Liang Yusheng

Chen Wentong
Born	5 April 1926(1926-04-05) Mengshan, Guangxi, China
Died	January 22, 2009(2009-01-22) (aged 82) Sydney, Australia
Pen name	Liang Yusheng (Chinese: 梁羽生)
Occupation	novelist
Genres	Wuxia

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Chen.

Chen Wentong (simplified Chinese: 陈文统; traditional Chinese: 陳文統; pinyin: Chén Wéntǒng; 5 April 1926 – 22 January 2009), better known by his pen name Liang Yusheng (Chinese: 梁羽生; pinyin: Liáng Yǔshēng), is a Chinese writer of wuxia novels.

He is credited as the pioneer of the "new school" (新派) wuxia genre in the 20th century, as well as one of the three most esteemed wuxia writers in the second half of the 20th century (the other two being Jin Yong and Gu Long).

Biography

Chen was born in Mengshan, Guangxi, China in 1926. He came from a family of scholars and was well versed in ancient Chinese classics and Duilian. He could recite the Three Hundred Tang Poems at the age of seven. While studying in Guilin High School in Guangxi, he started writing poems. He went to Mengshan during the Japanese invasion. He was tutored by Jian Youwen, who was well versed in the history of the Taiping Rebellion, and Rao Zongyi, who was good in poetry, humanities, art and the history of Dunhuang. Chen learnt history and literature from both of them and entered Lingnan University in Guangzhou later. In 1949, he settled in Hong Kong and became an editor for the newspaper Ta Kung Pao and a member of the executive committee through the principal's recommendation. The next year, he was sent to work in the Sin Wun Pao newspaper as a copy editor.

In 1954, Chen's major breakthrough in his career when he wrote his first wuxia novel Longhu Dou Jinghua to entertain readers due to an ongoing contest between two schools of martial arts, which was the talk of the town that year. This marked the start of the new generation of wuxia novels, with Chen as its pioneer and the emergence of other wuxia writers such as Louis Cha (Jin Yong). Over his writing career, Chen wrote a total of 33 wuxia novels, of which Baifa Monü Zhuan (白髮魔女傳) and Yunhai Yugong Yuan (雲海玉弓緣) are some of the more well known ones. Many of his novels have been adapted into television series and films. As a multitalented writer interested in history and literature, he wrote columns, critiques and essays under different names including Liang Hueru and Fong Yuning.

In the 1980s, Chen retired to Sydney, Australia with his family.^[1] In August 2004, he was granted an Honorary Doctorate by Hong Kong's Lingnan University, from where he originally graduated in 1948 in economics.^[1].

In 2005, film producer Tsui Hark adapted Chen's Qijian Xia Tianshan (七劍下天山) into the film Seven Swords and its derived television series counterpart Seven Swordsmen. The 1993 film The Bride with White Hair is also an adaptation of Chen's Baifa Monü Zhuan.

After suffering a stroke during a visit to Hong Kong in 2007, Chen died in Sydney on January 22, 2009 of natural causes.^[2]

Style of writing

The opening of Chen's novels are always marked with a poem, which signified his interest in poetry. The protagonists of his novels are also multi-talented, versatile and interested in literature. Chen also infuses historical elements into his fictional stories, a style which was later followed by other wuxia writers such as Jin Yong. Unlike many wuxia writers, Chen does not regard Shaolin and Wudang as the leading sects in the wulin. Instead, he features the Mount Heaven Sect as the leading sect.^[3]

See also

• Jin Yong
• Gu Long

References

1. ^ "Seven Swords novelist dies". Straits Times (Singapore): p. C7. 28 January 2009. 
2. ^ Martial arts novelist Liang Yusheng dies. Danwei. 27 January 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
3. ^ 梁羽生 (Liang Yusheng). Chinese Wusia Knight Errant. Retrieved 2010-01-06.

External links

• Liang Yusheng
• Liang Yusheng - The Pioneer
• The Wanderer Chronicles (萍踪侠影录) - Read a chapter-by-chapter English summary of Liang Yusheng's Ping Zong Xia Ying Lu (via WuxiaSociety.org - formerly known as wuxiamania.phorumz.com)
• Seven Swords Novel Translation English Summary translation of the "Seven Swords" (updated August 27, 2007) done by Yenchin of Wuxiasociety.org

Persondata
Name	Liang, Yusheng
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	5 April 1926
Place of birth	Mengshan, Guangxi, China
Date of death	22 January 2009
Place of death	Sydney, Australia