An exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of martial arts author Louis Cha Leung-yung, more widely known by his pen name Jin Yong, opened in Jiaxing City of east China's Zhejiang Province on Sunday, attracting flocks of admiring readers.

Cha was born on March 10, 1924, in Haining City of Zhejiang Province and moved to Hong Kong in the 1940s. He died age 94 at a hospital in Hong Kong in 2018.

He is universally regarded as the most influential wuxia (martial arts and chivalry) novelist in the 20th century, publishing 15 novels from 1955 to 1972, with hundreds of millions of copies sold worldwide.

A traditional painting, which recreates the iconic scene of two of Cha’s key characters watching the tide in The Book and the Sword, his first martial arts novel published in the New Evening Post, is at the entrance to the exhibition.

"When creating the scene, the first thing that came to my mind was watching the tide, because this scene is most closely related to [his hometown] Haining," said the painting’s creator Lee Chi-ching, a renowned artist from Hong Kong.

The exhibition presents over 800 exhibits, including photos, calligraphies, paintings, and precious manuscripts, such as three serialized manuscripts of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, one of his finest works.

There are also interactive exhibits designed to appeal to audiences of all ages and to reveal the rich layers and profound artistic concepts in Cha's masterpieces.

"Through this exhibition, I learned that he has multiple identities. He is not only a novelist, but also a translator and a social activist. There are many interactive sites in this exhibition, which is quite fun," said visitor Zhang Yunyan.