Chen Wentong (5 April 1924 – 22 January 2009), better known by his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Liang Yusheng, was a Chinese-born Australian novelist best known for being a pioneer of the "new school" of the

wuxia ( , literally "martial arts and chivalry") is a genre of Chinese literature, Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fantasy literature, its popularity ha ...

genre in the 20th century. Along with

Jin Yong Louis Cha Leung-yung (; 10 March 1924 – 30 October 2018), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (), was a Hong Kong wuxia novelist and co-founder of '' Ming Pao.'' Cha authored 15 novels between 1955 and 1972 and became one of the most pop ...

and

Gu Long Xiong Yaohua (7 June 1938 – 21 September 1985), better known by his pen name Gu Long, was a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese novelist, screenwriter, film producer and director. A graduate of Cheng Kung Senior High School and Tamkang University, Xio ...

, he was one of the best known wuxia writers in the later half of the 20th century. Throughout his career, he published a total of 35 wuxia novels – the more notable ones include ''

Baifa Monü Zhuan ''Baifa Monü Zhuan'' is a wuxia novel by Liang Yusheng first published as a serial between 5 August 1957 and 10 December 1958 in the Hong Kong newspaper ''Sin Wun Pao''. Considered the first part of the ''Tianshan'' series of novels by Liang Y ...

'', '' Yunhai Yugong Yuan'', '' Qijian Xia Tianshan'' and '' Pingzong Xiaying Lu'' – and some have been adapted into films and television series, including ''

The Bride with White Hair ''The Bride with White Hair'' is a 1993 Hong Kong wuxia film directed by Ronny Yu, starring Brigitte Lin and Leslie Cheung. The film's main character, Lian Nichang, is loosely based on the protagonist of Liang Yusheng's novel ''Baifa Monü Zhu ...

'' (1993) and ''

Seven Swords ''Seven Swords'' is a 2005 ''wuxia'' film produced and directed by Tsui Hark, starring Donnie Yen, Leon Lai, Charlie Yeung, Sun Honglei, Lu Yi and Kim So-yeon. An international co-production between Hong Kong, China, South Korea and the Nether ...

'' (2005).

Pen name

Chen's given name "Wentong" means "literary tradition". He chose Liang as the surname of his

to remind himself that he was inheriting the literary tradition of his ancestors in the same way the

Chen dynasty The Chen dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Chen (南陳 / 南朝陳) in historiography, was a Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese imperial dynasty and the fourth and last of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Southern dynasties, ...

(557–589) succeeded the

Liang dynasty The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () or Xiao Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was pre ...

(502–557) during the

Northern and Southern dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered a ...

period (420–589). He chose "Yusheng" as the given name of his pen name to pay homage to

Gong Baiyu Gong Baiyu (Chinese: 宮白羽; September 9, 1899 - 1966) was a Chinese novelist of the Republican period, an early exponent of the martial arts (wuxia) genre that rose to new heights of popularity with the next generation of writers, such as Jin ...

, one of his favourite wuxia writers and sources of influence, because "Yusheng" means "born from (Gong Bai)yu".

Early life

Chen was born in 1924 in a scholarly family in Tunzhi Village, Wenyu Town,

Mengshan County Mengshan County ( zh, s=蒙山县 , t=蒙山縣 , p=Méngshān Xiàn) is a county under the administration of Wuzhou City in northeastern Guangxi, China. Its seat is located in Mengshan Town. History Battles were fought in Mengshan during the Tai ...

Guangxi Province Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ( Hà Giang, Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, and Quảng Ninh Provinces) and the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. He was well-versed in ancient Chinese classics and '' duilian'' and could recite the ''

Three Hundred Tang Poems The ''Three Hundred Tang Poems'' is an anthology of poems from the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907). It was first compiled around 1763 by Sun Zhu (1722–1778Yu, 64–65), who was a Qing Dynasty scholar and was also known as Hengtang Tuishi (, ...

'' by the age of eight. While he was attending Guilin High School in

Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''), postal map romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Kweilin, is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the we ...

