Ni Kuang
Chinese: 倪匡
Ni at Hong Kong Shue Yan University in 2007
Born
Ni Cong

(1935-05-30)30 May 1935
Shanghai, Republic of China
Died3 July 2022(2022-07-03) (aged 87)
Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong, China[1]
Occupation(s)Novelist, screenwriter, actor
Writing career
Period1956–2005
GenreWuxia, science fiction
Ni Kuang
Chinese倪匡
Ni Cong
(birth name)
Traditional Chinese倪聰
Simplified Chinese倪聪
Yiming
(courtesy name)
Chinese亦明

Ni Cong[2][3] (30 May 1935 – 3 July 2022), courtesy name Yiming, better known by his pen name Ni Kuang (also romanised Ngai Hong, I Kuang and Yi Kuang), was a Hong Kong-American novelist and screenwriter. He wrote over 300 Chinese-language wuxia and science fiction novels, and more than 400 film scripts.

Life

Ni was born on 30 May 1935, in Shanghai, to a family of intellectuals.[4] He was the fourth child out of seven, and one of his younger siblings is novelist Yi Shu.[5] His parents, who worked as insurance agents, left Shanghai for British Hong Kong in 1950 with his three younger siblings, although Ni and his three older siblings remained in Mainland China.[5] In 1951, at the age of 16, he joined the People's Liberation Army, and was employed as a security officer by Jiangsu provincial public security department in 1952 after receiving training at East China People's Revolution University.[5] In 1955, he volunteered to be assigned to Jalaid Banner, a region in Hulun Buir, Inner Mongolia, as a guard of a local laogai camp.[4]

In 1956, Ni was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment as a counter-revolutionary after he was charged for destruction of public property.[4] Ni claims that he removed wooden planks off a bridge with other soldiers and burned them to keep warm in the winter, and he escaped because he thought he would receive a death sentence after his dog bit the commanding officer who frequently targeted him because of his outspokenness against the political system.[5][6] In mid-May 1956, Ni fled Inner Mongolia and first went to Anshan to stay with his older brother Ni Yifang, an engineer and a member of the Chinese Communist Party.[5] He left a month later and returned to Shanghai, where his remaining family members paid a human smuggler for him to travel to Hong Kong.[5] Ni arrived in Kowloon on 5 July 1957,[7] having passed through Guangzhou and Portuguese Macau.[8][4][5] Since then, Ni had never set foot in Mainland China.[5]

Ni's science fiction novels usually take the form of detective/mystery stories featuring extraterrestrial life as a deus ex machina to explain the impossible and implausible. His best known works are the Wisely Series (Wai See-lei 衛斯理) and Dr Yuen (Yuen Chun-hap 原振俠) novel series, both of which have been adapted into films and television series. His criticism of communism is evident in some of these works.

Ni also co-wrote scripts with Chang Cheh for the Shaw Brothers Studio, including for the films One-Armed Swordsman, The Assassin and Crippled Avengers. As the screenwriter for the 1972 film Fist of Fury, he did not receive credit for creating the protagonist, Chen Zhen, who was played by Bruce Lee. The credits listed director Lo Wei as author. Chen Zhen became a popular Chinese culture hero and the subject of numerous remakes and adaptations of Fist of Fury. Notable actors such as Jet Li and Donnie Yen have portrayed Chen Zhen on screen after Bruce Lee. Ni wrote the screenplay for China's first superhero film Inframan.

Ni was a friend and fan of the wuxia writer Louis Cha. He wrote at least one extended segment in Cha's novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils when Cha was on holiday in Europe, although much of his additions were excised in Cha's first revision. Ni, while helping Cha write nearly 40 days of serialisation while Cha was abroad, made A'zi, a character in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils that he didn't like blind in the story.[9] Cha had gone through a lot of trouble to revert this event in his novel afterwards.

In 1992, Ni immigrated to the United States and settled in San Francisco, where he continued his writing career.[10] However, he remigrated to Hong Kong in 2006 because his wife could not adjust to the lifestyle in the United States.[10]

Personal life

Ni was a Protestant Christian convert from Buddhism. He was baptized in 1986 at Lin Shun South Road Church in Taipei.[11][12]

Ni had four brothers and two sisters: Ni Yifang (倪亦方), Ni Yixiu (倪亦秀), Ni Yijian (倪亦儉), Ni Yiping (倪亦平), Isabel Nee (倪亦舒) and Ni Yijing (倪亦靖). He was married to Li Guozhen (李果珍) while his younger brother, Ni Yiping, was married to Li's younger sister.

