Louis Cha was expelled from high school for criticising the Chinese government, watched his father get executed for counterrevolutionary behaviour, yet would manage to get the next leader of China to become a fan of his wuxia novels, along with millions in Chinese-speaking territories around the world. This is the life of one of the most popular authors in Chinese literature. 

1924 – Zha Liangyong is born in Zhejiang Province, China to an “outstanding” family of scholars. He is the second child with an older brother, Liangjian who is 8 years older than he. 

Age 2 – His sister, Liangxiu is born. 

Age 4 – His second sister and third sibling, Liangxuan is born. 

Age 10 – His second brother and fourth sibling, Lianghao is born.

Age 11 – His brother, Liangdong is born.

Age 12 – His fourth brother and sixth sibling, Liangyu is born. He spends his childhood reading many novels. 

Age 13 – He enrols into Jiaxing No.1 Middle School. 

Age 17 – He is expelled for criticising the government as autocratic. He continues his education at Quzhou No.1 Secondary school. 

Age 19 – He graduates from Jiaxing High School and enrols in the School of Foreign Languages at Central University. He later drops out and transfers to Soochow University to major in international law. 

Age 23 – He joins Shanghai’s Da Gong Pao newspaper as a journalist. 

Age 24 – He is posted to Hong Kong to be a copyeditor. He is later transferred to New Evening Post to be a deputy editor and meets a new friend, Chen Wentong there. He marries Du Zhifen. 

Age 25 – His father, Zha Suqing is arrested and executed by the communist government in China for allegedly being a counterrevolutionary and the family’s estate is seized. Louis is safe because he lives in Hong Kong, then a British crown colony.  

Age 29 – Louis’ friend Wentong writes a wuxia (a genre involving the stories of martial artists in ancient China, usually with fantastical elements) novel under a pseudonym. By this time Louis has divorced his first wife and marries his second, Zhu Mei—a newspaper journalist. They will have 2 sons and 2 daughters together. 

Age 31 – Louis himself begins to write his first serialised wuxia novel under the pseudonym, Jin Yong. The Romance of the Book and Sword is published in New Evening Post. 

Age 32 – His second serialised wuxia novel—Sword Stained with Royal Blood—is published in the Hong Kong Commercial Daily.

Age 33 – He quits journalism and goes to work as a scenarist-director and scriptwriter for a movie company. He continues to work on serialised wuxia novels on the side and his third serialised wuxia novel—The Legend of the Condor Heros—is published in Hong Kong Commercial Daily.

Age 34 – He co-directs a film, The Nature of Spring, under the name Cha Jing-Yong, his official name in Hong Kong.  

Age 35 – He founds the newspaper Ming Pao together with his high-school friend. He works as its Editor-in-Chief and writes both serialised novels and editorials for it at the rate of approximately 10,000 words a day. His Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain and The Return of the Condor Heros are published that year in New Evening Post and Ming Pao respectively. 

Age 36 – He publishes Other Tales of the Flying Fox in Wuxia and History. He co-directs another film called Bride Hunter. 

Age 37 – He publishes 3 other wuxia serials in Ming Pao. 

Age 39 – He publishes 2 more wuxia serials in Southeast Asia Weekly. 

Age 41 – He publishes one more wuxia serial in Southeast Asia Weekly. 

Age 43 – He publishes his 13th wuxia serial in Ming Pao and Nanyang Siang Pao. He receives death threats from China’s communist underground for his anti-Maoist editorials and briefly hides out in Singapore. 

Age 45 – He publishes his 14th wuxia serial in Ming Pao and will continue to work on it for the next 3 years. 

Age 46 – He publishes his 15th and last wuxia serial—Sword of the Yue Maiden—in Ming Pao. By this time, Ming Pao has gained the reputation as one of Hong Kong’s most highly-rated press. 

Age 48 – Louis retires from writing and spends his time editing and revising his previous works. 

Age 52 – He divorces his second wife and marries his third, Lin Leyi who is 23 years of age. His son commits suicide while studying at Columbia University after a quarrel with his girlfriend. China’s leader Mao Zedong dies. 

Over the next years – Louis becomes involved in Hong Kong politics. His novels are banned in China because the Chinese think they are satires of Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution. His novels are also banned in Taiwan because the Taiwanese think they are in support of the Communist Party of China. 

Age 55 – He finishes revisions of all his previous works. His revised versions are known as “New Editions” in contrast to the “Old Editions”. A complete collection of all his works is published by Taiwan’s Yuenching Publishing House. 

Age 56 – The Wulin magazine in Guangzhou is the first magazine to publish his work. His novels by this time are very popular in Chinese-speaking areas around the world. They would later go on to be adapted into films, TV series and radio dramas in almost all Chinese-speaking territories. 

Age 57 – He is invited to meet China’s new leader Deng Xiaoping over dinner and the latter declares himself a fan of Louis’ work. He returns the compliment by saying good things about Deng in front of reporters. 

Age 69 – He sells all his shares in Ming Pao to prepare for retirement. 

Age 70 – His complete collection is published by Sanlian Shu Dian in Beijing, China. 

Age 71 – His complete collection is published in Southeast Asia by the Ming He Shi Singapore-Malaysia Company. 

Age 72 – He becomes part of the Preparatory Committee set up to supervise Hong Kong’s transition to the Chinese government. 

Age 73 – He suffers a stroke and is unable to walk, write or speak well. 

Age 74 – The asteroid 10930 Jinyong is named after him. 

Age 75 – Louis begins revising his novels again. 

Age 80 – An excerpt from his novel, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils are included in senior high school text books in China. Other excerpts are included in text books in Singapore for secondary and junior college students. 

Age 81 – He applies for a doctorate in Asian Studies at Cambridge University.

Age 82 – The revisions of all his novels are complete. These are known as the “New Century Editions”.

Age 85 – He applies for a doctorate in Chinese Literature at Peking University. 

Age 86 – He obtains his doctorate from Cambridge University. 

Age 89 – He earns his doctorate from Peking University. 

Age 94 – He dies in Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital of organ failure after a long illness. He is survived by his wife and 3 children. Famous writers, producers, actors, politicians and even Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma (a huge fan of his) attend his funeral. His ashes are kept at a columbarium in a monastery on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island. By this time, over 300 million copies of his works have been sold worldwide. His personal wealth is estimated to be around HK$600million (US$77million).

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Photographs: 浙江省舟山市普陀区桃花岛旅游管委会, Hong Kong Heritage Museum. Compiler: Sy
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