In the 1960s, no one in the Chinese-speaking world could play science fiction that hard, unlike "Using the Power of Jupiter to Push the Earth Out of the Solar System", which was so imaginative and entertaining.
However, something happened in the Hong Kong literary world at that time, which is still a joke among science fiction fans after many years.
In 1965, a writer in Hong Kong was writing a serial for Ming Pao. The name was "The Furnace at the Center of the Earth", which was one of the series of novels.
Once a writer wrote that the protagonist went on an expedition to Antarctica, encountered a white bear, killed it, ate its flesh, and skinned it to warm itself.
When most people see this, they will probably think, "Is bear meat delicious?"
A young reader who is proficient in geography wrote a letter to the author after reading it: "How can there be white bears in Antarctica? White bears should be in the Arctic."
The author did not reply after reading the letter.
Unable to resist the persistence of the young man, he wrote another letter asking: "Tell me, is it a mistake?"
The author quit this time and finally wrote back to the young man: "There are no polar bears in Antarctica, but there is no such person as the protagonist in the world." . "
The young man became interested and felt that such an answer was feeble, so he wrote to Jin Yong, the editor-in-chief of Ming Pao at the time, to accuse him.
Jin Yong didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he received the letter, so he had to deal with it: "There were polar bears in Antarctica, but the last one was eaten by the protagonist."
The last time the boy wrote to the author, there were only two words: "Scoundrel."
The man who wrote "The Furnace at the Center of the Earth" is called Ni Kuang , and the protagonist of the story is Wesley . Wesley did not suffer because of the "Polar Bear Incident" and has lived with Ni Kuang's novels for decades.
Time goes back thirty years, and social unrest occurred in May of the 24th year of the Republic of China.
Ni Kuang was born in Shanghai on May 30th. His ancestral home is Ningbo, three hundred miles away from Jin Yong's hometown. If there is any historical reference, the American Fox Film Company is one day younger than Ni Kuang.
Ni Kuang had a "protagonist halo" in his childhood. He wandered in the old Shanghai's foreign markets and shabby alleys, watching street performers perform "Stealing Peach from Heaven" and "Planting Pear Trees", two magical magic tricks that no one had ever seen before. ; Seeing rich people setting off fireworks; seeing pictures showing Tang Monk and his disciples studying for Buddhist scriptures...
He told his brothers and sisters what he saw and heard, and everyone was dumbfounded.
Left Yishu Right Ni Kuang
Ni Kuang lived on Xiafei Road until he was twelve years old. When he was twelve years old, his family moved to HongkouXingjiazhai Road. At that time, he was studying at "Jiangsu Provincial Shanghai Middle School", which later became Shanghai Municipal Middle School.
Ni Kuang was determined to be an adventurer, and his favorites were Li Shizhen and Xu Xiake. He often fought crickets with his friends, but never bothered to participate in fights. Ni Kuang would hide at home and read books, and read stories like "Xu Xiake's Travels". Later, Then I started watching "Xue Dingshan's Conquest of the East", "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" and so on.
Schematic diagram of the story route of "Xu Xiake's Travels"
Ni Kuang's father is Ni Chunzhuang, and his mother is Wang Jingxian. Ms. Wang Jingxian gave birth to seven children for the Ni family, and Ni Kuang ranked fourth.
Ni Kuang's sixth sister was named Ni Yishu . Later, she became a writer and changed her name to Yishu.
Left Yi Shu Right Ni Kuang
Yi Shu
In 1950, Ni Kuang's parents left the mainland for Hong Kong, but Ni Kuang did not go with them. The third brother Ni Yifang stayed behind.
In 1951, sixteen-year-old Ni Kuang gave up his studies. He went from Shanghai to Suzhou alone and entered East China People's Revolutionary University to study.
After graduating from college, Ni Kuang joined the People's Liberation Army, which was the choice of many young people at that time.
Ni Kuang missed his parents so much that he would write a thick stack of letters before every march. He would do everything possible to ask his relatives to send them to Hong Kong. He also asked them to send one letter every ten days and a half. When his parents received the letters, they would always read them in neat small regular letters when they opened them. In writing good news, Ni Kuang wrote about major events that he personally participated in, such as "land reform" and "Huaihe River governance".
Ni Kuang Right
In 1955, Ni Kuang was assigned to Inner Mongolia and his job was to guard labor camp detainees.
