Liang Yusheng

Chen Wentong (5 April 1924 – 22 January 2009), better known by his pen name Liang Yusheng, was a Chinese-born Australian novelist best known for being a pioneer of the "new school" of the wuxia genre in the 20th century. Along with Jin Yong and Gu Long, 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, Yunhai Yugong Yuan, Qijian Xia Tianshan and Pingzong Xiaying Lu. Some of them have been adapted into films and television series, including The Bride with White Hair (1993) and Seven Swords (2005).

Chen's given name "Wentong" means "literary tradition". He chose Liang as the surname of his pen name to remind himself that he was inheriting the literary tradition of his ancestors in the same way the Chen dynasty (557–589) succeeded the Liang dynasty (502–557) during the Northern and Southern dynasties period (420–589).^[1] He chose "Yusheng" as the given name of his pen name to pay homage to Gong Baiyu, one of his favourite wuxia writers and sources of influence, because "Yusheng" means "born from (Gong Bai)yu".^[2]

Chen was born in 1924 in a scholarly family in Tunzhi Village, Wenyu Town, Mengshan County, Guangxi Province in Republican China. His father, Chen Xinyu (陳信玉; born 1896), was a member of the local scholar-gentry who used his knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine to treat the locals. Chen himself was well-versed in the Chinese classics and duilian, being able to recite the Three Hundred Tang Poems by the age of eight. While he was attending Guilin High School in Guilin, he enjoyed writing poems.

Following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Chen left Guilin and returned to Mengshan County. During this time, he met two scholars from the neighbouring Guangdong Province who had taken shelter in Mengshan County, and studied history and literature under their tutelage: Jian Youwen, who specialised in the history of the Taiping Rebellion; and Rao Zongyi, who was well read in poetry, humanities, art and the history of Dunhuang.

After the war ended, Chen attended Lingnan University in Guangzhou and graduated in 1948, majoring in international economics.

After the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949, Chen moved to Hong Kong and, through a recommendation from Lingnan University, became an assistant editor for the newspaper Ta Kung Pao. He was subsequently promoted to editor and became a member of the newspaper's editorial executive committee.

In 1950, when the Chinese Communist Party launched the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries in mainland China, Chen's father was arrested and imprisoned after being accused of being a landlord under the Five Black Categories. When Chen heard that his father was in trouble, he rushed back to Mengshan County in an attempt to save his father. Along the way, he met his former classmate Peng Yingkang (彭榮康), who told him about the ongoing Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries. At the same time, he received a letter from his family warning him not to return home, so he headed back to Hong Kong. Chen's father was subsequently executed by the Communist government.

Towards the end of 1950, Chen was reassigned to New Evening Post, the evening edition of Ta Kung Pao.^[3]

On 17 January 1954, two martial arts masters – Chan Hak-fu of the White Crane School and Wu Gongyi of the Tai Chi School – challenged each other to a lei tai match in Macau and attracted much attention in Hong Kong. Luo Fu, the chief editor of New Evening Post, wanted to take advantage of the sensationalism surrounding the lei tai match, so he asked Chen to write a wuxia story inspired by the match and publish it as a serial in the newspaper. This became Chen's debut wuxia novel – Longhu Dou Jinghua – and marked the start of a "new school" wuxia genre.^[2] During this time, Chen met Jin Yong, 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, Baifa Monü Zhuan, 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 The Bride with White Hair (1993) and Seven Swords (2005). Besides wuxia novels, Chen also wrote columns, critiques and essays under different pen names, including "Liang Hueru" and "Fong Yuning".

In 1985, Chen Huiguang, the Chinese Communist Party secretary of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional Committee, visited Hong Kong and met Chen, who sought redress for his father. After returning to mainland China, Chen Huiguang ordered the United Front Work Department to publish a statement, which stated that Chen Xinyu had been wrongfully accused and executed. Chen thanked Chen Huiguang for his help and returned to Mengshan County in 1987 to visit his hometown and pay his respects to his ancestors.

Chen migrated to Australia with his family in 1987.^[4] At the time, he was a member of the China Writers Association and had been offered the position of honorary president of the Yinglian Society of China (YSC) in Shenzhen.^[3] He converted to Christianity in September 1994.^[5]

On 30 November 2004, Chen received an honorary Doctor of Arts from his alma mater, Lingnan University, which has moved to Hong Kong, for his contributions to the development of literature.^[6]

In December 2006, while attending an event in Hong Kong to celebrate Cosmos Books' 30th anniversary, Chen suffered a stroke.^[3] After that, he returned to Australia and spent his time recuperating at the Bernard Chan Nursing Home in Burwood, New South Wales. On 22 January 2009, he died of natural causes at the age of 84 in Sydney.^[4][7] Among those who wrote tributes to Chen were his mentor Rao Zongyi, his former boss Luo Fu, fellow wuxia writer Jin Yong, and professor Chan Yiu-nam.^[1]

Chen's novels always open with a poem – indicating his interest in poetry. The protagonists of his novels also tend to be multi-talented, scholarly and versatile. Besides that, he incorporates elements of Chinese history in his novels – a style also adopted by fellow wuxia writer Jin Yong. However, unlike Jin Yong and other wuxia writers, he does not regard the Shaolin and Wudang sects as the major orthodox sects in the wulin (martial artists' community). Instead, he makes the Mount Heaven Sect (Tianshan Sect) the leading sect in the wulin, particularly in the Tianshan series of novels set in the Ming and Qing dynasties.^[8]

Liang Yusheng's novels were primarily published as newspaper serials between the 1950s and 1980s. They are usually divided into major narrative cycles and standalone works. English titles below are descriptive translations rather than official ones. The publication dates listed as follows are from Liang Yusheng's biography.^[9]

These two novels are self-contained stories with no connection to any of Liang Yusheng's other novels. Nüdi Qiying Zhuan is set in the late seventh and early eighth centuries during Wu Zetian's reign, while Wudang Yijian is set in the 17th century towards the end of the Ming dynasty.

Liang Yusheng occasionally wrote two-part sagas set within a shared narrative arc. Longhu Dou Jinghua and Caomang Longshe Zhuan are set during the late Qing dynasty at the turn of the 20th century against the backdrop of the Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901), while Jianwang Chensi and Huanjian Lingqi are set in the 18th century during the Qing dynasty.

The Datang trilogy is set in the mid-eighth century during the Tang dynasty against the backdrop of the An Lushan rebellion (755–763).

These works share overlapping timelines and characters in the 12th and 13th centuries against the backdrop of the wars (1125–1234) between the Song and Jin dynasties, and the rise of the Mongol Empire.

The Pingzong series is among Liang Yusheng's best-known series, chronicling successive generations of heroes across the 15th century during the Ming dynasty.

The Tianshan series is Liang Yusheng's earliest series of novels, noted for its frontier settings and recurring heroes and heroines. Its historical setting spans from the end of the Ming dynasty in the 17th century to the mid-Qing dynasty in the 19th century.

• Jin Yong
• Gu Long

• 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
• Yusheng Liang at IMDb
• Liang Yusheng (HKMDB database)