[2] Shiao Yi's Wuxia novels are known for their emphasis on traditional Chinese culture and ethics, the archetype of the Xia (hero), understanding of Taoist philosophy, exquisite sensitivity of romance and human emotions as well as a wide variety of writing styles.
Twenty of his works have been adapted for film and hundreds of hours of television, influencing the East Asian cultural spheres and the Chinese diaspora.
'Jin of the south and Shiao of the north'), and as one of the Five Tigers of the Taiwanese Wuxia Scene (台灣武俠界五虎上將) together with Gu Long, Wolong Sheng, Sima Ling, and Zhuge Qingyun.
In fourth grade, he spent a summer selling ice-cream with his friend Erhuai (二槐) and ended up getting typhoid fever and was absent from school for half a year.
While he was resting at home, he spent a lot of time reading, especially martial arts novels written by Huanzhulouzhu, Zheng Zhengyin, Zhu Zhenmu and Wang Dulu.
[8] After the defeat of the Nationalists by the Communists in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, his family moved to Taiwan, leaving behind their properties in Nanjing, Hankou and Fuzhou.
[14] Thanks to his family education, Shiao was not only very disciplined, but was also instilled with traditional values such as service to one's country, which led him to identify with the ideals of chivalry often found in Wuxia novels.
By his fifth and sixth years of elementary school, Shiao has already developed a strong interest in literature and read world classics such as Jean-Christophe and Camille.
[15] After moving to Taiwan in 1949, Shiao went to Jianguo Middle School and became classmates with writer Pai Hsien-yung, who was also the son of a military general, Bai Chongxi.
In his second year of middle school, Shiao wrote a short story Yellow Cattle, which was published in influential literary magazines in Taiwan, including Ye Feng (野風) and Ban Yue Wen Yi (半月文藝).
[18] When Shiao was attending the Naval Academy, a high school friend Zhong (钟) suggested that he should write a Wuxia novel, since he loved reading them so much.
[20] With his friend's introduction, editors of the Xiangji Publishing House (祥記出版社) received the manuscript written in ink and gave it a very positive response.
[22] The overnight success of Shiao's first book immediately brought him a lot of attention from other publishers, and his second novel The Seven Fists of Ching (七禽掌) was also very well received in the market.
In a meeting with Stan Lee at the Crustacean Restaurant in Beverly Hills, California, they both agreed that the secret to being prolific was getting up early and writing regardless of inspiration.
Beginning in the 1980s, he quickly became one of the top Wuxia novelists in China, reaching a national audience through multiple full library publications, television adaptations, and even serialized radio shows.
In 2009, Shiao's manuscripts, photos and letters formally joined the permanent collection of the National Museum of Modern Chinese Literature (中国现代文学馆), exhibited alongside many of China literary greats of all time.
The series was considered one of the two groundbreaking milestone pieces of Wuxia TV production in mainland China along with Bai Mei Da Xia (白眉大侠),[27] earning Shiao nationwide popularity.
Prior leaving Taiwan, Shiao's older sister married an Australian diplomat and moved to Australia; while his mother and siblings all immigrated to America.
[30] As Shiao was about to change his profession, he got the opportunity to write a column for the United Daily News replacing Gu Long, who had often failed to deliver manuscripts on time.
Feeling lonely in a foreign country, Shiao would often meet with Chinese friends from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan who loved literature.
[42] Shiao was friends with actress Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia, and thought of her as the ideal candidate to play the lead of Sister Gan Nineteen.
[49] The father-son collaboration was first announced in 2013, and was widely covered by mainstream media in both China and the United States, including Variety, The Hollywood Reporters, People’s Daily, and Sina.
These novels were heavily influenced by the works of 1920's Wuxia novelist Wang Dulu such as Crane Startles Kunlun (鶴驚崑崙) and Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin (寶劍金釵).
Shiao published works such as The Seven Sons of Kunlun (崑崙七子), Demons Beyond the Fortress (塞外伏魔), collectively known as “Chronicles of the Immortal Swordsmen” and Mr.
These works had more fantasy elements that are known to be characteristic of Xianxia novels and focused on the immortal swordsman's self-cultivation, resembling Huanzhulouzhu's Legend of the Swordsmen of the Mountains of Shu (蜀山劍俠傳).
He was critical of the "breakthrough" of the "new school" Wuxia novelists who focused disproportionately on the wu instead of xia in their works; and he was also one of the very few who were unaffected by Gu Long's stylistic influence.
However, the Chinese Wuxia warriors were usually much more reserved, virtuous and self-sacrificing compared with European knights and American cowboys and superheroes, also when it came to love and romance.
Shiao Yi was considered as the most influential new school Wuxia novelist in addition to Jin Yong, Liang Yusheng and Gu Long.
According to Shiao, women were more likely to be chivalrous, noting that the first xia recorded in Chinese history was a woman: Yuenü, who could defeat 100 men with her sword skills.
Another modern female xia that Shiao admired was Qiu Jin, a revolutionary, feminist and writer executed after a failed uprising against the Qing Dynasty.