Qin's Moon — Sayling Wen's novel
At a glance8 volumes · completed
Qin's Moon (秦时明月) is not a web novel but an 8-volume wuxia saga conceived by Taiwanese entrepreneur and writer Sayling Wen (温世仁). It follows Jing Tianming, son of the assassin Jing Ke, as he grows up in the shadow of Ying Zheng, the future First Emperor. It is the founding text of the longest-running donghua series still in production.
Origins and publication
Sayling Wen is best known as co-founder of the Taiwanese electronics giant Inventec. A history enthusiast, he laid out the framework of Qin's Moon, wrote the first draft of volume 1 and most of volume 2, then died suddenly in December 2003. His studio, Mingri Gongzuoshi, entrusted the rest of the writing to the Taiwanese comedy theatre troupe Comedians Workshop (相声瓦舍), which brought the saga to its conclusion.
The 8 volumes were published in Taiwan between December 2005 and December 2012, and in mainland China from 2007. Their titles, such as Bai Bu Fei Jian ("The Flying Sword at a Hundred Paces"), Ye Jin Tian Ming ("Night Ends, Day Breaks") and Zhu Zi Bai Jia ("The Hundred Schools"), were reused to name the donghua's seasons.
Volume covers
All 8 volumes of the print edition.
Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4
Vol. 5
Vol. 6
Vol. 7
Vol. 8
How it differs from the donghua
Sparkly Key's donghua, launched in 2007, starts from the same foundation but quickly moves away from it. The novel is a fairly tight coming-of-age story centred on Tianming and the fall of the Qin. The animated series becomes a vast fresco in which the schools of thought (Mohists, Confucians, Yin-Yang) and characters like Wei Zhuang and Gai Nie take up space they never had in the book. The tone changes too: the novel keeps a lightness inherited from its comic authors, while the donghua embraces an epic, dark register.
Reception and success
The novel remains less known than its adaptations, but it gave the franchise its core strength: a blend of real history and martial fiction. Ying Zheng, Zhang Liang and Xiang Yu rub shoulders with invented heroes. Having a theatre troupe among its authors also explains the liveliness of the dialogue, often praised by Taiwanese readers.
Trivia
- Sayling Wen founded the Inventec group in the 1970s before devoting part of his fortune to education and culture.
- Comedians Workshop is a xiangsheng troupe, specialising in Chinese comic dialogue. Writing a wuxia novel was a first for them.
- The hero Jing Tianming is the son of Jing Ke, the assassin who tried to kill the King of Qin in 227 BC.
- The volume titles reappear in the names of the donghua's seasons, from Bai Bu Fei Jian to Wan Li Chang Cheng.
My take
The novel is an endearing curiosity. You can feel the difference between Sayling Wen's early chapters and the livelier pen of the troupe that took over, and the whole sometimes lacks unity. But the premise, a hidden child at the heart of China's unification, is wonderful. I recommend it to donghua fans curious to see how it all began.
Who is it for?Donghua fans who want to go back to the source, and lovers of historical wuxia.
— Spidermas, for Donghua Fan
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The authorWen Shiren 温世仁The industrialist novelist