Posted on by Lone Crane

Heartbroken Arrow—Liu Canyang

Well, it took a while, but I finally finished it: Heartbroken Arrow《傷情箭》by Taiwan wuxia author Liu Canyang 柳殘陽. It was first serialized in The China Times from January 10 – March 17, 1971. A short novel, only seven chapters, yet its somber tone and lively writing make it a quick, satisfying read. It also has all the main characteristics of Liu Canyang’s unique “iron and blood” writing style: Lots of dialogue with characters trading barbs, a focus on the seamy side of the jianghu, gangs rather than lofty martial arts sects (you will rarely see Wudang or Shaolin in a Liu Canyang novel), graphic violence, and a hard-edged protagonist who never yields. Heartbroken Arrow is a good introduction to Liu Canyang’s work, and is his first work to be translated into English.

I started this translation September 21, 2012 on my old, short-lived wuxia forum, Among Rivers and Lakes. Back then I translated the first chapter and a half and then stopped, for whatever reason. There is sat for about eight years. Then in August 2020 I thought to finish it. I got about a chapter and a half from the end before losing steam and setting it aside, planning to come back to it after a break. Then I forgot about it until now. It’s not very long, maybe around 35k words or so. Good-sized novella length. Really shouldn’t have taken me this long. But so it goes.

In the reprint copy I have there are fifty illustrations. I have included them in my translation, inserting them at the same place they occur in my print copy. Four of them are in color.

So yeah, here’s a new wuxia novel for everyone to read! I really like Liu Canyang’s novels. He’s probably my second favorite, behind Yun Zhongyue. I like his more down-to-earth, “blue collar” style. The jianghu feels like it ought to, rough and tough and gritty. What really struck me translating Heartbroken Arrow was how creative his figurative language is. It’s not just stock phrases used over and over, Liu Canyang describes things in new, interesting ways. His fight scenes I found difficult to translate because the moves are detailed and not all that simple at times. Hopefully my clumsy renditions come through okay. Also the protagonist’s weapon, a gold arrow with a black cord, is one of the coolest weapons I’ve encountered in a some time.

Anyway, here it is! It’s a quick read, so give it a shot: HEARTBROKEN ARROW

Posted on by Lone Crane

Beatdown Cudgel — Liu Canyang

Beatdown Cudgel was published in 1974 and at only one volume, 262 pgs., it is one of Liu Canyang’s shorter novels, characteristic of his later period work. But it has everything Liu Canyang is known for: brutal violence; focus on the “dark path”, the underworld of society rather than a goody-two-shoes idealistic hero of the “light path”; a seasoned protagonist who is already a martial arts adept, who doesn’t need to find a master or esoteric martial arts manual to get strong and defeat his enemy. He can already defeat his enemy. Yet still with his own moral code he follows. Though elsewhere I have characterized Liu Canyang’s work as “grimdark before grimdark”, that’s not really accurate because morality in his novels is not grey, it’s just not idealistic. There is still a “good” and a “bad” guy, even though the good guy might, by society’s standards, be a “bad” guy. But he’s not a monster nor a completely selfish asshole. More Blondie (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) and less Caul Shivers (Best Served Cold). Liu Canyang has been placed alongside Yun Zhongyue in the subset of wuxia authors who write more “realistically”.

The protagonist of Beatdown Cudgel is Meng Changqing. His weapon is the Beatdown Staff, a black wooden cudgel, a little over four-feet long, with a dark red sheen to it, and scratch marks on the upper half part of it where sharp weapons seemed to have cut into it over and over over the years. Though I translated it as “beatdown” cudgel, the original Chinese, 煞威棒, refers to a real, historical rod used to beat suspects into submission after they have been arrested.

Read more
Posted on by Lone Crane

How Much Money Did Wuxia Writers Make?

A Discussion of Taiwanese Wuxia Author Pay

by Gu Xueyi

During the 60s and 70s over 400 wuxia authors emerged in Taiwan. To a large degree this was because the barrier to entry to become a wuxia author was very low, and one could receive abundant remuneration in return. In other words, many authors chose to write wuxia novels not because of some lofty ideal but because they could live a good life. As Zhuge Qingyun once said of himself, “Even though there’s no literary inquisition in this generation… writing books is still just a way to make a living.”

But how much money could a wuxia author make? This is a big topic. For example, Jin Yong, who ascended to the ranks of “billionaires” partly because of his wuxia novels, still the most important reason was because of the market value of his newspaper, Ming Pao. Or Gu Long, the money he earned from film and TV adaptations far exceeded the money he made from his novels. But that’s not the focus of this discussion. What I’m more interested in is manuscript submission payment because that is what the vast majority of wuxia authors relied on to make their living. After all, Jin Yong is just one person, and so is Gu Long. Their success is very difficult to duplicate; few authors were lucky enough to see their work adapted to film or TV, much less be like Jin Yong and use a newspaper empire to earn a nearly astronomical income.

Read more
Posted on by Lone Crane

Liu Canyang Synopses (1)

Here are a few synopses of some Liu Canyang novels I found online and translated. Will post some more at a later date. These will also be added to the relevant wuxia wiki pages. I am working on an article about Liu Canyang’s unique “Blood & Steel” style which will have many translation excerpts. Read more

Posted on by Lone Crane

Broken Blade — Liu Canyang

Well. They can’t all be lookers. Not the most exciting cover, is it? Its content is much different, though. Broken Blade《斷刃》was written by Liu Canyang 柳殘陽 and published in 1968 by Spring and Autumn Publishing in Taiwan. Liu Canyang developed a unique writing style that was ultra-violent compared to other authors of his day. He preferred characters that were morally complicated, not the righteous heroes common to wuxia. Grimdark before grimdark, you might say. Broken Blade is about Li Jueling, a hitman contracted to retrieve some jade treasure. But along the way he gets involved with a girl, Huang Junzhi, who gradually changes him away from his violent lifestyle. But there is a ruthless organization out to get him…

The excerpt is part of the first chapter of the novel. The action starts right away. One problem with this novel overall is also noticeable in the excerpt: sometimes the dialogue can go on too long. This is a common problem in old wuxia novels, likely the result of padding for word count to meet serialization quotas. But at least the dialogue here is lively. It’s written in a more modern style as well, there are no ancient vibes here. Like most wuxia novels, it doesn’t specify a specific time period. For those who can read Chinese, this novel is available in only one location I am aware of: the oldrain forums. Elsewhere you will find Broken Blade listed as one of Liu Canyang’s novels, but the novel posted under that name is not Broken Blade. I have yet to find out what novel it actually is. You’ll know you found the right one if the main character is Li Jueling. You can compare to my translation below. This novel is pretty good for what it is, but after reading the first half of it you can pretty much guess how it will end.

Read more