During the 1980s, wuxia fiction was on the decline, but it still had a large audience in the Hong Kong pulp magazines, particularly《武俠世界》 Wuxia World, and Ximen Ding 西門丁 was one of its most important authors. He was Wuxia World’s in-house author, having signed a contract in 1980 to furnish the magazine a piece of fiction each issue (it was a weekly) totaling 25,000 to 30,000 words. He soon began writing much more, including his own novel series, the best known of which is the《雙鷹神捕》Amazing Twin Hawk Constables series, which spanned 30 novels from 1980 to 1982. Yeah, 30 novels in two years! Plus all the other stories he wrote during that time.

He also wrote Republican era martial arts stories, stoies set during contemporary times, and horror stories. Later, Ximen Ding had a popular assassin series that spanned more than 20 novels. He also wrote under many different pen names; often more than one of his works appeared at the same time in Wuxia World magazine.

Together with Huang Ying and Long Chengfeng, Ximen Ding was known as the Three Swordsmen. These three, along with Wen Rui’an, dominated wuxia fiction in the 1980s. Wen Rui’am had his Four Constable series and was experimenting with new styles and forms of writing, Long Chengfeng had his Snowblade Vagabond series, his style imitating Gu Long, and Huang Ying, after taking over for Gu Long with his horror wuxia series, began his own series featuring assassin-turned-xia Shen Shengyi.

In 2003 in the 49th issue of the 45th year of Wuxia World magazine, Editor-in-chief Shen Xicheng 沈西城 interviewed Ximen Ding to formally introduce the prolific veteran author to the publication’s readership. Toward the end of the interview the topic turned to the decline of wuxia fiction and what a new writer looking to write wuxia would need to know. I’ve translated this portion of the interview below. Ximen Ding lays out the challenges of writing this unique genre, and gives some recommendations for reference books prospective authors might use for research. They’re in Chinese of course, but they should give English writers a good idea the kinds of things they need to bone up on. Earlier this year I compiled a short list of books I recommended. You can check those out as well.

Now onto the interview…

Shen: I still want to ask something all of us care about. Do you believe there’s still value in wuxia fiction?

Ximen: That question has already been answered by many senior authors. There’s one point I’m in complete agreement with Mr. Liang Yusheng on: “Martial arts is the means, xia is the goal.” If wuxia can tackle great truths is all a matter of how the author writes. Mr. Gu Long said: Wuxia can use a completely antiquated time period to write modern ideas and sensibilities. I believe there’s no difference between people now and in old times. If modern fiction has value, then I believe that old chivalric xia stories have the same value. And there’s that saying: The key is who’s writing it, how they are conveying it. On a bit of a lower level, reading wuxia fiction relieves stress, makes it so that after a busy day at work, you read some wuxia fiction and are relaxed to some extent.

Shen (I couldn’t help but laugh): No wonder so many apologists believe wuxia fiction is an anesthetic!

Ximen (ever serious): Anesthetics are medicine too! Don’t you use anesthetics before having surgery? How many people can be like Guan Yunchang and not even frown at it? Relieving the day’s anxiety and nerves in the evening makes it so the next day you are revigorated and ready for a new day at work. Don’t look down on the effects of anesthetics, many scientists and historians are wuxia fans! Even many of this publication’s long-term subscribers are one of the “three professions” (Note: Namely, accountants, attorneys, and physicians).

(He lights another cigarette) Wuxia fiction is constrained by its form, it’s really difficult to write a great work, but difficult does not mean impossible, even if I think it’s impossible for me to do so.

Shen: Actually, it’s really hard to write a great work in any other genre as well. Let me ask you another question: What do you think is the biggest reason wuxia fiction is on the decline?

Ximen: I think the biggest reason is that times have changed. In the past, ways of entertainment were too dull, even television had not yet taken off, so reading wuxia fiction became the masses’ most inexpensive and popular entertainment. Nowadays, film companies are in a slump for the same reason. Our generation wrote letters and even essays in junior high school, and did it decently. Now, university students’ Chinese level is not as good as junior high students back then. That and the fact that they don’t have much contact with literature are great parts of it. Someone said that memorizing the 300 Tang poems won’t enable you to write poetry, but you’ll be able to recite it. It’s the same principle. Young people nowadays read manhua. It’s hard to imagine this will improve their level of Chinese. Because they go a long time without reading longer works, for them, asking them to read a 100,000 word wuxia novel is unrealistic.

Shen: You’re talking about market factors, are there any other reasons?

Ximen: If the overall level of Chinese declines, there won’t be any soil to produce great, celebrated writers. Look at the columns in the newspapers now, many of them are not written by authors at all, they just find celebrities, and even though it undergoes some polish, the writing is not good. Sometimes you see even the reporters misspelling words; sometimes even the sentences they write you have to pore over for a long time to figure out what they’re trying to say.

