Shiao Yi


Shiao Yi was a Chinese American wuxia novelist. Shiao was often mentioned with Jin Yong as the "Nan Jin Bei Shiao". In all, he wrote 55 novels in his life, including several novellas. Many of his works have been adapted for films and TV series, with their influences spreading across the East Asian cultural sphere and throughout the Chinese diaspora.

Biography

Shiao was born Shiao Ching Jen in Beijing, on June 4, 1935, to Xiao Zhichu, a Nationalist general. His ancestral home in Heze, Shandong. He spent his childhood in Chongqing during the Second Sino-Japanese War. After the defeat of the Nationalists by the Communists in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, his family moved to Taiwan. Shiao attended Jianguo School in Taipei. Then he was accepted to the Republic of China Naval Academy. Two years later, he left school at home.
Shiao started to write Tieyan Shuangling in 1960. In 1961 he entered the Chung Yuan Christian University. In 1977 he emigrated to Los Angeles, California, United States. His novel, Sister Gan Nineteen, was adapted into a TV series by Shandong Television in 1995, earning him nationwide popularity. It remains a part of the collective memory of the 80's generation.
On November 19, 2018, Shiao died of lung cancer at hospital in Los Angeles. His death is only 20 days after the Chinese literary world lost another wuxia novelist, Jin Yong.

Personal life

Shiao married Liu Meiqing in 1964, he had three sons: Xiao Peiyu, Xiao Peihuan and Xiao Peilun.
Shiao was a close friend of wuxia novelist Gu Long, and they started to write at about the same time.

Works

Novels