Gu Long Explained

Gu Long
Birth Name:Xiong Yaohua
Birth Date:1938 6, df=yes
Birth Place:Hong Kong
Death Place:Taipei, Taiwan
Occupation:Writer
Nationality:Republic of China
Alma Mater:Tamkang University
Genre:Wuxia
Notableworks:Chu Liuxiang Series, Lu Xiaofeng Series, Xiaoli Feidao Series, Juedai Shuangjiao, Liuxing Hudie Jian

Xiong Yaohua (7 June 1938 – 21 September 1985), better known by his pen name Gu Long, was a Taiwanese novelist, screenwriter, film producer and director. Born in Hong Kong and educated at Cheng Kung Senior High School and Tamkang University in Taiwan, he is best known for writing wuxia novels, among which his best known works are Juedai Shuangjiao, the Xiaoli Feidao Series, the Chu Liuxiang Series, the Lu Xiaofeng Series, and The Eleventh Son. Some of them have been adapted into films and television series. In the 1980s, he started his own film studio[1] to produce film adaptations of his works.

Background

Xiong was born on 7 June 1938 in Hong Kong,[2] with ancestry from Nanchang, Jiangxi. He lived in Hankou, Hubei in his childhood before moving to Taipei, Taiwan in 1952 with his parents, who divorced in 1956. With help from his friends and using the money he earned from part-time work to fund his education, Xiong graduated from the Foreign Language Department of Tamkang University.

Career

In 1960, Xiong published his first wuxia novel, Cangqiong Shenjian, under the pen name "Gu Long". From 1960 to 1961, he published eight novels but they were not particularly successful. He moved to Ruifang District and lived there for three years, after which he adopted a new writing style.

Between 1967 and the late 1970s, Xiong rose to prominence as a modern wuxia writer due to the success of his works, being named alongside Jin Yong and Liang Yusheng as the "Three Legs of the Tripod of Wuxia".

Death

In the later part of his life, Xiong suffered from depression and the quality of his works declined rapidly. He had to employ ghostwriters to co-write many of his later works because of his ailing health.

On 21 September 1985, Xiong died at the age of 48 due to illness wrought by alcoholism – namely cirrhosis and oesophageal haemorrhage. At his funeral, his friends brought him 48 bottles of X.O. Cognac.

Personal life

While Xiong was still attending Tamkang University, he lived with a dance hostess, Zheng Yuexia, and they had a son, Zheng Xiaolong . Later, he started a relationship with another dance hostess, Ye Xue, with whom he had another son, Ye Yikuan . Shortly after that, he met a senior middle school graduate, Mei Baozhu, who became his first legal spouse and had a son, Xiong Zhengda, with him. His extramarital affairs caused him to break up with Mei eventually.

Writing style

Xiong was influenced not only by earlier wuxia writers such as Wolong Sheng, Zhuge Qingyun and Sima Ling, but also by non-Chinese writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, John Steinbeck, and Friedrich Nietzsche. His novels are usually made up of short sentences and paragraphs, and mostly dialogues between characters – like a script for a play.

In contrast with Xiong, other wuxia writers such as Jin Yong and Liang Yusheng incorporated Chinese history, culture, and philosophy in their works. Xiong initially intended to mimic them, but changed his decision after being exposed to the James Bond and The Godfather novels. The influence of these works, which relied on the idiosyncrasies of human life, razor-sharp wit, poetic philosophies, mysterious plots, and spine-tingling thrills to achieve success, enabled Xiong to come up with his unique style of writing wuxia novels.

List of works

Some of these works were co-written with other writers.

Standalone novels
Little Li Flying Dagger series (小李飛刀系列)
The Eleventh Son series (蕭十一郎系列)
Chu Liuxiang series (楚留香系列)
Lu Xiaofeng series (陸小鳳系列)
Seven Weapons series (七種武器系列)
Grand Era of Wuxia series (大武俠時代)
The Six Shocking Tales series (驚魂六記系列)

Adaptations of works

Films

Games

Television

Translations of works

Xiong's works have been translated into many languages such as French, English and Vietnamese:

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 古龍. 3 August 2005. 15 December 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181215172842/http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/culture/chinese/cul_kungfu/e/2-3-2-4.htm. dead.
  2. Web site: Life / Gu Long / Authors / Wuxiapedia – The comprehensive wuxia knowledge base. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20061230170840/http://wuxiapedia.com/authors/gu_long/life. 30 December 2006 .
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20130208015850/http://asia.gamespot.com/news/new-gulong-online-confirmed-for-southeast-asia-6403398 New Gulong Online confirmed for Southeast Asia

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