Flood of warm memories prompted

"The novels carry Hong Kong people far from our busy daily lives. They lead us to a world of chivalry with knight-errant heroism, drawing us away from anxious, fast-paced society," Chun said.

Cha's trilogy Legends of the Condor Heroes begins in 1205, just before the Mongol conquest, and ends more than 150 years later.

British novelist Marcel Theroux told The Guardian of the trilogy: "I felt a slight regret that I was coming to it in my fifth decade. It would be a wonderful invitation into a lifelong enthusiasm for China, its history and civilization, its vast and chronically misunderstood presence in the world."

The first volume of Legends of Condor Heroes was published in February before being reprinted seven times. The Irish Times hailed it as "A Chinese Lord of the Rings". The second volume is due out in January.

Copyright for the first volume has been sold to the US, Germany, Italy, Finland, Portugal and Hungary. Cha's works have been translated into English, Korean, Japanese, French, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Thai.

Ying Mathieson, publisher at ACA Publishing in London, said Cha's works resonate with a Western audience because his writing is centered on emotions such as love, anger, sadness and happiness, which are shared across every culture.

"For this reason, international readers can immediately identify with emotions depicted through his writing — even if they understand nothing about Chinese culture," she said.

Anna Holmwood, translator of the first volume of Legends of Condor Heroes, said the Mongolian setting "acts likes a gateway to Western readers into the Chinese setting and historical background".

"The Chinese people have perhaps felt that their culture has long been neglected. Now, it's a time when they can feel confident about their place in history and their culture in the world. Sometimes it's that exact uniqueness that creates the selling point."