12 Facts About Jin Yong

Jin Yong hailed from the scholarly Zha clan of Haining, whose members included notable literati of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties such as Zha Jizuo, Zha Shenxing and Zha Siting.

Jin Yong took the entrance exam and gained admission to the Faculty of Law at Soochow University, where he majored in international law with the intention of pursuing a career in the foreign service.

Jin Yong moved to Hong Kong in 1948 to work for the paper's office in the city.

Jin Yong was a member of the Hong Kong Basic Law drafting committee but resigned in protest after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.

Jin Yong was part of the Preparatory Committee set up in 1996 by the Chinese government to monitor the 1997 transfer of sovereignty.

Jin Yong had four brothers and two sisters, and was the second oldest among the seven of them.

Jin Yong's sisters were Zha Liangxiu and Zha Liangxuan.

Jin Yong's cousin was educator and philanthropist Cha Liang-chao.

Jin Yong was made a Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur and a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.

Jin Yong was an honorary fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford and Robinson College, Cambridge, and a Waynflete Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.

Jin Yong's works show a great amount of respect and approval for traditional Chinese values, especially Confucian ideals such as the proper relationship between ruler and subject, parent and child, elder sibling and younger sibling, and, between master and apprentice, and among fellow apprentices.

Jin Yong co-directed 2 films produced by Hong Kong's Great Wall Movie Enterprises.