The Book and Sword Chronicle: Part 1 and Part 2

Author: Jin Yong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-11-01
Features: The Book and the Sword is a novel I wrote. From 1955 to now, it has been twenty years. I am from Haining, Zhejiang. The legend of Emperor Qianlong has been told to me since childhood in my hometown. When I was a boy scout, I once camped by the stone embankment built by Emperor Qianlong in Haining. In the middle of the night, I watched the surging tide rushing fiercely. Therefore, The Book and the Sword is naturally written with stories that left a deep impression on me. But Chen Jialuo is my own creation. The Fragrant Princess is not the Xiangfei in legend or history. The Fragrant Princess is far more beautiful than Xiangfei. The illustration of the Fragrant Princess included in this book is just to let readers see that Emperor Qianlong had such a concubine. Haining was a small coastal county under the jurisdiction of Hangzhou Prefecture during the Qing Dynasty, famous only for its tidal bore. Modern famous figures include Wang Guowei, Jiang Zilin, and Xu Zhimo, all of whom had a touch of melancholy and tragic meaning in their personalities, as well as a touch of unsociable stubbornness. Chen Jialuo may also bear some resemblance to these people. But Haining did not produce martial artists; even the military strategist Jiang Zilin only knew martial arts but did not practice them much. Historian Meng Sen conducted research and concluded that the legend of Emperor Qianlong being a descendant of the Chen family of Haining is unreliable, and the rumor that Xiangfei was killed by the Empress Dowager is also false. Historians naturally dislike legends, but writers like them. Emperor Qianlong devoted himself to building the Haining embankment until it was completed, which benefited the people greatly. In the book, I portray him as quite despicable, and sometimes I feel a bit sorry about it. His poetry is not good, which is not really relevant, but I grew up in Haining and Hangzhou and saw his inscriptions everywhere, and I really disliked them. Even now, when I look at copies of famous paintings, I still see his inscriptions everywhere, and I can't help but mock him. Besides writing red squares in primary school, I have never practiced calligraphy. The title and signature on the cover are not worth a calligrapher's laugh. I also know nothing about poetry and lyrics until recently, when I revised this book, I finally read Wang Lixing's The Theory of Chinese Poetic Rhythm and learned about the tones of ping and ze. It was okay to imitate Emperor Qianlong's poetry, but imitating Chen Jialuo and Yu Yutong's poetry was very childish. In the original draft, Chen Jialuo was a top scholar, but his poetry was too clumsy for a top scholar, so I had to revise it and remove his title. Yu Yutong, though only a scholar, should not have poetry of such a beginner's level. However, since he is known as the "Golden Flute Scholar," I made some concessions and did not remove his title. The chapter titles of this book are also not good. The chapter titles in the first edition did not match the tones at all, and they are only slightly improved now. This book was originally serialized in newspapers and later published as a standalone book. After revision and proofreading, it is now reprinted, and almost every sentence has been changed. Even the third proofreading was completely messed up. I often feel both gratitude and shame toward the proofreader Cai Yanpei, the typesetting foreman Chen Dong of Mingbao Publishing, and all the workers. The Jin Yong Works Collection is planned to have about forty volumes. Each volume includes color illustrations, hoping to let readers (especially those abroad) have more contact with Chinese cultural relics and art works. If you find the novel itself boring, just look at the pictures. The "Jin Yong Works Collection" seal at the end of the book was designed by the calligrapher Yi Yeshi, and I hereby express my gratitude.