China News Service, Beijing, March 10th (Liu Yue) Today is the centenary of the birth of Jin Yong, and the excitement is comparable to that of a martial arts conference: Jin Yong’s hometown, beside Yanyu Tower, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, widely distributes "hero posts"; the holy land of martial arts, the Pearl River Port, Hong Kong is waiting Destined people; South of Caiyun, Tianlong ruins, Dali Prefecture, Yunnan held a symposium...
However, compared with the popularity of "Jin Yong", the "Martial Arts Jianghu" written by him seems to be more in line with the meaningful motto: make a big fuss and leave quietly.
The famous writer Jin Yong.
Photo by China News Service reporter Wang Linan
The martial artist is dead. Do you want to burn paper?
How glorious were the martial arts in the past?
The flying snow shoots at the white deer, and the laughing magician leans on the blue mandarin duck.
Starting from "The Book of Swords and Enemies" in 1955 and ending with "The Deer and the Cauldron" in 1972, over a period of 18 years, Jin Yong created a total of 15 martial arts novels that were popular in the Chinese-speaking world.
Wherever there are Chinese people, there are Jin Yong books.
In 1957, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" became very expensive in Luoyang as soon as it was published, causing a sensation in Hong Kong. It can be said that "it is useless to read poetry and books without talking about "The Legend of the Condor Heroes"."
Geniuses always come together.
At that time, Jin Yong, Gu Long, Liang Yusheng, and Wen Ruian were known as the "Four Great Masters of Martial Arts".
There are endless classic works such as "Dragon", "Seven Swordsmen", "Xiao Shiyilang" and "Backwater Cold".
Flowers bloom and fall, young people grow old.
Decades have passed, and today’s martial arts novels are in an embarrassing situation, which is sad.
According to Baidu Index, "Martial Arts" reached its final peak of popularity in 2011 with the movie of the same name starring Donnie Yen and Takeshi Kaneshiro.
"Martial Arts" Baidu Index.
webpage Screenshot
You know, martial arts was once a well-deserved "traffic driver". Many readers bought the newspaper and hungrily held the serialized part of the novel, but did not pay attention to other page contents.
However, not long ago, the "2023 Book Retail Market Annual Report" was released. Realistic-themed works stand out in the best-selling list, but there is no trace of "martial arts".
From the perspective of platform e-commerce channels, martial arts novels are still absent from Dangdang’s 2023 best-selling list data.
It is worth noting that in the best-selling list of martial arts novels in the same year and on the same website, the top ten were occupied by Jin Yong's works.
The good news is that Jin Yong’s works still occupy an important position in the literary world.
The bad news is that there seems to be no successor to martial arts novels.
"The best-selling martial arts novel in our store is Jin Yong's "The Eight Parts of the Dragon"." Liu Di, marketing manager of PAGEONE Bookstore, told reporters that in the physical book market, the sales performance of contemporary literature, suspense reasoning, and science fiction books are relatively outstanding.
Among martial arts novels, novels by Jin Yong and Gu Long are relatively popular because they are "classic enough."
Jin Yong holds a newly published novel "The Eight Parts of the Dragon".
Udndata photo source: Oriental IC
"Martial arts novels still have a certain market position and influence, but they also face some challenges and changes." Liu Di said frankly that novels in contemporary literature, science fiction, suspense and other types of novels are constantly being released, and some "hot hits" stand out for a certain period of time. To a certain extent, it grabs the attention and social attention of public readers.
At the same time, the convenience and popularity of digital reading have naturally led some readers to turn to e-books or online reading platforms, which has affected the sales of physical martial arts novels to a certain extent.
On the other hand, in the online writing circuit, martial arts were almost beaten to the point of being unable to fight back.
"Martial arts has no future, and whoever writes about it will die first." Although it is a joke, it is not unreasonable.
Take Qidian.com and Tomato Novel, the leading websites for online articles, as examples.
Data shows that in the past year, the number of "martial arts" works on the shelves, reading volume, work signings and other data have all been at the bottom, which is an embarrassing situation.
In the past year, Qidian’s new book has released data.
Picture source "Network Big Data" website
Looking back at Jinjiang Literature City, which has an industry advantage by selling IP adaptation rights, among the latest 100 novels with signed copyrights (films, TV dramas and radio dramas), there is only one with a martial arts theme.
According to the 52nd "Statistical Report on China's Internet Development Status" released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), as of June 2023, the number of online literature users in my country has reached 537 million, reaching a record high.
In the "Top Ten Keywords of Internet Literature in 2023" released by China Literature Group, words such as "farming", "sitting on the road", "AI golden finger" and "overlord globalization" were on the list. Fairy tales, cities, history, reality , fantasy, science fiction and other themes have become popular this year.
The results were impressive, but "Martial Arts" failed to get a share of the pie.
It’s as if Wu Yazi’s 70-year-old skills disappeared in one night in “Dragon Movie”. The martial arts novels that once shook the literary world have plummeted in both quantity and traffic.
So, how did Xianxia and Xuanhuan, as "Xuzhu", inherit the rich inner strength of their predecessors?
"The Great One", can't beat Mary Sue and Long Aotian?
When a whale falls, all things come into being.
In 2010, Chinese online literature entered a new era of mobile reading, with all kinds of new works springing up like mushrooms after a rain.
When it comes to literary enlightenment, many online writers give the answer to the four great writers: "Jin, Gu, Liang, and Wen."
However, newcomers have inherited martial arts elements, but abandoned the martial arts "routines" and instead labeled them fantasy, fairy tales, supernatural powers, etc.
Even though there are fighting moves and sect secrets, "Jianghu" is no longer the main body of the story.
What is sad is that the martial arts that once gave birth to fairy tales and fantasy is now difficult to serve on the table.