, he enjoyed writing poems. Following the outbreak of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

in 1937, Chen left Guilin and returned to Mengshan County. During this time, he met two scholars from the neighbouring

Guangdong Province ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

who had taken shelter in Mengshan County, and studied history and literature under their tutelage:

Jian Youwen Jian Youwen (1896 – 1978 , sometimes transliterated Jen Yu-wen or Kan Yau-man in older documents) was a Chinese historian, public official, and sometime Methodist pastor, known in particular for his writings on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdo ...

, who specialised in the history of the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a civil war in China between the Qing dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The conflict lasted 14 years, from its outbreak in 1850 until the fall of ...

; and

Rao Zongyi Jao Tsung-I or Rao Zongyi (; 9 August 1917 – 6 February 2018) was a Hong Kong sinologist, calligrapher, historian and painter. A versatile and prolific scholar, he contributed to many fields of humanities, including history, archaeology, epi ...

, who was well read in poetry, humanities, art and the history of

Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was ...

. After the war ended, Chen attended

Lingnan University Lingnan University a public research university located in Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hong Kong. Lingnan University has 3 faculties, 3 Schools, 16 departments, 2 language centres, and 2 units (science and music), offering 29 degree honours ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

and graduated in 1948, majoring in international economics.

Career in Hong Kong

In 1949, Chen moved to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and, through a recommendation from Lingnan University, became an assistant editor for the newspaper ''

Ta Kung Pao ''Ta Kung Pao'' (; formerly ''L'Impartial'' in Latin-based languages) is a Hong Kong-based, state-owned Chinese-language newspaper. Founded in Tianjin in 1902, the paper is controlled by the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government i ...

''. He was subsequently promoted to editor and also became a member of the newspaper's editorial executive committee. Towards the end of 1950, he was reassigned to ''

New Evening Post ''The New Evening Post'' ( Chinese: 新晚報) was a Hong Kong newspaper. It was the evening edition of ''Ta Kung Pao''. It started printing on October 15, 1950 and stopped printing on July 27, 1997. The famous novelist Jin Yong was an edito ...

'', the evening edition of ''Ta Kung Pao''. On 17 January 1954, two martial arts masters –

Chan Hak-fu Chan may refer to: Places *Chan (commune), Cambodia *Chan Lake, by Chan Lake Territorial Park in Northwest Territories, Canada People * Chan Caldwell (1920–2000), Canadian football coach *Chan Gailey (born 1952), American football coach * Cha ...

of the White Crane School and

Wu Kung-i Wu Gongyi ( zh, c=吳公儀, p=Wú Gōngyí, w=Wu Kung-i; 1898–1970) was a well-known teacher of the soft style martial art tai chi in China, and, after 1949, in British Hong Kong. He was also the "gate-keeper" of the Wu family from 1942 unt ...

of the Tai Chi School – challenged each other to a ''

lei tai The ''lei tai'' is an elevated fighting arena, without railings, where often fatal weapons and bare-knuckle martial arts tournaments were once held. "Sanctioned" matches were presided over by a referee on the platform and judges on the sides. ...

'' match in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

and attracted much attention in Hong Kong.

Luo Fu Zhang Wentian; 30 August 1900 – 1 July 1976), also known as Luo Fu ( zh, c=洛甫, w=Lo Fu (30 August 1900 – 1 July 1976) was a Chinese politician who was a high-ranking leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Born in Nanhui, he atten ...

, the chief editor of ''New Evening Post'', wanted to take advantage of the

sensationalism In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emoti ...

surrounding the ''lei tai'' match, so he asked Chen to write a

story based on the match and publish it as a serial in the newspaper. This became Chen's debut wuxia novel – ''

Longhu Dou Jinghua Longhu may refer to the following locations in China: *Mount Longhu (龙虎山), in Jiangxi *Longhu District (龙湖区), Shantou, Guangdong Towns (龙湖镇) *Longhu, Fujian, in Jinjiang, Fujian, Jinjiang *Longhu, Chao'an County, Guangdong *Lon ...

