In the West he is best known for his series of interlinked novels, the Crane-Iron Series, which includes Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The novel has been adapted to film and television several times, most notably the award-winning film adaptation of the same name directed by Ang Lee.
Early life
Wang was born in 1909 in Beijing to a poor family of Bannerman background. (His ancestors were ethnic Han Chinese adopted into the ManchuEight Banners.)[2] He worked as an editor for a newspaper agency, and as a clerk for a merchant association before becoming a writer. He is reported to have been self-educated. However, he graduated high school in 1924, and worked infrequently as a teacher until he moved to Beijing in 1931.[1] He also worked as freelance editor and journalist.
He and Li Danquan were married in 1935.[1] They had three children. Some sources credit Li as a working as journalist or editor at Minyabao (Chinese: 民意报), a daily newspaper, where Wang also worked.
Career
Wang wrote more than twenty novels from 1931 to 1949, though some sources attribute as many fifty novels to him.[citation needed] Most of his earlier works were detective and mystery novels.
He began writing wuxia novels after moving to Qingdao, sometime before 1938. From 1939 to 1949, Wang produced as many as thirty-six wuxia novels.[3]
Crane-Iron Series
Wang's most popular works are collectively referred to as the Crane-Iron Series (Chinese: 鶴鐵系列), named after the first characters in the titles of the first and last installments in the series. The series' five novels chronicle the struggles of four generations of youxia (simplified Chinese: 游侠; traditional Chinese: 遊俠), often translated as wandering heroes. Each novel contains elements which link it with the others.
Portions or possibly all of the novels may have been serialized.[4] The following titles are arranged in internal chronological order rather than by their publication date:
Crane Startles Kunlun (Chinese: 鶴驚崑崙, serialized title Chinese: 舞鶴鳴鸞記 1940–1941)[4]
Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin (Chinese: 寶劍金釵, serialized title Chinese: 寶劍金釵記 1938–1939; collected edition 1939)[4]
Iron Knight, Silver Vase (Chinese: 鐵騎銀瓶, serialized title Chinese: 鐵騎銀瓶傳 1942–1944; collected edition 1948)[4]
Crane Startles Kunlun was written third, after Sword Force, Pearl Shine, and serialized under the title Dancing Crane, Singing Luan (Chinese: 舞鶴鳴鸞記). The official website of actress Michelle Yeoh includes an English-language summary of the series.[5]
Translations
The two first volumes were translated into French, and published by Calmann-Lévy. As of 2023, no official English language translations of his novels exist. However, there is a manhua series of the same name (and a second, revised edition), created by Andy Seto. The plot of the manhua departs substantially from the novels.
An unofficial English translation of Crane Startles Kunlun exists, and an unofficial translation is currently in progress for Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin.[6]
Adaptations
Ang Lee's 2000 film adaptation, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, included elements from other books in the Crane series, and also took liberties with the novel it was based on. The changes emphasized the romantic relationships between the protagonists from the novel. The film was also pitched as a martial-arts adaptation of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.[7]
After the Chinese Civil War, Wang was assigned to work as a school teacher by Communist leaders, who labelled him an "old literati". He was forbidden from producing new works.[citation needed] Following his retirement, possibly around 1966, he was labelled a "reactionary literati", thus the Communist Party punitively sentenced him to farm labor.[1]
He died from an unknown illness on 12 February 1977.[1] Prior to his death he made several attempts to return to his wife and family who were living in Shenyang.[1]
