Kuang Ni

Ni Kuang
Ni Kuang at Hong Kong Shue Yan University, November 2007
Born	(1935-05-30) 30 May 1935 (age 82) Ningbo, Zhejiang, Republic of China
Occupation	Novelist, screenwriter
Genre	Wuxia, science fiction

Ni Cong (born 30 May 1935), courtesy name Yiming, better known by his pen name Ni Kuang (also romanised Ngai Hong, I Kuang and Yi Kuang), is a Hong Kong-American novelist and screenwriter. He has written over 300 Chinese-language wuxia and science fiction novels, and more than 400 film scripts.

Ni was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang, but grew up in Shanghai. He worked as a public security official under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government in the 1950s in Inner Mongolia and was tasked with writing death sentences. He once questioned the local party chief about why a particular man was sentenced to death, when the offence he committed (as stated on paper) was for being a landlord. The chief threatened to execute him if he continued to ask questions. According to Ni, he complied with the order because he feared for his own life. This was not the only instance in which Ni wrote a questionable death sentence which was categorised under "others" by the CCP government. These experiences made Ni decide to escape from China to Hong Kong in 1957.

Ni's science fiction novels usually take the form of detective/mystery stories featuring extraterrestrial life as a deus ex machina to explain the impossible and implausible. His best known works are the Wisely Series (Wai See-lei 衛斯理) and Dr Yuen (Yuen Chun-hap 原振俠) novel series, both of which have been adapted into films and television series. His criticism of communism is evident in some of these works.

Ni also co-wrote scripts with Chang Cheh for the Shaw Brothers Studio, including for the films One-Armed Swordsman, The Assassin and Crippled Avengers. As the screenwriter for the 1972 film Fist of Fury, he received credit for creating the protagonist, Chen Zhen, who was played by Bruce Lee. Chen Zhen became a popular Chinese culture hero and the subject of numerous remakes and adaptations of Fist of Fury. Notable actors such as Jet Li and Donnie Yen have portrayed Chen Zhen on screen after Bruce Lee.