Hi there,

A while ago my wife and I watched a Chinese TV serial based on Datang Youxia Zhuan.

Afterward I remarked on how simmilar the structure of the plot was to Star Wars.

So I looked into it and the things that were basically the same appeared not to have been changes made by the TV producers - apparently they were rooted in the original text (unless my sources sucked - if I am wrong please feel free to correct me).

I'd love to get my hands on an English translation but sadly Wuxiapedia is no-go.

In fact Wuxiapedia is such a land of broken dreams (and half-finished translations) that I basically said "fine then, I'll just make my own Wuxia novels, with blackjack.... and hookers..."

Anyway, tangent done, Datang Youxia Zhuan was written by Liang Yusheng between 1963 and 1964 (over a decade before Star Wars).

In it the young protagonist is interested in joining with rebel bands but has not done so at the start of the story.

A family massacre drives him out of his home wandering.

The monarch is propped up by a mysterious man in black with terrible powers and a strange fascination with the protagonist.

The protagonist meets a strange hermit who teaches him how to fight and gives him the paternal affection largely missing from his home life.

The protagonist has a series of adventures during which the sordid past of his family comes to life culminating in the discovery that the mysterious man in black is, in fact, his supposedly-deceased-father.

The protagonist goes head-to-head against the forces of evil and is nearly killed when, in a redemptive moment the darkfather figure sacrifices himself to save the life of his son.

So, yeah, somewhere Lucas has an english translation of Datang Youxia Zhuan is my guess.

And I WANT it.