Taipei, July 4 (CNA) Hong Kong author Ni Kuang (倪匡), known across the Chinese world for his series of adventure and science fiction novels Wisely, died Sunday at the age of 87.
Hong Kong media reported that Ni – the author of hundreds of novels and storybooks and more than 300 film scripts – had suffered from poor health and made few public appearances in recent years. .
Born in Shanghai in 1935, Ni started working at age 16 as a public security officer in Inner Mongolia under the Communist Chinese government.
Aged 22, he was caught dismantling a wooden bridge to use as fuel amid a shortage of heating coal, and was sent to an isolated farm to carry out remedial work .
After learning from a friend that he could face the death penalty, Ni fled the farm, traveling across much of China before entering Hong Kong via Macau on a journey that would provide the material for his first book.
Beginning in the 1960s, Ni rose to fame with his Wisely series of novels, which follow the protagonist of the same name as he solves mysteries, many of which involve aliens or other supernatural beings.
He later wrote several other story sequences, including the popular Dr. Yuen series, and a number of wuxia novels, which were later adapted for television and film.
In the media, Ni has often been mentioned along with wuxia writer Jin Yong (金庸), lyricist James Wong (黃霑), and columnist Chua Lam (蔡瀾) as one of Hong Kong’s “four great talents” in the second half of the 20th. century.
Due to his early experiences, Ni remained a longtime opponent of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which he said “strangely” seemed to be most popular with his wealthier friends.
Later in life, when a friend tried to convince him to visit China and see how the party had changed, Ni replied that although they “eat mutton with a knife and fork, in their essence , they remain unchanged.
