Kho Ping Hoo

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Kho Ping Hoo or Asmaraman Sukowati Kho Ping Hoo (born in Sragen, 17 August 1926 - died in Solo, 22 July 1994) was an Indonesian author from Chinese descent. He is very famous for his martial art stories with the background of China or Java. During his 30 years career, he had published at least 120 stories (according to Leo Suryadinata). However, Forum magazine claimed at least Kho Ping Hoo had 400 stories with the background of China and 50 stories with the background of Java.

Despite the fact that most of his stories were based on Chinese martial art story, Kho Ping Hoo could not speak nor write Chinese. He had his inspirations from Hong Kong and Taiwan kung fu films. He made a significant contributions to Indonesian literature. The novels also introduce many Chinese terms in Hokkien dialects to Indonesian terms.

Because of his inability in Chinese languages, there are a lot of historical and geographical facts of China which do not match with the real life condition. However, this was not a big deal for the fans of Kho Ping Hoo. The novels themselves never reached China or the wider Chinese speaking population.

[edit] Significance of Kho Ping Hoo's novels

Kho Ping Ho's works mean a great deal for generations of Chinese descend growing up in Indonesia. During the Suharto’s regime, teaching of Chinese languages, history and culture were banned. Kho Ping Ho’s work became one of a few educational source of Chinese history, culture, religions even moral teachings for them.

His body of works are mainly fictional loosely based on historical events, containing many historical inaccuracies. Still, they have been memorable and inspirational to millions of fans, they have generated curiosity and desire to learn more.

Kho Ping Ho’s readership is comparable to the famous authors of similar genre from Taiwan and Hong Kong like Chin Yung and Ku Lung. It’s a pity the Indonesian film industry is not as strong as the Hong Kong in bringing books to silver screen.