Recently I did some research into the serialization of Wolong Sheng’s 臥龍生 wuxia novels in Singapore newspapers. Fortunately, Singapore’s newspapers are archived online, so anyone can go and look at any issue. So I looked up all the Wolong Sheng novels I could find in that archive, and below is what I found.

The most important discovery is that the novel Red Snow, Black Frost《絳雪玄霜》was actually published from Feb. 20, 1961 to Nov. 21, 1963 in Singapore’s Sin Chew Daily《星洲日報》. Bibliographies of Wolong Sheng’s works have always placed the date of publication at 1963, but there’s never been any details given about what month or where it was published. Turns out, the novel was a Singapore exclusive at the time. That’s probably why the earliest publication date up till now has presumably been when it was first published in Taiwan in book form (presumably 1963). But it’s actually an earlier novel than that.

This is significant because this new date places it a few months before Heavenly Whirlwind《天香飆》, which was published in Taiwan’s Public Opinion Daily《公論報》starting June 1, 1961. This also puts it before Unknown Flute《無名簫》, which ran from July 22, 1961 – Oct. 28, 1964 in Great China Evening News《大華晚報》.

My findings also show that a few of his other novels began earlier than previous thought, such as Bloody Sword, True Heart《血劍丹心》, which ran April 11, 1970 – Sept. 20, 1971 in Shin Min Daily News《新明日报》.

I also discovered in Soaring Dragon of the Hinterlands《八荒飛龍記》that there is some material in the Sin Chew Daily installments that is different from the book version of the novel as published by Spring & Autumn Publishing 春秋出版社, including some different characters. Perhaps it’s just the names that are different, I’m not sure. More detailed study is needed; I have yet to delve into it. I don’t know if this is material that was deleted later on when it was published in book form, or if it’s just changed names, or what. More research is needed.

There is also a note by Wolong Sheng published a few days before the start of his novel Gold Sword, Eagle Arrow《金劍雕翎》in the Sin Chew Daily wherein he states that he was disappointed with how Red Snow, Black Frost turned out and how wuxia needs to change, and that he was going to incorporate a new writing style for this new novel.

Below are my findings, including links to the pages in the archive for proof. It’s in Chinese, but I figured most people won’t be interested in this kind of info anyway; those who are will probably be able to read Chinese. Although this kind of technical info is not of interest to most readers, the precise dating of wuxia works is actually pretty important because the situation is a real mess due to there being so many fakes and pirated works and works published under other authors’ names, etc. So finding out precise dates really helps to sort this stuff out. This is one step further toward that goal.

臥龍生的武俠小說在新加坡的連載研究

1.) 《絳雪玄霜》其實開起載於 1961.02.20 到 1963.11.21 連載完 在《星洲日報》,658期。 所以,《絳雪玄霜》起連載略早於《天香飆》與《無名簫》。https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Page/scjp19610220-1.1.14

Red Snow, Black Frost《絳雪玄霜》第一期,1961.02.20

最後:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Page/scjp19631121-1.1.3

2.) 《天香飆》就是從 1961.06.01 在《公論報》起連載(據《武俠60》紀錄片)。

Heavenly Whirlwind《天香飆》第一期,1961.06.01
Heavenly Whirlwind, Chapter 1

3.) 寫在「金劍鵰翎」之前,1963.12.31 《星洲日報》。臥龍生說他覺得《絳雪玄霜》是「深感內疚失敗作品」:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19631231-1.2.58.1

Note before Gold Sword, Eagle Arrow 寫在「金劍鵰翎」之前,1963.12.31

4.) 《金劍雕翎》:1964.01.03 到 1968.06.09 連載完,1457期,在《星洲日報》:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19640103-1.2.54.11.1

最後:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19680609-1.2.51.1.1

5.) 《翠袖玉環》:1968.06.12 到 1970.11.15 在《星洲日報》,連載完,823期:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19680612-1.2.58.11.1

最後:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19701115-1.2.44.5

6.) 《八荒飛龍記》:1970.11.19 到 1973.02.06 在《星洲日報》連載,但是我發現內容有非常不同的地方。從網路上的版本的第十四章(跟我手上的春秋出版社版本一樣)起,內容變得不一樣,甚至有很多不同的人物。還沒考究是怎麼回事,不知道是春秋版本有很多內容被刪除或者內容以後被改,不清楚。: https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Page/scjp19701119-1.1.19

最後的: https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19730206-1.2.76.4

7.) 《血劍丹心》:1970.04.11 到 1971.09.20 在《新明日报》,連載完:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/shinmin19700411-1.2.39

最後:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/shinmin19710920-1.2.43

8.) 《搖花放鷹傳》:1973.02.07 到 1975.11.04 在《星洲日報》,連載完,983期:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19730207-1.2.68.3

最後:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19751104-1.2.54.1

9.) 《春秋筆》:1975.11.05 到 1977.12.04 在《星洲日報》,連載完,746期:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19751105-1.2.50.3

最後:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19771204-1.2.44.1

10.) 《天龍甲》(書名:《璇璣玉女》):1977.12.05 到 1980.03.11 在《星洲日報》,連載完,689期:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19771205-1.2.54.4

最後:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19800311-1.2.47.1.1

11.) 《飛花逐月》:1983.03.16 到 1984.09.05 (沒完) 在《联合早报》,509期:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/lhzb19830316-1.2.64.1.1

暫停連載的小啟: https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/lhzb19840906-1.2.62.1

最後:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/lhzb19840905-1.2.73.5.1

12.) 《桃花劫》:1980.03.12 到 1980.11.13 (沒完) 在《星洲日報》,122期:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19800312-1.2.45.1.1

最後:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19801113-1.2.52.5.1