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Kung Fu (Wuxia) Novels Translation



Welcome to Lanny's translation web site. Here you will find my translation of some of the greatest Wuxia - martial heroes - novels. I enjoyed these stories tremendously and I'd like to share them with the English speaking audiences who cannot read Chinese.

Smiling Proud Wanderer is written by Jin Yong (Louis Cha) and is my all time most favorite book ever. It tells the story of a young swordsman who wandered around the martial world and discovered the true meaning of good and evil. Despite the many hurdles and drawbacks, he followed his heart and remained carefree. Unlike all other novels by Jin Yong, this novel stayed clear of any historical backgrounds and focused on describing humanity under temptation of the ultimate authority and power. There are politicians and hermits, and the kind of political battle can happen anywhere anytime.

Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils is also written by Jin Yong. The story happened during the Northern Song Dynasty when the Song army frequently clashed with the Khitan Liao Empire near the borders. The book tells the adventures of each of the three sworn brothers. The name of the book is literally "Eight Units of the Heavenly Dragon", which came from Buddhism Scriptures. The many characters appeared in the story represent the eight different kinds of Demi-God and Semi-Devil creatures in the Buddhism Scriptures, hence the name.


Smiling Proud Wanderer
 

Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils
 

Happy Heroes is written by Gu Long, a renowned writer of the new Wuxia genre. Unlike Jin Yong, who prefers to create big-time hero characters, Gu Long favored heroes who appeared normal just like everyday people. This book tells the story of a bunch of young people, their secrets and their friendship. You might find this book quite different from many other famous books by Gu Long, but I am sure you'll enjoy this book just as much as I do.

Full Moon Crescent Saber is a book started by Gu Long and finished by Sima Ziyan. Because of that, it is also the most controversial book of Gu Long. I like this book because of the unique artistic conception and atmosphere described in the book, which really made it stand out from all other Gu Long books.

Seven Weapons is another great book written by Gu Long. The book consists of seven individual stories, each describing a specific type of weapon. However, at the end of each story you will find out that the real weapon the author wanted to discuss is not the one named at the beginning. In this book, Gu Long showed his mastery of depicting the spirit and soul of the characters. This is not a book about weapons, it is a book about humanity.


Happy Heroes
 

Full Moon Crescent Saber
 

Seven Weapons
 

The next three books were all written by Maoni, a renowned Internet writer who has great talent in storytelling. His writing style is a mixture of many of my favorite writers, such as Gu Long, Orson Scott Card, and John Grisham. Probably because the author and I were born in the same era, we share the same culture background, and that made it particularly fun and easy for me to identify the many hidden cultural references the author had intentionally embedded in his storytelling.

Joy of Life is an Internet novel, meaning the author would write and post new chapters daily (or almost daily) on the Internet. It also falls into the "reincarnation" genre, a style started by Huang Yi (I think) and quickly became the dominating style for Internet novels, where the main protagonist would be reborn in a new world with all of his memories from the previous life intact, thus having advantages over others and a better chance to succeed. The direct translation of the book title would have been Celebrating the Remaining Life. I decided to use the name Joy of Life because through the life of the protagonist when he was given a second chance, he slowly discovered the true joy of life in himself which is really something that transcends life.

The Outcast is another one of Maoni's famous Internet novel. It is a story of a stuborn man who insisted on his own believes of justice, and with the help of a mysterious and powerful ally, took on the entire society. Unlike Joy of Life, which is more of a Wuxia genre, this is a Sci-Fi fantasy, with scenes reminding me of classic scenes from movies like Star Wars and The Matrix.

Night Coming is the Internet novel Maoni is presently working on. It is a story of the fantasy genre (mixed with the "reincarnation genre"), telling the story of Ning Que's rise from the grassroot and his choice between light and darkness. Although the story has only began, it has already attracted mass dedicated fans with its brilliant suspense and lively characters. With the Maoni brand, I am sure this is another great work in the making!


Joy of Life
 

The Outcast
 

Night Coming
 

 

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