(He puts out his cigarette and takes a few sips of tea, then continues)

Talking about “soil”, that’s another thing, there are no gardens being published!¹ In recent years, how many new decent wuxia writers have emerged? After all there are very few naturally gifted writers, a writer has to be developed, needs to be grinded out. Without gardens it’s hard to produce good writers. Writing wuxia fiction is not the same as writing other genres of fiction. The writing style has to have a bit of Literary/Classical Chinese in it, and you have to know about ancient weapons, architecture, horse and carriages, place names, official titles, and daily life. This is impossible if you don’t read a lot of books. Because we don’t have that environment, and what Ni Kuang said back then about Jin Yong’s work, that it was unprecedented and unrepeatable, the biggest reason for that is because of the environment.

Shen: Speaking of that, I want to ask you a question. Perhaps there are many young people out there who are interested in trying to write wuxia. Given your 20+ years of experience writing it, what advice would you give them?

Ximen: Wuxia fiction has a lot of its own special things, most important among them is “wuxia flavor”. I’ve heard many experts say: many writers of other genres tried to write wuxia, and before they started they were ambitious and full of enthusiasm, thinking they would for sure be able to write it this way and that, but once they were finished they realized how hard it was, often setting down their pen midway. Even the famous senior author Ma Yun, who wrote Chivalrous Iron Crutch Bandit, wrote a few pieces for Wuxia World, but readers felt it was off, and that’s because they had no “wuxia flavor”…

Shen: Let me interrupt for a moment. What is “wuxia flavor”?

Ximen (sipping tea, laughing): Eighteen years ago, your literary friend Chen Qiaoying asked me what I thought about shooting a wuxia film for terrestrial TV. At the time he was the creative deputy director for TV and wanted to me to work on a TV wuxia script. I told him he had no “wuxia flavor”, theirs wasn’t as good as Asia Televisions, because the latter had Stephen Shiu as creator, and he was a wuxia fan. Later they added Huang Ying and Wen Rui’an, two famous wuxia authors, and they stuff they shot was much better.

Shen: That answer is too, can you go into more detail, because this is the first time I’ve heard the term “wuxia flavor”.

Ximen (with a wry smile): It’s a term I created, but it’s hard for me to describe clearly, I can only hint at it. That day, Chen Qiaoying said the same thing. I just told him: Please have your screenwriters read more wuxia fiction. If they read more they will naturally get better at wuxia…”

(They look at each other and laugh)

Shen: I’m not satisfied with that answer.

Ximen: All I can say is this: the world of wuxia is something that’s never existed, but there are many readers who know what such a world is like, and this world over the past 100 years has been created by countless wuxia authors! Wuxia authors had this great phenomenon where within the world of wuxia they mutually recognized each others’ creative contributions and took them and expanded on them, a thousand people with one voice, and the readers “believe” in it. For example: The important schools of the eight major schools are all the same, and for the most part are named after famous mountains: Mount Hua, Kunlun, Kongtong, Diancang, Qingcheng. Someone first wrote about the Tang Sect of Sichuan that is good at using poisoned concealed projectile weapons, then Liang Yusheng wrote about it, and Gu Long developed it even further. Once Wolong Sheng created the “Great Head Opening Dharma”, wherein a master of the martial world diligently cultivates his internal skills for decades, then on his deathbed transfers his skill to the young protagonist, other authors one after another copied it. If someone were to say that such a skill as written in the novel is impossible, even if he were scientific, readers would feel he didn’t know how to write wuxia. That’s why writers find it hard to switch to wuxia. Only if he’s read a lot of wuxia novels will he be able to write something that readers will be able to accept. Other things in the world of wuxia, such as social etiquette, chivalry and righteousness, martial world principles, etc., all have set “standards”.

Shen: I feel that wuxia dialogue is hard to write. One’s writing style can use more colloquial speech, but you can’t with dialogue.

Ximen: Right. Dialogue, letters, bulletins, official documents, of course can’t be modernized, but a lot of wuxia terms baffle a lot of young people. For example, now what we call head ornaments back then were called “head covers”.² The set phrase “hard to distinguish high and low”, how many people know that that refers to parts of a carriage?³ If you don’t know that, it’s hard to visualize how a woman wearing a skirt climbs into the carriage. Ancient bedsteads were tall, so to make it easier for women and small children to get in and out of bed, a stepstool was placed by the bed. Really researching takes a lot of time, so I have many reference books in my home in the hope that they will enable me to write better.

Shen: On that note, let’s return to the original topic. What tips would you give to new writers?