In the winter in Inner Mongolia, water dripped and turned into ice. A heavy snow blocked the road and coal trucks could not come in. The dormitory where Ni Kuang and his colleagues lived had no coal. How could anyone bear the temperature of dozens of degrees below zero? Ni Kuang suddenly remembered that there was a building not far from the dormitory. The wooden bridge could be dismantled and used as firewood. He dismantled the bridge without thinking, and in return he got a warm sleep for a few days.
Unexpectedly, in 1957, Ni Kuang heard that he was going to be investigated. Now he realized the seriousness of the problem. Destroying bridges means destroying traffic, which also affects the country's modernization construction. If he really wants to be investigated, Ni Kuang will be punished. Big deal.
With the help of a brother from Inner Mongolia, he left the unit on horseback overnight. The brother told him: "Keep going north!"
Where is north? North is the direction of the Big Dipper.
In the following months, Ni Kuang traveled to Heilongjiang, Liaoning, and later went south to Shanghai, transiting from Guangzhou to Macau, and smuggled into Hong Kong and Kowloon on a vegetable boat.
Ni Kuang arrived in Hong Kong and worked as a handyman in a factory. He also read newspapers when he had nothing to do. He said to the people around him: "I can also write novels in newspapers."
People thought he was bragging.
So Ni Kuang spent an afternoon writing a novel and submitted it to the Industrial and Commercial Daily.
This happened in September 1957. The novel was published a month later. Ni Kuang wrote 10,000 words, and the newspaper revised it to 9,000 words. According to the standard of ten yuan per thousand words, Ni Kuang earned 90.
Ni Kuang realized that writing should be a simple thing for him.
So Ni Kuang submitted articles everywhere to make money, and he was sure to win every time he contributed, making others envious.
In 1958, Ni Kuang started attending night school, studying journalism at United College. United College is affiliated to the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where Xu Guanwen also studied sociology a few years later.
During his studies, Ni Kuang met Ms. Li Guozhen who came to tutor English. Li Guozhen saw the pen name "Ni Kuang" in the newspaper and concluded that it was her classmate. Once they started chatting on the bus, their relationship quickly heated up and they soon lived together, which made Li Guozhen's father feel "inappropriate".
Ni Kuang married Li Guozhen in 1959.
After Li Guozhen married Ni Kuang
Li Guozhen gave birth to daughter Ni Sui and son Ni Zhen. Ni Zhen later married Zhou Huimin.
Zhou Huimin and Ni Zhen
After Ni Kuang submitted some articles to "Zhen Bao", the president of the newspaper found him.
"How about you come to our newspaper office to help." "Okay, it just so happens that I have nothing to do."
"Zhen Bao" was really short of people at that time, with a total of five or six people working. Ni Kuang asked the president what he was doing, and the president asked him to do anything. My colleague has finished his coffee and he is going downstairs to buy it.
No one wrote a three hundred word movie review for him. The president was anxious to publish an editorial, so Ni Kuang did it for him.
At that time, Ni Kuang's monthly salary was one hundred and ten yuan, and he could finally live on.
A Taiwanese writer named Sima Ling writes a serial for the supplement of "True News". Later, I don’t know what happened to him and he suddenly stopped contributing.
Sima Ling
Ni Kuang read what Sima Ling wrote and felt that he could write better. Later, this page was written by Ni Kuang. After reading the book, readers did not notice that the author had changed, and newspaper sales actually increased.
Sima Ling later went to the newspaper to ask who had continued writing his novel. Ni Kuang stood up, and Sima Ling said: "The continuation is good."
Ni Kuang replied: "More than good, it is simply better than you."
"Ming Pao" sold very well at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1959, Jin Yong and his friends founded Ming Pao. He serialized "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" in the supplement, conquering the world with one pen.
Serial "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" "Ming Pao" newspaper information
Ni Kuang also writes martial arts novels. He wrote two serials for "Ming Pao".
Jin Yong found Ni Kuang and asked him to continue writing, and gave him 630 yuan a month. Ni Kuang took home the face value of 500 yuan for the first time, and Mrs. Ni was so happy that she could not open her mouth from ear to ear.
It only costs three yuan for two people to watch a movie, and only five yuan to eat three dishes and one soup in a restaurant.This is really a huge sum of money, and all Ni Kuang has to do is spend half an hour every day writing two thousand words.
In 1962, Ni Kuang happened to pass by a village named "Wesley", and he began to write under this pen name. Later he learned that it was still a missionary village.
