If there's a literary genre that is quintessentially Chinese it's the wuxia novel. Combining long-held ideas of chivalry, honour and loyalty with martial arts (wushu), the heroic tales of ancient warriors or swordsmen in classics such as Water Margin have entertained through the ages. But the genre may have run its course since its golden age in the 1960s, when epics by Louis Cha Leung-yung sold 500 million copies worldwide.
These days few wuxia novelists can carve a niche in the declining book market and Jozev Lau Wai-ming may be one of the last.
To give the genre a much-needed modern twist, however, last month he published the first instalment of his mammoth period series titled Blood and Steel.
Lau, 39, first found fame as an award-winning pop lyricist, but later became known for his dark, suspenseful novels that mix the wuxia tradition with western horror and fantasy fiction. Critics have described his eight-volume Karma series - based on the adventures of six former soldiers wreaking havoc in the underworld of a war-torn fictional city - as a 'modern martial arts classic'.
'The novels that I penned before have their roots in the martial arts genre. In a sense I've always been writing wuxia fiction - only under different guises,' says Lau.
But Lau, who edited a wuxia magazine in the early 90s while studying translation at City University, says it's time he returned to his literary roots.