Ni and Li Guozhen had a son and daughter. Their daughter is Ni Sui (倪穗). Their son, Joe Nieh (倪震), works in the Hong Kong entertainment industry and is married to actress Vivian Chow. He reportedly died from skin cancer at a cancer rehabilitation center in Hong Kong on 3 July 2022 at the age of 87.[2][13]

Political views

Ni was a known anti-communist. In an interview, when asked about his feelings regarding injustice in China, he stated that the people would continue suffering as long as the Chinese Communist Party remains in existence. He mentioned that the most important value in the world was individual freedom, which includes respecting others' personal freedom as well. His books have been banned in Mainland China.[14]

Filmography

Films

This is a partial list of films.[15]

  • 1967 One-Armed Swordsman – Screenwriter.[16][17]
  • 1969 The Invincible Fist – Writer
  • 1986 The Seventh Curse – Dr Yi. The film is an adaptation of author Ni Kuang's Dr. Yuen series of novels.[18]
  • 1988 Profiles of Pleasure – Yi
  • 1992 The Cat – Mr Chen

Works

This is a partial list of books:

  • Wisely Series
  • Dr Yuen Series
  • The Asian Eagle Lo Hoi series
  • Magnolia, the Lady in Black series
  • Teenage Wisely Series

References

  1. ↑ "【倪匡離世】媳婦周慧敏：倪匡遺體已火化 一切從簡". Mingpao. 5 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  2. 1 2 May, Tiffany (7 July 2022). "Ni Kuang, Prolific Hong Kong Novelist and Screenwriter, Dies at 87". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  3. ↑ "Ni+Kuang_c.pdf" (PDF). Hong Kong Film Archive.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "【倪匡離世】曾因逃兵吃蟻果腹…回顧華文科幻巨擎生平". 5 July 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "亞洲週刊".
  6. ↑ "关于倪匡 你該知道的三件事 | Dw | 04.07.2022". Deutsche Welle.
  7. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/pazukong/posts/pfbid021C1CCmTuvk5ozEs2SBSRSjnioQcuam1X1WSEVPcuTAnM34ySV7ioHRD8LU2rpWuvl
  8. ↑ "香港電台電視 薇微語".
  9. ↑ Ni Kuang, 我看金庸小说 (I Read Jin Yong's Novels).
  10. 1 2 "再见倪匡：人生总有配额". 24 August 2006.
  11. ↑ Hung, Chia-wei (4 July 2022). "追思知名科幻作家倪匡 半百信主後戒掉菸酒惡習、全家蒙恩" [In memory of well-known science fiction writer Ni Kuang, who quit smoking and drinking after becoming a Christian]. ct.org.tw (in Traditional Chinese). Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  12. ↑ The Christian Post Reporter (24 July 2013). "作家「衛斯理」倪匡：我為何棄佛信耶穌？" [Ni Kuang, the creator of Wisely: Why did I abandon Buddhism and believe in Jesus?]. chinese.christianpost.com (in Traditional Chinese). Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  13. ↑ Rahman, Abid (4 July 2022). "Ni Kuang, Prolific Hong Kong Writer Behind Bruce Lee's 'Fist of Fury,' 'Big Boss,' Dies at 87". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  14. ↑ Hung, I-ting; Hsiao, Ming-cheng (4 July 2022). "獨家開箱倪匡鐵粉書櫃！一整面牆都是小說還有親筆簽名" [Exclusive "unboxing" of the bookcase of a Ni Kuang stan! An impressive array of Ni's novels and autographs]. tw.news.yahoo.com (in Traditional Chinese). Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  15. ↑ "Ni Kuang". hkmdb.com. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  16. ↑ "The One Armed Swordsman". hkcinema.co.uk. 1967. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  17. ↑ "One-Armed Swordsman". hkmdb.com. 26 July 1967. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  18. ↑ O'Connor, Thomas (26 January 2017). "'The Seventh Curse' is a Baffling, Genre-Mixing Horror Adventure". goombastomp.com. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
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