title: Paper Swordsmen: Jin Yong And the Modern Chinese Martial Arts Novel
author: Christopher Hamm
description: Perceptive and well written. . . . Highly recommended. Source: <i>China Review International</i><br /><br /><i>Paper Swordsmen</i> is not merely a history of Chinas most important martial arts writer and a critique of his expansive oeuvre, but more importantly an elegantly written, exhaustively researched, and fascinating analysis of the role of popular fiction in the construction of cultural identity. Hamm beautifully weaves close readings of Jin Youngs novels with solid historical research and critical theory, particularly that of Pierre Bourdieu, to produce a clear, relatively jargon-free analysis that will appeal to the sensibilities of martial arts fiction fans and literary critics alike. Source: <i>MCLC Resource Center Publication</i><br /><br />An eye-opener and an absolute pleasure. Hamms immensely readable introduction to Jin Yongs writing and activities, his analyses of individual texts, and his tracing and placing of these works within the relevant sociopolitical and literary fields will surely be warmly welcomed by scholars and students of Chinese literature and culture. Source: <i>Journal of Asian Studies</i>
zlib_text: This stylized illustration from the cover of a French magazine published in Oc-
  tober 1937 depicts a resolute Nationalist Chinese soldier looking into the distance.
  The caption says that this is a ‘typical Chinese soldier fighting against the Japanese
  in defence of Shanghai’. World opinion was generally on the side of the Chinese in
  1937 as they were seen as victims of Japanese aggression.
  
   
  First published in Great Britain in 2016 by
  PEN & SWORD MILITARY
  an imprint of
  Pen & Sword Books Ltd,
  47 Church Street,
  Barnsley,
  South Yorkshire
  S70 2AS
  Text copyright © Pen and Sword Books, 2016
  Photographs copyright © as credited, 2016
  Every effort has been made to trace the copyright of all the photographs. If there are uninten-
  tional omissions, please contact the publisher in writing, who will correct all subsequent editions.
  A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
  ISBN: 978 1 47382 752 3
  PDF ISBN: 978 1 47387 442 8
  EPUB ISBN: 978 1 47387 441 1
  PRC ISBN: 978 1 47387