War Against Wuxia: Jin Yong, Banned Books, and Taiwan’s “Rainstorm Project” – S5-E42
Wuxia (武俠) novels are martial-arts stories full of swordsmen and swordplay, secret techniques, and chivalrous outlaws. Think Robin Hood crossed with Taoist mysticism and Chinese history. John talks with Taipei-based writer Scott Crawford about the genre – and Jin Yong 金庸 (1924-2018), the most popular and influential wuxia writer. Generations of admiring readers across Asia have devoured his many books. But Taiwan’s government was not a fan. Enter, the Rainstorm Project – a long-running crackdown launched in 1960 that targeted wuxia, especially Jin Yong’s works. Within days, 120,000 novels were seized; and, over the years, hundreds of wuxia titles were banned. But why? Was this simply Cold War paranoia about possible communist cultural “contamination”? Or a kind of moral panic about the impact on children; after all, this fantasy fiction was inspiring Taiwanese students to run off to the mountains in search of kung fu masters.
Cover: An example of a rebranded wuxia book (right), and Jin Yong and the main cast of the film The Story of the Great Heroes in a group photo taken in 1960.
Inspiration for this episode came from browsing the Virtual Museum of Taiwan Literature’s special exhibition on banned books. Scroll down to find the section on the Rainstorm Project.
As well as discussing books, Scott and John touched on noted movie director King Hu (Hu Jinquan 胡金銓),1932–1997, whose acclaimed Dragon Inn (1967), and A Touch of Zen (1970–1971) were filmed in Taiwan. The latter film was a major influence on Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).
Scott Crawford reviewed A Hero Born, the first book of Jin Yong’s series The Legends of the Condor Heroes, for Bookish Asia back in 2020. And John interviewed Scott for Bookish Asia in 2023.
Among Scott Crawford’s books are the novel Silk Road Centurion and the non-fiction work The Han-Xiongnu War, 133 BC–89 AD. To learn more about Scott Crawford and his writing, visit his website.
From the Wiki entry for the novelist Jin Yong:
Louis Cha Leung-yung GBM OBE (查良鏞; 10 March 1924 – 30 October 2018), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (金庸), 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 popular Chinese writers of all time, with over 100 million copies sold globally—excluding widespread pirated editions. Cha’s novels, which have been adapted into numerous TV dramas, films, and video games, are esteemed for their literary quality and universal appeal, resonating with both scholarly and popular audiences.
Pictures:
- An example of a rebranded wuxia book. To get around the book ban, Taiwan’s book pirates renamed Jin Yong’s The Smiling, Proud Warrior as Dugu Nine Sword by Sima Ling (a Taiwan-based writer). Picture courtesy of the Virtual Museum of Taiwan Literature.
- Jin Yong and the main cast of the film The Story of the Great Heroes in a group photo taken in 1960.
[From the China Daily: Courtesy of Dr Louis Cha, who provided the photo to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum]
- A collection of shots from screen adaptations of Jin Yong’s wuxia novels; from the Heritage Museum 金庸展廳館 Jin Yong Gallery in June 2022
Attribution: TAMYAMMIA SHA, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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