Classic images from martial arts novelist Louis Cha's works
2018-10-31
The classic image of Guo Jing holding the arrow to the dark sky against the background of a red full moon is considered an icon of Chinese TV series. [Photo/Mtime]
Tributes have been pouring in for Hong Kong martial arts novelist Louis Cha Leung-yung, the world’s most popular Chinese martial arts writer, who died on Tuesday after a long illness. He was 94.
Louis Cha, the byword for wuxia, also known as martial arts legend, not just started a reading and TV craze for generations of Chinese people, but became a cultural phenomenon with Chinese characters across the globe.
Wuxia has a special bond to most Chinese people, therefore, wherever Chinese people live, there is wuxia. Wu means martial arts, and xia means a heroic and chivalrous spirit.
Like most classics, the stories he wrote are set against a meticulously researched historical background. And those stories filled with secret societies, fight for thrones, honor and betrayal, hospitality and love, revenge and duty as well as the magical kung fu style.
It is no exaggeration to say that Cha’s novels are the source of inspiration for film and TV producers, and deeply influenced the development of popular culture in China and Asia at large over the past decades. Top movie stars, from Brigitte Lin, Joey Wong to Jet Li and Andy Lau, starred in the screen adaptations of his novels.
Here are some classic stills from film and TV dramas that are adapted from Louis Cha's works.
The 1983 version of
The Legend of the Condor Heroes starring by Felix Wong and Barbara Yung is considered by many to be a classic television adaptation of the novel. [Photo/Mtime]
Guo Jing is the fictional protagonist of the martial arts novel
The Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. He is described as "dumb", slow to learn and inarticulate, but his most outstanding trait is his constant strife for moral rectitude, which helps him become the top-class kung fu master. [Photo/Mtime]
Huang Rong is the leading female character in
The Legend of the Condor Heroes. Beautiful and smart, she is a master of kung fu and helps her lover Guo Jing overcome many difficulties. [Photo/Mtime]
Hong Kong actress Carman Lee stars Xiaolongnyu, the female lead of the TV drama
The Return of the Condor Heroes (1995 version). [Photo/Mtime]
Hong Kong actor Louis Koo and actress Carman Lee star the TV drama
The Return of the Condor Heroes (1995 version). [Photo/Mtime]
Chinese actress Liu Yifei stars Xiaolongnyu, the female lead of the TV drama
The Return of the Condor Heroes (2006 version). [Photo/Mtime]
Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming and actress Liu Yifei star the TV drama
The Return of the Condor Heroes (2006 version). [Photo/Mtime]
A still from the classic TV drama
The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (1997 version). [Photo/Mtime]
Hong Kong actor Felix Wong plays the role of Qiao Feng in the TV drama
The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (1997 version). [Photo/Mtime]
