The renowned martial arts novelist Louis Cha.[File photo]

A microblogger has been slammed for wrongly stating that renowned martial arts novelist Louis Cha, better known as Jin Yong, had died. It is the second time this year news of Cha's "death" has been disseminated on the Internet.

The more recent posting spread through microblogs Monday, which said Cha, 86, passed away at about 7:07 pm at the Santa Maria Hospital in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.

However, Internet users quickly realized the information was false as no such hospital exists in Tsim Sha Tsui.

A journalist from Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV, Lüqiu Luwei, said Cha attended the doctoral degree conferring ceremony at Hong Kong Shue Yan University Sunday.

Cha's wife, Connie Lam, told reporters that Cha was in good health, Phoenix TV reported.

Cha took part in the drafting of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and has been awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal by the city, the highest honor in Hong Kong.

The writer who posted the false message, Zhongdao, deleted the post and offered an apology to both Cha and his fans. The writer says he received the false information from friends.

It is not the first time that rumors of Jin Yong's death had spread on the Internet, the first occurring on June 4 this year.

Many Internet users criticized Zhongdao for spreading false information.

"I was shocked that my idol had been 'killed' and then 'resurrected' in an hour. Messages on microblogs are not trustworthy today," Wang Xiaomao, a student who is also a microblogger, told the Global Times Tuesday.