In 1963, Ni Kuang wrote the first part of the Wesley series, called " Diamond Flower ". Ni Kuang calls the Wesley series "fantasy novels", but he doesn't mind if others call them science fiction.
He doesn't know much about science fiction. There are only two reference materials on his desk, one is "Children's Encyclopedia" and the other is "Cihai".
President of Hong Kong Polytechnic University Pan Zongguang I liked "Wesley" when I was in school. It was only when I learned about science that I realized that "almost nothing makes sense."
Ni Kuang said: "If it makes sense, it wouldn't be called a novel."
In 1981 Ni Kuang started writing the "Yuan Zhenxia" series. Later, "Yuan Zhenxia and Wesley" was made into a movie, starring Qian Xiaohao, Chow Yun-fat , Maggie Cheung .
This is also the first time Wesley has been put on the big screen.
Ni Kuang once said after he closed the book:
"It was very easy to write novels at that time. I felt like I was being controlled by aliens. Now that the aliens are gone, I won’t write anymore."
At the time when Ni Kuang had the most, he took over twelve novels at the same time. To complete the task, he pulled up the rope in the study room and hung up the manuscript after it was written.
Cai Lam designed the "Ni Kuang" logo on his manuscript paper. The specially made large manuscript paper made Ni Kuang comfortable to write on. He broke off the ball pen to reduce its weight, so that he could write quickly without getting tired.
It is said that Ni Kuang wrote more than 50 million words.
Ni Kuang is proud of two things in his life:
He has repeatedly written scripts for Zhang Che and once wrote novels for Jin Yong.
As early as when Ni Kuang was working for "Zhen Bao", he and Zhang Che were discussing their shortcomings and lengths in the newspaper.
Zhang Che is eleven years older than Ni Kuang and was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Because Zhang Che met Chiang Ching-kuo, he filmed Taiwan's first feature film "Alibaba Storm".
In 1957, Chang Cheh left Taiwan for Hong Kong and wrote film reviews under the name "He Guan".
Ni Kuang was writing film reviews for "True News" at that time, and he could often write them based on movie posters.
Zhang Che, an expert, was very dissatisfied after reading it and criticized Ni Kuang in other newspapers.
Ni Kuang sighed helplessly: "This man is interesting. Others review movies, but he reviews movies. He is not a film critic, he is a film critic."
Dong Qianli, who wrote "Dong Xiaowan", found out about it and said to Ni Kuang: "I am Zhang Che I met him and asked him to go out for coffee. "
Ni Kuang and Zhang Che became friends over time.
Left Ni Kuang Right Zhang Che
In 1960, Zhang Che joined D&M Company, and two years later he went to Shaw Brothers.
It should be said that Shaw Brothers are related to Zhang, Ni and Jin.
Run Run Shaw wanted to poach Xia Meng from Great Wall Company. Jin Yong was writing scripts for Great Wall at that time.
"No one has ever seen how beautiful Xi Shi is. I think she should be like Xia Mengcai and deserve her reputation."
When Jin Yong was young, he admired Miss Xia Meng very much. Later, Xia Meng did not go to Shaw Brothers, but Shaw Brothers made nearly twenty movies using Jin Yong's works.
Jin Yong and Xia Meng
In 1967, Shaw Brothers' Chang Cheh asked Ni Kuang to help him write the script.
Ni Kuang said: "I don't know how." Zhang Che advised: "Just write it as a novel."
The movie is called "The One-Armed Knife", starring Wang Yu, Pan Yingzi, and is the first movie to have a box office of over 100 Wan's Hong Kong movie.
From then on, Chang Cheh was known as the "Millionaire Director".
From then on, Zhang Che made Ni Kuang his royal screenwriter.
Ni Kuang never "pays the money with one hand and delivers the goods with the other hand". He always takes the money and delivers the homework on time.
Chang Cheh's films have produced the first generation of kung fu superstars such as Ti Lung and Jiang David .
Left David Chiang Right Ti Lung
Not long after his rise, Li Hanxiang, the former chief director of Shaw Brothers costume films, chose to leave.
After Ni Kuang became famous for writing scripts, a director invited him to make a movie together. Ni Kuang is not interested in being a director, but he feels that it is not good to criticize others.
The Nai director was determined to recruit him, so Ni Kuang had no choice but to say:
"I never did anything immoral in my previous life, how could I be reduced to being a director in this life?"
The director ignored him for a long time.
