Wuxia


Wuxia is a genre of Chinese fiction and low fantasy concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of historical fantasy literature, its popularity has caused it to be adapted for such diverse art forms as Chinese opera, manhua, television dramas, films, donghua, and video games. It forms part of popular culture in many Chinese-speaking communities around the world. According to Hong Kong film director, producer, and movie writer Ronny Yu, wuxia movies are not to be confused with martial arts movies in a strict sense, though as an umbrella term it incorporates martial arts in the stories.
The word "wǔxiá" is a compound composed of the two elements wǔ and xiá. There is a third element in wuxia, for a vigilante martial artist who follows the code of xia is often referred to as a xiákè or youxia. In some translations, the martial artist is referred to as a jiànxiá or jiànkè, either of which can be interpreted as a "swordsman" or "swordswoman", even though they may not necessarily wield a sword.
Heroes in wuxia fiction typically do not serve a lord, hold military rank, or belong to the aristocracy. They often originate from the lower social classes of ancient Chinese society. A code of chivalry usually requires wuxia heroes to right and redress wrongs, fight for righteousness, remove oppressors, and bring retribution for past misdeeds. Chinese xia traditions may be compared to martial codes from other cultures, such as the Japanese samurai bushido.

History

Earlier precedents

Even though the term "wuxia" as the name of a genre is a recent coinage, stories about xia date back more than 2,000 years. Wuxia stories have their roots in some early youxia tales from 300–200 BC. The Legalist philosopher Han Fei spoke disparagingly of youxias in his book Han Feizi in the chapter On Five 'Maggot' Classes about five social classes in the Spring and Autumn period. Some well-known stories include Zhuan Zhu's assassination of King Liao of Wu, and most notably, Jing Ke's attempt on the life of the King of Qin. In Volume 86 of the Records of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian mentioned five notable assassins – Cao Mo, Zhuan Zhu, Yu Rang, Nie Zheng and Jing Ke – in the Warring States period who undertook tasks of conducting political assassinations of aristocrats and nobles. These assassins were known as cike. They usually rendered their loyalties and services to feudal lords and nobles in return for rewards such as riches and women. In Volume 124 of the Shi Ji, Sima Qian detailed several embryonic features of xia culture from his period. These popular phenomena were also documented in other historical records such as the Book of Han and the Book of the Later Han.
Xiake stories made a turning point in the Tang dynasty and returned in the form of . Stories from that era, such as Nie Yinniang, The Kunlun Slave, Thirteenth Madame Jing, Red String and The Bearded Warrior, served as prototypes for modern wuxia stories. They featured fantasies and isolated protagonists – usually loners – who performed daring heroic deeds. During the Song dynasty, similar stories circulated in the huaben, short works that were once thought to have served as prompt-books for shuochang.
File:Ryōzampaku no fumoto de ryōketsu yū o arasou by Toshimitsu.jpg|left|thumb|Painting of Yang Zhi and Lin Chong fighting under Mount Liang, based on the Water Margin.
The genre of the martial or military romance also developed during the Tang dynasty. In the Ming dynasty, Luo Guanzhong and Shi Nai'an wrote Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin respectively, which are among the Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. The former is a romanticised historical retelling of the events in the late Eastern Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, while the latter criticises the deplorable socio-economic status of the late Northern Song dynasty. Water Margin is often seen as the first full-length proto-wuxia novel: the portrayal of the 108 heroes, and their code of honour and willingness to become outlaws rather than serve a corrupt government, played an influential role in the development of jianghu culture in later centuries. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is also seen as a possible early antecedent and contains classic close-combat descriptions that were later emulated by wuxia writers in their works
File:Zhanzhao 1890.jpg|thumb|Zhan Zhao, one of the main heroes of The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants.
In the Qing dynasty, further developments were the and related detective novels, where xia and other heroes, in collaboration with a judge or magistrate, solved crimes and battled injustice. The Justice Bao stories from and, incorporated much of social justice themes of later wuxia stories. Xiayi stories of chivalrous romance, which frequently featured female heroes and supernatural fighting abilities, also surfaced during the Qing dynasty. Novels such as and have been cited as the clearest nascent wuxia novels.
The term "wuxia" as a genre label itself first appeared at the end of the Qing dynasty, a calque of the Japanese "", a genre of oft-militaristic and bushido-influenced adventure fiction. The term was brought to China by writers such as Liang Qichao and students who hoped that China would modernise its military and place emphasis on martial virtues, and it quickly became entrenched as the term used to refer to xiayi and other predecessors of wuxia proper. In Japan, however, the term "" faded into obscurity.
Many wuxia works produced during the Ming and Qing dynasties were lost due to the governments' crackdown on and banning of such works. Wuxia works like Water Margin were deemed responsible for brewing anti-government sentiments, which led to rebellions in those eras. The departure from mainstream literature also meant that patronage of this genre was limited to the masses and not to the literati, which led to the stifling of the development of the wuxia genre. Nonetheless, the wuxia genre remained enormously popular with the common people.

