|

The Yanyu Tower in the Nanhu scenic area. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Jiaxing in Zhejiang province is the birthplace of Jin Yong, the grandmaster of martial arts novels. In Jiaxing, fiction and reality, as well as the writer and readers, are intertwined.

The year 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Louis Cha Leung-yung, better known by his pen name Jin Yong. As a martial arts novelist, journalist, and social activist, he is known by one and all for his magnificent martial arts world.

In honor of Jin Yong, over 50 media members and several experts on Jin Yong took a tour in his hometown of Jiaxing from March 20 to 21.

"The Nanhu Lake is the starting point of Jin Yong's martial arts world and is also the source of his inspiration," said Yuan Fei, chairman of the Jin Yong Book Club, during the boat tour on the lake.

The story of The Return of the Condor Heroes begins at the Nanhu Lake, while two of the most important martial arts contests in The Legend of the Condor Heroes are also set at the lake.

Jin Yong was born in Haining, a county-level city in Jiaxing, which is famous for the tide of the Qiantang River. The main characters and the story of his first martial arts novel, The Book and the Sword, all come from Haining. In this novel, Jin Yong describes the Qiantang tide and the Temple of Sea God in Haixing in vivid detail.

From 1992 to 2008, Jin Yong came back to his hometown on six different occasions. During each visit, he would go to watch the tide as long as he could. In 1997, he returned for the fourth time specially to watch the tide that had accompanied his growth.

The former residence of Jin Yong. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The former residence of Jin Yong, located in Yuanhua town, Haining, not only marks his birth, but also serves as the root of Jin Studies and the continuation of the Cha family's cultural legacy. Following renovation, it has been open to the public since March 12.

The renovated site is divided into two parts — residence and exhibition areas. The former focuses on reproducing the living conditions at that time, presenting Jin Yong's growth environment and family background. The exhibition is designed to tell the legend of Jin Yong, with a wealth of precious materials collected from all over the country.

Jin Yong once said, "If one is away from home for a long time, the longer the time, the deeper the feeling of nostalgia for home." For many years, he instilled his feeling for hometown in his works, and these works lay the coordinates in his martial arts world on the land of Jiaxing.