Among the major leading websites, Xianxia and Fantasy are well-deserved “traffic responsibilities”.
Although among these two genres, the "Mary Sue" that everyone loves me and the cool and cool "Long Aotian" have too much literary content.
Popular list of fantasy novels on Qidian Chinese website.
Screenshot of Qidian Chinese website
Jin Yong may not have figured out the readability of "You are my sweetheart" and "I regard all living beings as ants" without even thinking about it.
Could it be that the "great knight" couldn't defeat Mary Sue and Long Aotian?
Guo Jing has a dull talent and can only make up for his weakness with hard work. Qiao Feng has been studying martial arts in Shaolin since he was a child. Zhang Wuji has been practicing the "Nine Yang Manual" for five years in the deep valley of Kunlun Mountain. On the other hand, the male protagonist Long Aotian picks up artifacts in the east and ties up systems in the west. You can break through the realm overnight.
On the Broken Heart Cliff, Yang Guo has been waiting for Xiao Longnu for sixteen years. Qiao Feng said, "There is only one A'Zhu in all the countries in the world." At the end of "White Horse Roaring in the West Wind", the girl riding the white horse silently muttered, "That's all very, very good." "Yes, but I don't like it." If we look at the classic fantasy novels, they often have a harem with three wives and four concubines, or the male protagonist has so many confidants that Wei Xiaobao is willing to be inferior to him.
When the city of Xiangyang was destroyed, Guo Jing and Huang Rong died for their country, Qiao Feng committed suicide in front of the battle line to prevent the Song and Liao armies from confronting each other, and Zhang Wuji gave up his hatred of destroying his family because peace in the martial arts was hard-won; on the other hand, in the "Mary Sue" literature, the heroine tried to save her husband The hero slaughtered everyone for justice, and the hero went crazy for love and angered the world: "I want the people to be buried with you!"
Stills from the fantasy drama "Fights Break the Sphere"
However, even if the fifteen male protagonists in Jin Yong's novels are moved at the same time to use their tricks, when encountering such protagonists who have successfully reached the pinnacle of life by relying on the system, rebirth, time travel and other abilities, they can only be instantly confused. , no matter how many martial arts masters you have, they will all be wiped out.
As long as the setting is novel enough, it doesn't matter how illogical it is to block gods and kill gods and Buddhas, and it is indeed more in line with the needs of most online readers.
He Jianming, vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association and a famous writer, believes that the reason why martial arts is gradually declining in today's society is mainly due to changes in cultural background and rapid social development.
He pointed out that the works of martial arts masters such as Jin Yong are essentially products of traditional writing. Today's readers, especially the younger generation, are no longer limited to traditional martial arts works.
The information they are exposed to is more extensive and diverse.
New literary forms such as fantasy and fairy tales often integrate modern technology and science fiction elements. With their rich imagination and innovative structure, they provide readers with a broader imagination space and satisfy their pursuit of novelty and excitement, so they are more popular.
Where are the rivers and lakes? My heart is Jianghu
Once upon a time, film and television dramas derived from classic martial arts works were childhood memories of many people.
However, after repeated remakes, the audience will inevitably get tired of aesthetics - you know, there are more than ten versions of "The Legend of Heaven and the Dragon Sword" alone.
In recent years, martial arts dramas have embarked on a new path of adaptation.
Popular works such as "The Order of Mountains and Rivers", "Lotus Tower" and "Let's Try the World", as well as the well-performing "Youth Song" and "Youth Traveling - An Inch of Love" are all adapted from martial arts novels in the post-Jin Yong era; the well-known masterpiece "Magpie Sword Gate" "Legend" and "One Thought Guanshan" are original scripts, and new martial arts forces continue to gain new audiences for martial arts.
The original martial arts drama "Legend of the Magpie Sword" has a Douban score of 8.1.
Douban screenshot
In 2024, the "Jin Yong Martial Arts World" series composed of five units including "Southern Emperor and Northern Beggar" and "Evil of the East" will be released soon, and may become a new starting point for "Jin Yong Universe".
Classics were once popular, but not all popular things can become classics.
Those heroic sons and daughters, with their family and country righteousness between the lines, have long become symbols of the times and are deeply embedded in the hearts of generations of Chinese people.
This is difficult to achieve with today’s “traffic” themes.
So, back to the original question, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Jin Yong’s birth, is martial arts really “dead”?
Does that "jianghu" really no longer exist?
This question may be answered with an interesting essay from the interview.
In 1997, He Jianming went abroad for the first time.
On the long journey to Canada, he took out a Jin Yong novel to relieve his boredom.
As he was about to return to China, he unexpectedly met a university lecturer.
He Jianming did not prepare a gift, so he gave the Jin Yong novel to the other party.
One day ten years later, He Jianming received a call. The foreign lecturer arrived in Beijing and hoped to meet him.
After meeting, the other party made a request that made He Jianming laughable: take me to see something, take me to a place.
"He said he wanted to see the kung fu in Jin Yong's novels and see the rivers and lakes in Jin Yong's novels." He Jianming laughed: "I said, where are the rivers and lakes? I can't find it!"
By chance, in 2015, He Jianming went to Jin Yong’s hometown of Zhejiang for a meeting.
Southeast of Lin'an, at the top of Wushan Mountain, half city is surrounded by mountains and half is surrounded by lakes.
A simple and elegant pavilion came into view, with the words "A View of the Rivers and Lakes" written on it.
On one side of the Qiantang River, the waves rolled up thousands of piles of snow; on the other side of the West Lake, there were floating lights and golden scales.
I miss each other forever, but I am embarrassed in this place and now.
In the beautiful scenery just like what Jin Yong painted, He Jianming thought: "Why are there no rivers and lakes? The rivers and lakes are here." (End)