Why Is Jin Yong's Fiction So Popular Throughout the Chinese-Speaking World? / ?מדוע זוכה הסיפורת של ג'ין יונג להצלחה כה רבה בעולם הסיני

Zha Liangyong (b. 1924), better known by his pen-name Jin Yong and his English name Louis Cha, has arguably been the most widely read Chinese novelist of the second half of the twentieth century. Jin Yong's martial-arts novels have enjoyed tremendous popularity both in their written form, and as adapted to television and cinema, throughout the Chinese-speaking world: in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as in Chinese communities overseas. Indeed, according to one estimate, approximately one-hundred million copies of Jin Yong's novels, in Chinese alone, have been sold so far. Various critics, as well as occasionally Jin Yong himself, have sought to explain his popularity not only in terms of his artistic achievements as a novelist but also in terms of the cultural history of modern China. In this view, Jin Yong's fiction appeals to Chinese readers because it is intimately related to what is broadly described as the cultural heritage of traditional China. Modern Chinese literature, the argument goes, has been marked by a loss of confidence in the Chinese cultural heritage, for which reason many works of fiction have been fashioned after Western models. By contrast, Jin Yong seeks inspiration in Chinese classical literature, and his novels celebrate the cultural achievements of traditional China. If the cultural achievements of traditional China are celebrated in Jin Yong's fiction, to what degree is it colored by twentieth-century concerns? This paper addresses the issue from the perspective of genre: Jin Yong's fiction belongs to the genre of 'martial-arts fiction' (Wuxia xiaoshuo); indeed Jin Yong has transformed the Chinese cultural heritage itself into a martial-arts tool. In these novels, classical works of Chinese literature, as well as the traditional pursuits of the Chinese literati — painting, calligraphy, chess, and classical music — are transformed into weapons, skillfully manipulated by martial artists. The role of a weapon, assigned to the Chinese cultural heritage by Jin Yong, reflects an awareness of the existence of other cultures. In this respect the presentation of the Chinese past in Jin yong's fiction represents a response to a novel situation. Thus, in the historian's parlance, Jin Yong has 'invented a tradition'.