China News Service, Hangzhou, March 9th, Title: Jin Yong’s 100th Birthday: Smiling Proudly in Hangzhou’s “Jianghu”

　　Author Yan Zhang Bin

　　March 10 this year is the centenary of Jin Yong’s birth.

Being in Hangzhou, I cannot help but pay special attention to this day.

　　Hangzhou is the city that appears most frequently in Jin Yong's works. The Qiantang River and West Lake in Hangzhou also coincide with the rivers and lakes in Jin Yong's works.

　　Jin Yong is considered "half" a native of Hangzhou.

　　In 1946, at the age of 22, Jin Yong received his first long-term formal job and entered the Hangzhou Southeast Daily.

In Hangzhou, he also ushered in his first love.

　　Hangzhou's beautiful lakes, mountains, and cultural monuments attracted the young Jin Yong to leave his footprints.

March 8, Hangzhou Senior High School.

The picture shows the Hangzhou Gongyuan couplets recited by Jin Yong.

Photo by Zhou Xiaofeng

　　Many years later, Jin Yong could still recite a couplet from Hangzhou Gongyuan: "When I write a thousand words, when the cinnamon seeds are fragrant, the locust flowers are yellow; when I go out, I smile and see the full moon in the West Lake, and the tide is coming from the east Zhejiang."

In 1953, Mr. Jin Yong (Cha Liangyong) (first from left) took a photo with his relatives and friends by the West Lake on the eve of being sent to work for Hong Kong's "Ta Kung Pao".

Photo courtesy of the Party History and Literature Research Office of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China

　　In 1955, Jin Yong began writing martial arts novels in Hong Kong.

The characters in his novels come to Hangzhou again and again, and the city is full of interest between the lines.

　　In "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Guo Jing and Huang Rong came to the Broken Bridge in the West Lake. It was a hot summer day and they saw that there were lotus flowers under the bridge.

The two of them immediately chose a restaurant to sit down. The food was exquisite and the wine was delicious. They drank wine and enjoyed the lotus. They were in a happy mood.

　　"The lotus leaves touching the sky are infinitely green, and the lotus flowers reflecting the sun are uniquely red." The lotus flowers on the broken bridge are a grand scene of the West Lake, and Jin Yong must have been deeply impressed.

Hangzhou West Lake (data map).

Photo by Ma Liqun

　　In "The Legend of Heaven and Dragon Sword", the Liuhe Pagoda is "infinitely charming" and the turbulent Qiantang River tide is "like thousands of troops."

Now, "Liuhe Listening to the Waves" is one of the Three Commentaries and Ten Scenes of the West Lake.

　　Jin Yong's love for Hangzhou was not just about the beautiful lakes and mountains.

There are also "great chivalrous people who serve the country and the people" that he admires.

　　In "The Book of Swords and Enemies", Guo Jing greatly admired Yue Fei, Han Shizhong and other famous anti-gold generals.

In front of Feilai Peak, Guo Jing saw the "Cuiwei Pavilion" inscribed on his forehead by Han Shizhong. He liked it and walked into the pavilion quickly.

There is a stone tablet in the pavilion, which is engraved with a poem by Yue Fei: "After years of dust, my clothes are full of dust. I especially look for the fragrance on the greenery. I don't see enough of the good mountains and rivers. I am urged by the horse's hooves to return home in the bright moonlight."

　　Hangzhou is also the place where Jin Yong longed for heroes to retire.

　　In "The Swordsman", the secluded place that Linghu Chong and Ren Yingying finally chose was neither the blackwood cliff of the woman's family nor the Huashan of the man's family, but Plum Village on Gushan Mountain in the West Lake, where the two played the flute and played music. Huai, books and wine soothe worries.

　　Gushan is still the best place to appreciate plum blossoms in Hangzhou today. There is a local legend of "Plum Blossom Wife and Crane Son".

A few days ago, the author went to Gushan to explore plum blossoms. The red plum blossoms were in full bloom, blocking out the sky and the sun. It was really the "ceiling" of plum blossom viewing in West Lake.

　　The Yunsong Bookstore, located next to the "Twin Peaks Towering in the Clouds" among the ten scenic spots in the West Lake, may be the "Meizhuang" in Jin Yong's heart.

On March 6, Yunsong Bookstore is located in the West Lake Scenic Area of ​​Hangzhou.

Photo by Zhang Bin

　　Jin Yong expressed his intention to live and die in Hangzhou more than once, and Yunsong Bookstore was once his preferred place.

　　The bookstore was completed in June 1996, with a total area of ​​3,200 square meters and a total cost of more than 10 million yuan, funded by Mr. Jin Yong.

His original intention of building Yunsong Bookstore was "for the purpose of collecting books and writing and for the gathering of literati."

　　There is a couplet at the door of the bookstore: Flying snow shoots at a white deer, and the laughing book hero leans on the blue mandarin duck.

This couplet is based on the titles of several martial arts novels written by Jin Yong.

　　Entering the bookstore, you will see murals engraved with fragments of more than ten novels by Jin Yong on the walls of the corridor, which were selected by him personally.

From Brother Jing and Qiao Huangrong to Gang Leader Qiao, Linghu Chong, Wei Xiaobao and Chen Jialuo, they are all complete and lifelike.

The grass and trees in this area, including the furnishings, plaques and couplets, are full of Jin Yong's literary thoughts and elegance.

　　Zhang Jun, a good friend of Jin Yong and former secretary of the Party Committee of Zhejiang University, revealed during his lifetime that after the Yunsong Bookstore was completed, Jin Yong felt that the bookstore was too perfect and it was located by the West Lake and should not be used by him alone, so he decided to keep the Yunsong Bookstore. The house was donated to Hangzhou City, and the Hangzhou Municipal Government also commended him for his integrity.

On March 6, at the Yunsong Bookstore located in the West Lake Scenic Area in Hangzhou, the rocking chair that Mr. Jin Yong once sat on was as new as ever.

Photo by Zhang Bin

　　On November 5, 1996, the night after the donation ceremony of Yunsong Bookstore, Jin Yong and his wife Zhang Junsheng checked into the Songfeng Mingyue Building of Yunsong Bookstore, played chess and wrote, drank tea and talked, and left in a happy mood the next day. I never stayed in the bookstore again.

　　What a hero.

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