{"id":6384,"date":"2019-11-15T06:17:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T06:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-culture\/about-demi-gods-and-semi-devils-zhong-guo-wu-xia-tian-long-ba-bu\/"},"modified":"2019-11-15T06:17:23","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T06:17:23","slug":"about-demi-gods-and-semi-devils-zhong-guo-wu-xia-tian-long-ba-bu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/de\/about-demi-gods-and-semi-devils-zhong-guo-wu-xia-tian-long-ba-bu\/","title":{"rendered":"About Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils \u4e2d\u56fd\u6b66\u4fa0-\u5929\u9f99\u516b\u90e8"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils(\u5929\u9f99\u516b\u90e8Ti\u0101nlóng B\u0101bù) is a famous and long Wuxia novel by Louis Cha.<\/p>\n

It was first published on 3 September, Year 1963 on the newspapers Ming Pao in Hong Kong\/Chinese and Nanyang Siang Pau in Singapore and ran for four co<\/em>nsecutive(co<\/em>nsecutive periods of time or events happen one after the other without interruption) years.<\/p>\n

It has since spawned several movies and television serials adaptations in both Mainland China and Hong Kong. The title of the novel has been a challenge for translators for years. It is ba<\/em>sed on the Eight Races of non-human entities described in Buddhist cosmology. In Buddhism, even though these Demi-Gods are ranked higher than mortals, they are still bound to the Samsara by their own passions and desires. It is said that Jin Yong originally modelled each major character after one of the Races. As he wrote on, the complexity of the story made it impossible for such a simplistic mapping.<\/p>\n

Ni Kuang’s additions<\/p>\n

For a short time during this period, Cha went on travel and fellow writer Ni Kuang co<\/em>ntinued the serialization(publication in serial form) on his behalf, which accounted for more than 40,000 words. One notable addition to the novel was that Ni Kuang wrote the section when one of the characters, A Zi, was blinded. Since the novel was a serialization, Cha had no choice but to co<\/em>ntinue wher Ni Kuang left off. In his revision, Cha excised most of what Ni wrote, but retained the parts wher A Zi had been blinded, since the story had now built upon this crucial plot-point.<\/p>\n

Background<\/p>\n

The main thematic element of the novel co<\/em>ncerns the complex, often troubled relatio<\/em>nships between the great multitude of characters from various kingdoms and sects, and the inherent bond that underlies the struggles of each. Ultimately, the novel examines the cause and effect that forms and breaks these bo<\/em>nds on five uniquely correspo<\/em>nding levels: self, family, society, ethnic group, and country (dominion). The timef<\/em>rame in which the novel takes place is historically ba<\/em>sed upon the era of the Northern Song Dynasty, and includes the warring empires of Song, Liao, Dali, Tubo and Western Xia.
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