is also not specifically indicated. The sources that put him during the Ming Empire are based on the fact that Zhang Sanfeng is mentioned as already dead, and that the characters wear Chinese hairstyles in the illustrations (the northern barbarians who conquered China introduced their own type of hairstyle as mandatory).

³ The duration of the novel Liancheng treatise in the first and second editions remained uncertain. Zha specifically pointed out that the plot was inspired by the tragic story of one of his grandfather's servants, which allows him to be placed at the end of the Qing Empire; modern illustrations depicting people with hairstyles from the time of Manchu rule, support this idea. In the third edition of the novel, Zha linked the story with Wu Lizi from the novel Notes on a deer and a tripod , thereby finally linking the plot to the era of the Qing Empire.

To English

Existing translations of Jin Yong's works into English:

• Book and Sword: Records of Kindness and Hate - titled “The Book and the Sword”
• Notes on a Deer and a Tripod - entitled “The Deer and the Cauldron” (in three volumes)
• Snow Mountain Flying Fox - titled Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain
• Notes on "Following Heaven" and "Destroying Dragons" - entitled "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber"
• Mandarin Duck Sabers - titled “The Legendary Couple”
• Magic Eagle and Knight Comrade - titled “The Return of the Condor Heroes”

To Russian

• Laughing pride of rivers and lakes - translation by Alexei Kuzmin; partially published by a translator on the Proza Ru website.

There are over 90 films and series based on the works of Jin Yong; plots of more than a dozen video games are based on them. The following are incomplete lists.

Movies

• Jin Yong official website
• Nobleness of the highest standard - To the portrait of Jin Yong (from the website of the Taiwanese government)
• Laughing pride of rivers and lakes - selected chapters (from the website of the translator Alexei Kuzmin)