Wang Dulu
Encyclopedia
Wang Baoxiang style name
Xiaoyu , better known by his pen name Wang Dulu , was a Chinese writer of wuxia
novels. Wang is best known for his work, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
, that was adapted into a successful feature film of the same title
by film director Ang Lee
in 2000.
family in Beijing
. He worked as an editor for a newspaper agency and as a clerk for a merchant association before becoming a writer. He lived through the New Culture Movement
and the May Fourth Movement
and began writing novels in the 1930s. Most of Wang's early works were of the detective and mystery fiction genres.
He started writing wuxia
novels after moving to Qingdao
. Between 1938 and 1949, Wang wrote 16 wuxia novels. In 1949, Wang stopped writing and became a school teacher after the Chinese Civil War
ended. He was sentenced to farm labour during the Cultural Revolution
and died from illness in 1975 towards the end of the revolution. At the time of his death, Wang had written a total of 30 novels. Wang was married to Li Danquan and they had more than three children.
Li Danquan met film director Ang Lee
during the shooting of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(an adaptation of one of Wang's works) in 1999.
. Within the genre, Wang had secured his place as one of the "Ten Great Writers" and one of the "Four Great Writers of the Northern School", along with Li Shoumin, Gong Baiyu and Zheng Zhengyin.
Zhang Gansheng, a scholar of modern and contemporary Chinese literature, has characterized Wang as perfecting the wuxia genre, and paving the way for a generation of great writers. However, according to Xu Sinian, another scholar, there has not been any detailed critique of Wang's works, apart from that of the Taiwanese scholar Ye Hongsheng.
The first book of the series, Crane Startles Kunlun, was written third, after Sword Spirit, Pearl Light, and serialized under the title Dancing Crane, Singing Luan (舞鶴鳴鸞記).
Ang Lee
's 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
, includes episodes and information from some of the other books in the series, apart from the novel which shares the same title as the film. The official website of actress Michelle Yeoh
, who starred in the film, has an English-language summary of the five books.
As of 2011, no official English language translations of his novels exist. However, there is a manhua
series of the same title, (now in its second, revised edition) created by Andy Seto
. They depart substantially from the written text.
As of 2011, there is currently an unofficial English translation in progress of the first novel, Crane Frightens Kunlun (鶴驚崑崙).
Chinese style name
A Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a courtesy name , is a given name to be used later in life. After 20 years of age, the zì is assigned in place of one's given name as a symbol of adulthood and respect...
Xiaoyu , better known by his pen name Wang Dulu , was a Chinese writer of wuxia
Wuxia
Wuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...
novels. Wang is best known for his work, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (novel)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the fourth in a sequence of five novels that are collectively called the Crane Iron Pentalogy, written by Wang Dulu from 1938 to 1942.-Adaptations:...
, that was adapted into a successful feature film of the same title
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...
by film director Ang Lee
Ang Lee
Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
in 2000.
Biography
Wang was born into a poor ManchuManchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
family in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. He worked as an editor for a newspaper agency and as a clerk for a merchant association before becoming a writer. He lived through the New Culture Movement
New Culture Movement
The New Culture Movement of the mid 1910s and 1920s sprang from the disillusionment with traditional Chinese culture following the failure of the Chinese Republic, founded in 1912 to address China’s problems. Scholars like Chen Duxiu, Cai Yuanpei, Li Dazhao, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, and Hu Shi, had...
and the May Fourth Movement
May Fourth Movement
The May Fourth Movement was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student demonstrations in Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting the Chinese government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles, especially the Shandong Problem...
and began writing novels in the 1930s. Most of Wang's early works were of the detective and mystery fiction genres.
He started writing wuxia
Wuxia
Wuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...
novels after moving to Qingdao
Qingdao
' also known in the West by its postal map spelling Tsingtao, is a major city with a population of over 8.715 million in eastern Shandong province, Eastern China. Its built up area, made of 7 urban districts plus Jimo city, is home to about 4,346,000 inhabitants in 2010.It borders Yantai to the...
. Between 1938 and 1949, Wang wrote 16 wuxia novels. In 1949, Wang stopped writing and became a school teacher after the Chinese Civil War
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
ended. He was sentenced to farm labour during the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
and died from illness in 1975 towards the end of the revolution. At the time of his death, Wang had written a total of 30 novels. Wang was married to Li Danquan and they had more than three children.
Li Danquan met film director Ang Lee
Ang Lee
Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
during the shooting of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...
(an adaptation of one of Wang's works) in 1999.
Works
Wang is best known for his wuxia-romance novels, which usually have tragic endings, as well as his social-romance novels. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of the modern genre of wuxia, along with other established wuxia writers such as Jin Yong and Liang YushengLiang Yusheng
Chen Wentong , better known by his pen name Liang Yusheng , is a Chinese writer of wuxia novels.He is credited as the pioneer of the "new school" wuxia genre in the 20th century, as well as one of the three most esteemed wuxia writers in the second half of the 20th century .-Biography:Chen was...
. Within the genre, Wang had secured his place as one of the "Ten Great Writers" and one of the "Four Great Writers of the Northern School", along with Li Shoumin, Gong Baiyu and Zheng Zhengyin.
Zhang Gansheng, a scholar of modern and contemporary Chinese literature, has characterized Wang as perfecting the wuxia genre, and paving the way for a generation of great writers. However, according to Xu Sinian, another scholar, there has not been any detailed critique of Wang's works, apart from that of the Taiwanese scholar Ye Hongsheng.
The Crane-Iron Series
Wang is remembered for his five-part epic wuxia-romance series, often called collectively the Crane-Iron Series (鶴鐵系列), named after the first characters in the titles of the first and last installments in the series. The stories chronicle the struggles of four generations of youxias. These are the titles under which they are now published, in order of their internal chronology (that is, not in the order they were originally composed or published):- Crane Frightens Kunlun (鶴驚崑崙)
- Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin (寶劍金釵)
- Sword Force, Pearl Shine (劍氣珠光)
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden DragonCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (novel)Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the fourth in a sequence of five novels that are collectively called the Crane Iron Pentalogy, written by Wang Dulu from 1938 to 1942.-Adaptations:...
(臥虎藏龍) - Iron Knight, Silver Vase (鐵騎銀瓶)
The first book of the series, Crane Startles Kunlun, was written third, after Sword Spirit, Pearl Light, and serialized under the title Dancing Crane, Singing Luan (舞鶴鳴鸞記).
Ang Lee
Ang Lee
Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
's 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...
, includes episodes and information from some of the other books in the series, apart from the novel which shares the same title as the film. The official website of actress Michelle Yeoh
Michelle Yeoh
Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng is a Hong Kong-based Malaysian Chinese actress, well known for performing her own stunts in the action films that brought her to fame in the early 1990s....
, who starred in the film, has an English-language summary of the five books.
As of 2011, no official English language translations of his novels exist. However, there is a manhua
Manhua
Manhua are Chinese comics originally produced in China. Possibly due to their greater degree of artistic freedom of expression and closer international ties with Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan have been the places of publication of most manhua thus far, often including Chinese translations of...
series of the same title, (now in its second, revised edition) created by Andy Seto
Andy Seto
Andy Seto is a comic artist who specializes in martial-arts based stories.-Biography:Seto's works include his main series, "Cyber Weapon Z." He has also drawn a graphic novel adaptation of the earlier Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon novels, the King of Fighters series, and also created a graphic...
. They depart substantially from the written text.
As of 2011, there is currently an unofficial English translation in progress of the first novel, Crane Frightens Kunlun (鶴驚崑崙).