Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils

Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong. It was first serialised concurrently from 3 September 1963 to 27 May 1966 in the newspapers Ming Pao in Hong Kong and Nanyang Siang Pau in Singapore. The novel has since spawned several adaptations in film and television in both mainland China and Hong Kong. The novel's title has also been a challenge for translators for years. Its major characters are based on the Eight Races of non-human entities described in Buddhist cosmology, who are collectively known in Chinese as the "Tian Long Ba Bu", hence the novel's Chinese title. In Buddhism, these demi-gods are ranked higher than mortals but are still bound to the Saṃsāra by their own desires. It is said that Jin Yong originally modelled each major character after one of the Races, but as he continued writing, the complexity of the story made it impossible for such as simplistic mapping.