Ni Kuang thought it was an honor to write novels for Jin Yong, but Jin Yong was very troublesome.
When " Tian Long Ba Bu " was serialized, Jin Yong was invited to visit Europe for a while.
The novel cannot be updated, so he thought of asking Ni Kuang to save him. Before leaving, Jin Yong asked: "Don't write the characters to death."
Ni Kuang agreed not to write the characters to death, but he wrote Ah Zi blind.
Jin Yong could only shake his head when he came back, he was so blind by himself.
TVB version of "Tian Long Ba Bu" stills
Ni Kuang was very innocent: "If Azi wasn't blind, how could there be a love like her and You Tanzhi?"
Later he said: " Qiao Feng is so good at martial arts, but you can't even see it. A'Zhu wearing makeup, can't you tell by listening to the footsteps? "
Later, A'Zi's eyes were "healed" by Jin Yong, but Ni Kuang never had the chance to read Jin Yong's novels.
Although Ni Kuang has a tough talk, he admires Jin Yong very much:
"There are no four great talents, only he is a genius."
Left Jin Yong, right Ni Kuang Ni Kuang feels that writing martial arts cannot surpass Jin Yong, which is one of the reasons for writing science fiction
Ni Kuang once wrote in After living in San Francisco for many years, I hesitated whether to return to Hong Kong.
Jin Yong was preparing to go abroad to study for a Ph.D., so he said: "When you come back, I won't go."
When Ni Kuang came back, Jin Yong went out to study.
He asked Jin Yong: "Aren't you leaving?"
Jin Yong replied: "Did I say that?"
Ni Kuang had three major hobbies: One is wine. It is said that he can drink one kilogram of XO a day. Since you are an alcoholic, you must have alcoholic friends.
Ni Kuang met Gu Long for the first time when he went to Taiwan in 1967. Ni Kuang's task was to help the martial arts magazine make an appointment with Gu Long, but the two hit it off at the wine table.
Ni Kuang later went to Taiwan many times to find cologne and drink, but every time he was always in a dark place.
Left Ni Kuang Right Gu Long
Later, he announced to quit drinking, but Ni Kuang's definition of "quit drinking" means not getting drunk.
When Gu Long passed away, he was buried with forty-eight bottles of XO. Ni Kuang went to mourn his old friend, but after learning about it, he felt that it was inappropriate.
"If Cologne took so much wine away, the media reporters would definitely sensationalize it. What should we do if so much good wine was stolen?"
So he drank half of each bottle of wine before putting it back.
Gu Long made the right friend. Ni Kuang believes that the best article he has written is Gu Long's obituary.
Left Gu Long Right Ni Kuang
His second biggest hobby is women. Ni Kuang admires submissive and obedient women the most.
Gu Long and Ni Kuang are both friends of the writer Sanmao, and they are so good that they can make all kinds of jokes.
Once San Mao came to play in a strapless outfit, Ni Kuang and Gu Long became interested. The two of them ran to Sanmao, one of them pressed one shoulder and took a bite. Sanmao was smiling like a flower. She knew the true nature of these two people very well.
Gu Long passed away, Sanmao comforted Ni Kuang
In Hong Kong, Ni Kuang and Cai Lam, Huang Zhan are also close friends.
The three people gathered together to smoke and drink, wandering between civilized people and barbarians.
Cai Lam served as the producer of "Yuan Zhenxia and Wesley" and asked Ni Kuang to play himself.
Ni Kuang felt that he wanted to gain some benefits and asked: "Why should I act?"
Cai Lam said: "There are beautiful actresses and there are endless Louis XIII."
So Ni Kuang happily went to the appointment.
From left, Ni Kuang, Cai Lan and Huang Zhan
Ni Kuang took him to try on clothes, but there were several stores that didn't fit him. The last clerk took out a piece from the bottom of the box, and Ni Kuang wore it very well.
The clerk said: "This dress was made to order, but I didn't come to pick it up. It seems that my surname is Zeng, and my name is Zeng Zhiwei."
There was a time when the three of them frequented a bar, and they had a lot of conversation over drinks. Slowly, more and more people started to listen to their jokes. The three of them simply decided to make a TV show and find celebrities to chat with.
"Undefended Tonight" was broadcast on TVB in 1990. The
program invited Leslie Cheung , Joey Wong , Brigitte Lin and others. There were no serious words, but all kinds of ridicule.