Ximen: Like I said, writing wuxia requires a lot of reference books. Fortunately, before I became a writer I had already read a lot of wuxia novels, and because I practiced painting and had studied photography, when I began writing I already had reference books on old-style architecture and head ornaments and that sort of thing. And because I practiced photography, I already had a lot of picture albums of famous mountains and rivers. Later, I bought many more. I’m always buying books and selling old ones (otherwise I’d have no room for new books). My home and office libraries contain over 2,000 books. Let’s leave off other things for now, but I recommend to any young people out there who aspire to write wuxia fiction these ten must-have books:

1. 《中國歷史地圖集》 The Historical Atlas of China, 8 volumes. If you can’t buy them all, the last four volumes should be enough.
2. 《歷代官制兵制科舉制常識》 General Knowledge of the Historical Civil Service and Military Systems. It’s not detailed enough, but for new writers it should do. There are many similar books, I have three or four different ones. Any of these will do.
3. 《中華古今兵械圖考》 An Illustrated Study of Ancient and Modern Chinese Weaponry.
4. 《針灸學簡編》 A Short Study of Acupuncture and Moxibustion. There are many similar books, any will do.
5. 《活用書信手冊》或《稱謂大辭典》 Creative Letter Writing Handbook or 《稱謂大辭典》 Great Dictionary of Terms of Address. There are many similar books.
6. 《中國古代建築史》 A History of Ancient Chinese Architecture.
7. 《中國古代人物服飾與畫法》 Ancient Chinese Character Dress and Personal Adornment and Painting Techniques.
8. 《中國姓氏大全》 The Complete Collection of Chinese Surnames.
9. 《中國名勝詞典》 A Dictionary of Famous Chinese Historical Sites.
10. 《中國歷史地名辭典》 A Dictionary of Historical Chinese Place Names.

Shen: Why do you need the surname collection and acupuncture books?

Ximen: Wuxia fiction can’t be without acupoints and meridians; that acupuncture/moxibustion book is really handy. As for my recommendation of the surname compendium, it’s because it has a lot of ethnic minority surnames as well, which saves a lot of time when you need to look something up.

Shen: What else should young wuxia writers pay attention to aside from reading a lot of famous wuxia novels and collecting reference books?

Ximen (thinking for a minute): You also need some knowledge of history and geography. Wuxia fiction writers are “Syncretists”,⁴

music, weiqi, calligraphy, painting, medicine, diviniation, astrology, and physiognomy books should be perused when you have free time. At the very least you need to know where to look when you need to check on something when you’re writing.

I remember three years ago this publication conducted a contest for new wuxia writers, and I was fortunate to be asked to be a judge. I read the selected entries, and one of them wrote how the male lead took his parents by horse and carriage in the middle of a snowstorm up the Changbai Mountains, got his parents settled there, then took seven days to rush from the Changbai Mountains to Tianshan (Heavenly Mountain). I’m not overly critical of new writers, but these blunders violate common sense too much. Firstly, the Changbai Mountains at the end of September begin to be closed off because the heavy snowfall fills up the valleys and ravines so that outsiders can’t tell where the ground really is when they walk. Today, even mountain climbers don’t dare go up there in the winter, much less drive a horse and carriage up the mountain! Secondly, how many tens of thousands of miles are the Changbai Mountains from Tianshan? And how many mountains and rivers are there in between? Can you get there in seven days? Not to mention that the protagonist at that time was only a low level martial artist with only two or three years of training! If you write likt that, will readers find it credible? If you say it’s alright, then no wonder people scorn wuxia fiction! There were many other similar errors in the book, so when the other judges that year wanted to award her runner-up, I insisted on only giving her third place! Because I have my basic writing principles, and I don’t want to blacken the reputation of wuxia authors. Plus she was a Hong Kong university department of Chinese graduate, so being more “demanding” of her is actually because I hope for much more from her!

Shen: Now I know why this publication’s readers hold you in such high esteem. One final question: How long do you think it should take to get from the Changbai Mountains to Tianshan so that readers will accept it?

Ximen: I once got out a map and measured it out with a scale ruler. The distance between the two points in a straight line, multiplied by two (kilometers converted to Chinese miles), then multiplied two and a half to three-fold, depending on how many mountains and rivers there are in between. Then assume a martial world master can run over 200 miles a day to determine the number of days. Though it won’t be precise, it will be close enough. Now mainland publishers have put out a lot of maps for long distance drivers to use, the distance is indicated in kilometers. I just converted to Chinese miles, then multiplied by two because there were no expressways in ancient times, so the journey would be at least twice as long as it would be today.

Shen: Talking with you has really been better than reading ten thousand books. What you have talked about I’m sure will be of great benefit to young people preparing to write wuxia fiction. The restaurant is about to close, and I don’t want to take up too much of your reading and writing time. I hope I have a chance next time to ask you some other questions.

Ximen: You flatter me, I was just casually expressing my views, that’s all.

1. I translated this literally to match his use of “soil” earlier. He’s talking about periodicals, places for writers to be cultivated and developed (as in a garden).
2. 頭面, lit. “head face”.
3. 難分軒輊. 軒輊 colloquially means high or low; good or bad, but the literal meaning refers to the high end of a carriage/coach 軒, and the lower end of a carriage/coach 輊. Because certain coaches canted to the front and were lower in the rear.
4. 雜家 a school of philosophical thought in Warring States China that combines aspects of many other philosophies and made them work together. Shizi is a classic work of this school. Basically, it means here that wuxia writers have to be a jack-of-all-trades.