Jin Yong's real name is Cha Liangyong or Louis Cha; he was born in Haining County, Zhejiang Province in 1924. His grandfather, Cha Wuncing, passed the jinshih examination and later on became the chief official of Danyang County. Before long he resigned because of the Church Riot of Danyang. The Cha clan in Hainning County was prominent and had a good reputation for supporting education. It was clear that Jin Yong grew up in a cultured environment surrounded with piles of books.

       When Jin Yong was eight years old, he coincidentally found a wusia novel named Huangjiang Nyusia literally meaning The Vast River and the Heroine, written by Gu Mingdao. Since that time he has been a fan of knight-errant novels. In 1937 he enrolled in the Provincial Jiasing High School. At the age of 14 he published a book called Gei Toukao Chujhong Jhe, literally meaning For the Students Who Just Passed the High School Entrance Examination and it was very successful. When he was 17 and studied in a united high school during the Sino-Japanese War, he wrote articles to criticize the school, subsequently he was expelled. At the final stage of the war he passed the examination and entered the College of Foreign Languages of Chunking Central University. He was expelled again after a violent argument with the administrator of the KMT party leader of the university, whom he accused of sending misbehaved students to spy on the ordinary students.

      When the victory of the war came, Jin Yong, 21 years old, got a job as a journalist for the Dongnan Rih Bao daily, in Hangjhou. He resigned after about one year and entered the College of Law of Soochou (Dongwu) University majoring in International Law. By the end of 1946 as a student Jin Yong passed a test and got a part-time job as an international telex editor for the Da Gong Bao daily of Shanghai. He was sent by the newspaper company to work in Hong Kong at the end of 1948, then in 1952 he moved to Sin Wan Bao to work as a copy editor. It was from then he started writing movie columns and furthermore scripts for movies. One of his plays Juedai Jiaren, literally meaning The Most Beautiful Woman of Her Era, was accepted to make a film by a movie company called Changcheng, the Great Wall Movie Enterprises Ltd.