Literati mourn author of Emperor series

Elites from the world of literature and fans nationwide have been paying tribute to novelist Ling Jiefang, better known by his pen name Eryue He, who died on Saturday morning at age 73.

Ling, who was dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Zhengzhou University in Henan province, was best known for his Emperor series, which was released between 1989 and 1996, and consists of 5 million characters.

After his death, fans shared a couplet - a traditional form of two-line poetry - that includes the line, "Er yue he kai ling jie fang", which translates as "The Yellow River's frozen surface breaks in February, the ice is liberated."