The Houses Where They Lived

Louis Cha, known to most as Jin Yong, is one of the most influential modern novelists of recent times. He is also the co-founder of the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao.

Widely regarded as the father of the wuxia novel or the martial arts genre, his reputation is built upon some 15 works he wrote between 1955 and 1972. He has a widespread following among the Chinese-speaking, including the mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. His books have sold over 300 million copies worldwide (or over 1 billion if you include bootleg copies) making him the best-selling Chinese author still alive.

His works have been translated into Korean, English, Japanese, French, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Thai and his works have been made into films, television serials and video games.

In 1998, his Heshan House was restored and commemorated.

Wang Guowei was born in 1877 in Shuang Ren Alley of Yanguan town, in the house built by his father, Wang Naiyi. It was restored and opened to the public by the Haining government in 1987.

Wang Guowei made outstanding contributions to philosophy, psychology, poetry and the study of traditional operas.

He is also a pioneer of the study on ancient inscriptions on oracle bones and tortoise shells as well as the Dunhuang inscriptions.

On June 2, 1927, he committed suicide by jumping into Kunming Lake inside the Summer Palace grounds in Beijing.

(China Daily 01/09/2011 page16)