Feng Yun Lei Dian (Up and Down)

Author: Liang Yusheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Liang Yusheng's martial arts novels connect the heroic tales following The Heroic Sons and Daughters and the old martial arts fiction of the Republic of China, pioneering a new school of martial arts literature. They also paved the way for Jin Yong and Gu Long's world. He once described his position in the martial arts fiction genre: "The pioneer of the trend is Liang Yusheng; the one who brought it to its full glory is Jin Yong." In the 1960s and 1970s, he and Jin Yong together carried the banner of the new school of martial arts fiction, earning the reputation of "Jin and Liang, rivals of their time." During their era, Liang Yusheng advocated that "the hero is the embodiment of the wisdom and morality of the lower-class laboring people," grounding heroic actions in justice, dignity, and love for the people, while discarding the tendency of old martial arts fiction to focus solely on revenge and bloodlust. Jin Yong further elevated this to "For the nation and the people, the greatest hero is one who serves the greater good."
Liang Yusheng's novels are renowned for their rich historical and literary knowledge, as well as their incorporation of classical poetry and folk sayings. His writing is elegant and filled with a scholarly atmosphere, often weaving poetry and folk expressions into the narrative. His storytelling techniques primarily draw from tradition, frequently employing the chapter-based structure of classical novels. The chapter titles are profound in meaning and skillfully balanced in parallelism, with the plot unfolding in a rhythmic and engaging manner. His narrative style also carries the unmistakable tone of a storyteller. The characters in his martial arts novels are deeply moralized, with clear distinctions between heroes and villains. Each of his works is set against a specific historical backdrop, with plots that are cleverly constructed and densely woven. Some critics argue that the flaw in Liang Yusheng's novels lies in their "tedium," though this may stem from his persistent adherence to a "conventional" scholarly demeanor. Liang himself once said: "Perhaps I have also been guilty of being 'far-fetched,' but in my works, 'far-fetched' is not the mainstream—it is not my style."