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The Origins of the Tang Sect in Wuxia Fiction

Webnovel readers are perhaps more familiar with the Tang Sect through the fantasy series Douluo Dalu《斗罗大陆》(aka Soul Land) by Tang Jia San Shao (唐家三少), but it has its origins in wuxia fiction dating back to the Republican period (1912-1949) and since has become a common sect used by many wuxia authors, such as Liang Yusheng 梁羽生, Gu Long 古龍, and Wen Rui’an 溫瑞安.

Yet although the Tang Sect is common in wuxia fiction, it is actually ostensibly based on a real person. The original source is a martial arts manual anthology written by Wan Laisheng 萬籟聲 in 1926 called《武術匯宗》Collected Schools of Martial Arts, in which Wan Laisheng compiled information about many different martial arts techniques he had learned. In this book he mentions “Elder Sister Tang” of Sichuan:

有操五毒神砂者，乃鐵砂以五毒煉過，三年可成。打於人身，即中其毒；遍體麻木，不能動彈；掛破體膚，終生膿血不止，無藥可醫。如四川唐大嫂即是！
There are those who use Miraculous Five Poisons Sand, which is iron sand refined with five poisons and takes three years to make. When it makes contact with a person’s body, that person is poisoned. Their whole body goes numb and they can’t move. If it breaks the skin, pus and blood will ooze nonstop. There is no antidote. Elder Sister Tang of Sichuan is one such user [of this poison sand]1

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Hong Kong’s “Great Wuxia Era” — Part 1

Hong Kong’s “Great Wuxia Era”

by Lin Yao

1

On May 20, 1959, many events probably transpired in the world. But for Hong Kong, there were two events worth remembering. At the time these were minor events; aside from those involved, probably no one else took notice. Like the seed of a garden balsam or a soybean seed, even though you plant it in the ground, if it doesn’t sprout, no one will know it will have flame-red blossoms or countless bean pods.

The first event was that Jin Yong began publication of Ming Pao. Jin Yong was thirty-six years old, his eleventh year after moving south to Hong Kong. Once Ming Pao had made a name for itself, many rumors went around, some saying that Jin Yong had received funding from the USA’s Central Intelligence Agency to start the company, and there were rumors that Jin Yong was being secretly backed by Taiwan’s Nationalist Party. In his later years, Jin Yong was interviewd by Bai Yansong for China Central Television and said, “I put most of the royalty money I received, about 80,000 yuan, plus 20,000 from Shen Baoxin, toward starting Ming Pao. If we had had backing, we wouldn’t have needed to work so hard.

At that time, Jin Yong had already written The Book and the Sword, Sword Stained with Royal Blood, and Legend of the Condor Heroes, the latter being especially popular with a large readership. In 1958, it was made into a film by Hong Kong’s Emei Film Group and remained a trendy Cantonese wuxia film till 1970. And because of this, Jin Yong had acquired a substantial amount in royalties, so he had some capital. In those days, the cost of running a newspaper was low, and having worked in the newspaper business for many years, Jin Yong didn’t want to work for anyone else anymore and naturally decided to “run his own business”.

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