YOUNG Chinese born after 1990 still love to read Jin Yong’s martial arts novels or watch movies and TV series adapted from his works, according to a recent survey by the China Youth Daily.

Jin Yong, whose real name is Zha Liangyong, is universally regarded as the most influential wuxia novelist of the 20th century. He died aged 94 Oct. 30.

Among the surveyed 1,971 people, 92.7 percent of those born between 1990 and 1999 and 76.4 percent of those born between 2000 and 2009 knew of Jin from his novels, TV series, movies, games and other adaptations.

Of the post-90s interviewed, 69.2 percent compared with 38.7 percent of the post-00s have read Jin’s novels, while 20.4 percent of the post-00s compared to 15.5 percent of the post-90s have played games themed on Jin’s works.

Zheng Pushen, a freshman at the Sichuan International Studies University, has never read any of Jin’s novels but has watched many TV adaptations.

“Not many of us post-00s read works of Jin Yong,” Zheng said. “We prefer reading fiction works online, especially xianxia.” Xianxia is a fantasy genre which literally means “immortal hero.”

“The xianxia works do not trigger thought as much as Jin Yong’s novels do on issues such as social concerns and human nature,” Zheng said, adding that the heroes penned by Jin are responsible for the destiny of the nation and have sympathy for the disadvantaged.

Jin published 15 novels from 1955 to 1972 and sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide.

(Xinhua)