'' – and marked the start of a "new school" in the

genre. During this time, he met

, who was also working at ''New Evening Post'' and writing wuxia novels. From 1954 to 1983, Chen wrote a total of 35 wuxia novels, of which most were originally published as serials in newspapers. Among his works, ''

'', '' Yunhai Yugong Yuan'', '' Qijian Xia Tianshan'' and '' Pingzong Xiaying Lu'' are some of the better known ones and have been adapted into films and television series, including ''

'' (1993) and ''

'' (2005). Besides wuxia novels, Chen also wrote columns, critiques and essays under different pen names, including "Liang Hueru" and "Fong Yuning".

Retirement and death

Chen migrated to Australia with his family in 1987. At the time, he was a member of the

China Writers Association The China Writers Association (CWA) is a subordinate people's organization of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC). Founded in July 1949, the organization was initially named the China National Literature Workers Association. ...

and had been offered the position of honorary president of the Yinglian Society of China (YSC) in

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

. He converted to Christianity in September 1994. On 30 November 2004, Chen received an

honorary An honorary position is one given as an honor, with no duties attached, and without payment. Other uses include: * Honorary Academy Award, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, United States * Honorary Aryan, a status in Nazi Germany ...

Doctor of Arts The Doctor of Arts (D.A.; occasionally D.Arts or Art.D. from the Latin language, Latin ''artium doctor'') is a List of academic disciplines, discipline-based terminal degree, terminal doctorate, doctoral academic degree, degree that was originall ...

from his ''alma mater'',

, which has moved to Hong Kong, for his contributions to the development of literature. In December 2006, while attending an event in Hong Kong to celebrate Cosmos Books Ltd.'s 30th anniversary, Chen suffered a stroke. After that, he returned to Australia and spent his time recuperating at the Bernard Chan Nursing Home in

Burwood, New South Wales Burwood is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the Local government in Australia, local government area of Mun ...

. On 22 January 2009, he died of natural causes at the age of 84 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. Among those who wrote tributes to Chen were his mentor

, his former boss

, fellow

writer

, and professor Chan Yiu-nam.

Writing style

Chen's novels always open with a poem – indicating his interest in poetry. The protagonists of his novels also tend to be multi-talented, versatile, and well-read. Besides that, he incorporates elements of Chinese history in his novels – a style also adopted by fellow wuxia writer

. However, unlike Jin Yong and other wuxia writers, he does not regard the Shaolin and Wudang schools as the major orthodox schools in the ''

jianghu ''Jianghu'' () is a Chinese term that generally refers to the social environment in which many Chinese ''wuxia'', '' xianxia'', and ''gong'an'' stories are set. The term is used flexibly, and can be used to describe a fictionalized version of ru ...

'' (martial artists' community). Instead, he makes the Mount Heaven School (Tianshan School) the leading school in the ''jianghu'', particularly in the ''Tianshan'' series of novels set in the

Ming The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of China ruled by the Han people, t ...

and

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

dynasties.梁羽生 (Liang Yusheng)
Chinese Wusia Knight Errant. Retrieved 6 January 2010.

Works

Adaptations

* ''Seven Swordsman Leave Tianshan'' 七劍下天山 (1959) * ''The Jade Bow'' 雲海玉弓緣 (1966) * ''The Patriotic Knights'' 侠骨丹心 (1971) * ''Chronicles of the Shadow Swordsman'' 萍蹤俠影錄 (1977) * ''To Kill the Big Villain in Mt. Tai'' 泰山屠龍 (1980) * ''

White Hair Devil Lady ''White Hair Devil Lady'', also known as ''Sorceress' Wrath'', is a 1980 Hong Kong film adapted from Liang Yusheng's novel ''Baifa Monü Zhuan''. The film was directed by Chang Hsin-yen and starred Paw Hee-ching and Henry Fong. Cast * Paw He ...