20th century

The modern wuxia genre rose to prominence in the early 20th century after the May Fourth Movement of 1919. A new literature evolved, calling for a break with Confucian values, and the xia emerged as a symbol of personal freedom, defiance to Confucian tradition, and rejection of the Chinese family system.
Xiang Kairan became the first notable wuxia writer, with his debut novel being The Peculiar Knights-Errant of the Jianghu. It was serialised from 1921 to 1928 and was adapted into the first wuxia film, The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple. Zhao Huanting, who wrote Chronicles of the Loyal Knights-Errant, was another well-known wuxia writer based in Shanghai. Starting from the 1930s, wuxia works proliferated and its centre shifted to Beijing and Tianjin in northern China. The most prolific writers there were collectively referred to as the Five Great Masters of the Northern School : Huanzhulouzhu, who wrote The Swordspeople from Shu Mountains; Gong Baiyu, who wrote Twelve Coin Darts ; Wang Dulu, who wrote The Crane-Iron Pentalogy ; Zheng Zhengyin, who wrote The King of Eagle Claws ; Zhu Zhenmu, who wrote The Seven 'Kill' Stele.
Wuxia fiction was banned at various times during the Republican era and these restrictions stifled the growth of the genre. In 1949, China also banned martial arts novels as vulgar reading. In Taiwan, the government banned several wuxia works in 1959. Despite this, wuxia prevailed in other Chinese-speaking regions. In Hong Kong, between the 1960s and 1980s, the genre entered a golden age. Writers such as Liang Yusheng and Louis Cha spearheaded the founding of a "new school" of the wuxia genre that differed largely from its predecessors. They wrote serials for newspapers and magazines. They also incorporated several fictional themes such as mystery and romance from other cultures. In Taiwan, Wolong Sheng, Sima Ling, Zhuge Qingyun, Shiao Yi and Gu Long became the region's best known wuxia writers. After them, writers such as Woon Swee Oan and Huang Yi rose to prominence in a later period. Chen Yu-hui is a contemporary female wuxia novelist who made her debut with the novel The Tian-Guan Duo Heroes.
There have also been works created after the 1980s which attempt to create a post-wuxia genre. Yu Hua, one of the more notable writers from this period, published a counter-genre short story titled Blood and Plum Blossoms, in which the protagonist goes on a quest to avenge his murdered father.

Influence and dissemination

As works from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China gained popularity in Asia in the 20th and 21st centuries, creators in Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia began to draw influence from them, including from Wuxia and other martial arts genres.

Works influenced by, remade, or adapted from Chinese wuxia and martial arts

Korea
Modern wuxia stories are largely set in ancient or pre-modern China. The historical setting can range from being quite specific and important to the story, to being vaguely defined, anachronistic, or mainly for use as a backdrop. Elements of fantasy, such as the use of magic powers and appearance of supernatural beings, are common in some wuxia stories but are not a prerequisite of the wuxia genre. However, the martial arts element is a definite part of a wuxia tale, as the characters must know some form of martial arts. Themes of romance are also strongly featured in some wuxia tales.
A typical wuxia story features a young male protagonist who experiences a tragedy – such as the loss of his loved ones – and goes on to undertake several trials and tribulations to learn several forms of martial arts from various fighters. At the end of the story, he emerges as a powerful fighter whom few can equal. He uses his abilities to follow the code of xia and mends the ills of the jianghu. For instance, the opening chapters of some of Jin Yong's works follow a certain pattern: a tragic event occurs, usually one that costs the lives of the newly introduced characters, and then it sets events into motion that will culminate in the primary action of the story.
Other stories use different structures. For instance, the protagonist is denied admission into a martial arts school. He experiences hardships and trains secretly and waits until there is an opportunity for him to show off his skills and surprise those who initially looked down on him. Some stories feature a mature hero with powerful martial arts abilities confronting an equally powerful antagonist as his nemesis. The plot will gradually meander to a final dramatic showdown between the protagonist and his nemesis. These types of stories were prevalent during the era of anti-Qing revolutionaries.
Certain stories have unique plots, such as those by Gu Long and Huang Yi. Gu Long's works have an element of mystery and are written like detective stories. The protagonist, usually a formidable martial artist and intelligent problem-solver, embarks on a quest to solve a mystery such as a murder case. Huang Yi's stories are blended with science fiction.
Despite these genre-blending elements, wuxia is primarily a historical genre of fiction. Notwithstanding this, wuxia writers openly admit that they are unable to capture the entire history of a course of events and instead choose to structure their stories along the pattern of the protagonist's progression from childhood to adulthood instead. The progression may be symbolic rather than literal, as observed in Jin Yong's The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, where Linghu Chong progresses from childish concerns and dalliances into much more adult ones as his unwavering loyalty repeatedly thrusts him into the rocks of betrayal at the hands of his inhumane master.