Brigitte Lin and Leslie Cheung were guests in "Undefended Tonight"
Ni Kuang also added his own knowledge into it, such as collecting shells, raising goldfish, and designing HI-FI.
Later on, as my brothers got older, quitting drinking became an important issue.
Once Huang Zhan was reading "Complete Song Ci" and wrote a limerick for Ni Kuang on a whim.
"Let's all quit drinking. Meat is not suitable for eating. Bao Fu and shrimp balls, I hope Shiyi will open his mouth. Repair, repair! Distribute to quarantined relatives and friends."
Huang Zhan sent a telegram to Ni Kuang in San Francisco. At that time, the United States had already It was late at night, and Ni Kuang looked completely sleepless. He was so happy that he gave one in return.
"I have been sick and drunk for many years, and I have felt every illness. I can't even start from waist aches and back pains. It turns out that the quota is enough."
Ni Kuang's third favorite hobby is cigarettes, with a record of five packs a day. Ni Kuang learned to smoke at the age of sixteen, and once made his sister Yi Shu cry because he puffed on smoke. Thirty-five years later, Ni Kuang suddenly figured it out.
"I heard a message from God. He said that my smoking quota has been used up and I don't have to smoke anymore."
Ni Kuang didn't care at first, but then "God" told him three times in a row, and he figured it out.
So Ni Kuang stopped smoking. Ni Kuang knew that after the quota was used up, he rarely wrote articles.
After the "911" incident in 2001, Cai Lam called to ask how Ni Kuang was doing.
Ni Kuang laughed "hahahaha" several times: "I have no contact with American society, of course it doesn't matter."
Ni Kuang and Cai Lam
Ni Kuang's life in the United States and after returning to Hong Kong was very comfortable. His daughter often buys seafood from the supermarket for him to eat, and the refrigerator at home is full of chicken, duck, and fish.
Ni Kuang said: "Actually, the doctor doesn't let me eat. If I can just drink water, just let me drink water."
Ni Kuang loves to eat fish and also likes to raise fish. In the early years, I kept several large tanks of fish, but once the temperature suddenly changed, all the fish died.
Just in time for Zhang Che’s filming of "Nezha", which required underwater shooting, the average fish tank was not big enough.
Ni Kuang filled the big fish tank with water and handed it to him, and he was stunned to take the effect of the bottom of the sea.
Ni Kuang suffers from high blood pressure, but he is still in good health. The doctor told him:
"Just take a few pills every day. People live by eating, drinking, and being happy."
Ni Kuang nodded repeatedly after hearing this.
Maybe people will restrain themselves a little when they get older. I was crazy when I was young, but when I am old, I live in a state of mind.
Ni Kuang plays with shells to the level of a collector.
In order to exchange shells with filmmakers, I can write scripts for them for free. When he had enough fun, he gave away shells worth hundreds of thousands without feeling any distress at all.
returned to Hong Kong from San Francisco and left all his fine collection of books to local friends.
At the 2012 Hong Kong Film Awards Ceremony, which was attended by many guests, director Tsui Hark presented Ni Kuang with the "Lifetime Achievement Award".
Tsui Hark is good at filming martial arts, and when Ni Kuang wrote " Six Finger Piano Demon ", Tsui Hark was still underage.
Ni Kuang has written so many novels, but the one he admires most is Jin Yong.
Jin Yong also loved Ni Kuang, a junior, and wrote the preface to Ni Kuang's first book "The Biography of the Qianlong of Nanming".
Jin Yong later also spoke highly of Ni Kuang:
"The infinite universe, endless time and space, infinite possibilities, and the eternal contradiction between the impermanent life are woven from this head."
Mr. Jin Yong drove to the west in 2018 Go, Ni Kuang was surprised when he heard this.
"Hurry up and ask, isn't there such news before?", and later said: "I passed away in my nineties, there is nothing to be sad about."
Mr. Huang Zhan passed away in 2004, and now the four great talents only Ni Kuang and Cai Lam are left.
html Ni Kuang wrote Wesley's last "Old Friends Only" more than 13 years ago, claiming that it was the final work.
"Hahahaha, I am not Wesley. Don't equate me with Wesley anymore."
ended with a quote from Ni Kuang:
"There is beauty and youth. The sun is bright and the autumn wind is cool. Not hungry, not hungry." Cold. There is a certain amount of emotional sustenance, and some people are fascinated by it. This kind of life is already the highest state. If you are unhappy about small things, you are really asking for your own trouble. "