'' 白发魔女传 (1980) * ''The Spy in the Palace'' 飛鳳潛龍 (1981) * ''Jade Bow Connections'' 雲海玉弓緣 (1984) * ''Chronicles of the Shadow Swordsman'' 萍蹤俠影錄 (1985) * '' The Romance of the White Hair Maiden (1986 TV series)'' * '' Revenge of Swordsmanship'' 還劍奇情 (1986) * ''

'' 白发魔女传(1993) * '' The Bride with White Hair 2'' 白发魔女传2(1993) * ''

The Romance of the White Hair Maiden (1995 TV series) ''The Romance of the White Hair Maiden'' is a Hong Kong television series adapted from Liang Yusheng's novel ''Baifa Monü Zhuan''. The series was released overseas in December 1994 before broadcasting on TVB Jade in Hong Kong in January 1995. Ca ...

'' * ''

Legend of the White Hair Brides ''Legend of the White Hair Brides'' is a Singaporean television series adapted from the ''wuxia'' novels ''Baifa Monü Zhuan'', ''Saiwai Qixia Zhuan'' and ''Qijian Xia Tianshan'' by Liang Yusheng. It was first broadcast on Channel 8 (Singaporean TV ...

'' 塞外奇侠 (1996 TV series) * '' Romance of the White Haired Maiden (TV series)'' 白发魔女 (1999) * ''Lofty Waters Verdant Bow'' 雲海玉弓緣 (2002) * '' Heroic Legend'' 萍踪侠影 (2003) * ''

'' 七剑 (2005) * ''

Seven Swordsmen ''Seven Swordsmen'' is a 2006 Chinese television series directed by Clarence Fok and produced by Tsui Hark. The series is loosely adapted from Liang Yusheng's ''wuxia'' novels '' Qijian Xia Tianshan'' and ''Saiwai Qixia Zhuan''. It is also the tel ...

'' 七剑下天山 (2006) * ''Vagabond Vigilante'' (2006) * ''

Paladins in Troubled Times ''Paladins in Troubled Times'' is a 2008 Chinese television series adapted from Liang Yusheng's novel ''Datang Youxia Zhuan''. The series was produced by Zhang Jizhong, and starred Victor Huang, Shen Xiaohai, Sattawat Sethakorn, He Zhuoyan, Liu Ti ...

'' 大唐游侠传 (2008) * '' The Patriotic Knights'' 侠骨丹心 (2010) * ''Tracking Knights Phantom'' (2011) * ''

The Bride with White Hair (TV series) ''The Bride with White Hair'' is a 2012 Chinese television series loosely based on Liang Yusheng's novel '' Baifa Monü Zhuan''. Except for some characters' names, the plot is almost completely unrelated to the novel. It was first aired on Hunan S ...

'' 新白发魔女传 (2012) * ''

The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom ''The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom'' is a 2014 Chinese wuxia-fantasy film based on the novel '' Romance of the White-Haired Maiden'' written by Liang Yusheng. Directed by Jacob Cheung and co-produced by Bona Film Group and Huang Jianxin T ...

'' 白发魔女传之明月天国 (2014) * ''The Seven Swords'' (movie trilogies) (2018-2020) * ''The White Haired Witch'' 白发魔女外传 (2020) * ''The First Sword of Wudang'' 武当一剑 (2021)

References

External links

The Wanderer Chronicles (萍踪侠影录)
– Read a chapter-by-chapter English summary of Liang Yusheng's ''Pingzong Xiaying Lu'' (via WuxiaSociety2 – formerly known as Wuxiamania)
Seven Swords Novel Translation
English summary translation of ''Qijian Xia Tianshan'' (updated 27 August 2007) done by Yenchin of Wuxiasociety.org *
Liang Yusheng (HKMDB database)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liang, Yusheng 1926 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Australian novelists 21st-century Australian novelists Alumni of Lingnan University (Hong Kong) Chinese emigrants to Australia Chinese male novelists People from Wuzhou Writers from Guangxi Writers from Sydney Wuxia writers