Wuxia

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One of the oldest genres in Chinese literature, wǔxiá (武侠 - literally "martial-arts chivalry" or "martial arts heroes", and pronounced roughly woo-seeah in Mandarin) stories are tall tales of honourable warriors (侠 xiá) fighting against evil, whether it be an individual villain, or a corrupt government. Notable for Melodrama, spectacular swordplay, and high-flying martial arts.

Although some wuxia stories are set in modern times, or even the future, most take place in the "Martial Arts World" of Jiānghú (江湖 -- literally "rivers and lakes") a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Imperial China. The Jianghu is a "shared universe", populated by martial-artists and monks, wandering knights and beautiful princesses, thieves and beggars, priests and healers, merchants and craftsmen. The best wuxia writers draw a vivid picture of the intricate relationships of honour, loyalty, love and hate between individuals and between communities in this milieu. It is implicit that law and government are unjust, ineffective and/or corrupt, requiring the xia to settle differences by force moderated only by their chivalrous code, and often forcing them to live as outlaws despite their noble characters. In modern Chinese, perhaps as a result of these connotations of a separate world with its own rules, the term jianghu has taken on other meanings, including the underworld or criminal gangs.

A more romantic term known as Wulin (武林 -- literally "Warrior's Forests") is used when one wants to talk specifically about the world of martial artists and warriors specifically, divorced from the ugly connotations of criminality that jianghu has come to embody. Wulin is basically a majestic way of saying "The World of Warriors."

Modern works often incorporate outside themes and ideas, allowing the genre to develop, and in turn wǔxiá themes and visual styles have strongly influenced Western media, especially in cinema.

Compare High Fantasy, Heroic Fantasy, and Swashbuckler. For the 2011 movie titled Wu Xia, see Swordsmen.

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Common tropes include:

• Academy of Evil: If the story leans heavily toward martial-artists, expect one or more of it to exist in the settings.
• Action Girl
• A God Am I: Some villains will behave like this. It's up to the hero(es) to correct them.
• Alas, Poor Villain: One of the side effect of having to put an end to a very powerful villain is the loss of a great talent in the world.
• Ambition Is Evil: One of the stock aesops, especially in stories that deconstructs To Be a Master.
• Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: Pretty much a standard feature.
• Ax Crazy
• Badass Princess
• Bare-Fisted Monk: The Trope Codifier.
• Bastard Understudy
• Battle Couple
• Blood Brothers
• Byronic Hero: Some stories have "heroes" with barely-controlled vices. Expect them to kill people in a fit of rage, and then lament upon it when their clarity return.
• Cast From Hit Points
• Cast From Lifespan
• Charles Atlas Superpower
• Chick Magnet: 99% of the male leads of these stories.
• Chop Sockey
• Conflicting Loyalty: Any character with any loyalty at all, can expect to be tested.
• Cool Old Guy
• Cool Old Lady
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique
• Dark Action Girl: And it would be the challenge for the heroes to tame them. Don't expect them to surrender anything though.
• The Dark Arts: Any respectable martial arts school will have a sub-style that its students aren't meant to learn, because it will lead them toward...
• The Dark Side
• Deadly Upgrade
• Deceptive Disciple
• Dragons Up the Yin-Yang
• Driven by Envy
• Dueling Dojos: Technically, duelling guǎn，since we're in China.
• Eunuchs Are Evil: And if you're in a fantasy story, expect him to be an Evil Sorcerer as well.
• Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting: Pretty much the whole point.
• Evil Chancellor
• Evil Former Friend: Having one seems to be part of being a shī​fu. Don't worry, even if you can't win against him or her, your disciple(s) will take care of the matter.
• Foe Yay: Expect heroes and villains to be be obsessed with defeating each others, to the point that it becomes the raison d'etre of their life.
• Gun Fu: For modern settings.
• Happily Married: Though it often does not last, leading to a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Heroic Sacrifice
• Honor Before Reason: The code of xia embodies this trope.
• Hot Chick with a Sword
• Implausible Fencing Powers
• Important Haircut
• Improvised Weapon: Chopsticks, furniture, musical instruments, gardening tools. Basically, you name it...
• In a Single Bound
• Interesting Situation Duel
• Ki Attacks
• Knight Errant: Every hero in the genre.
• Kung Fu Sonic Boom: introduced in the late 90s, this effect is increasingly common in recent series.
• Kung Fu Wizard
• Lady of War
• Lonely At the Top: A problem that plagues every shī​fu, good or evil. Some of them will raise disciples just so they can have someone to spar with as equal.
• Love Dodecahedron
• Love Triangle
• Manly Tears
• Martial Pacifist
• Master Apprentice Chain: And sometimes, it's thicker than blood.
• Master Swordsman
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Played straight and subverted in equal measure.
• Old Master: Lots of these. Anyone adressed as shī​fu will inevitably be one.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You
• The Paragon Always Rebels
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil
• Psycho Serum: Usually in the form of pills.
• Rebellious Princess: Often combined with the Lady of War.
• Recursive Crossdressing
• Rival Turned Evil
• She Fu: Not to be confused with shī​fu, which is pronounced (roughly) "shrfu".
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism (Most wǔxiá stories are deep in the idealistic side)
• Supernatural Martial Arts
• Sweet Polly Oliver
• Three-Point Landing
• Training From Hell
• Treacherous Advisor: A must-have in stories of palace intrigue.
• Tsundere: If The Hero is a guy, expect every martial-arts-capable lady he meets to be like this. Every single one of them.
• Wax On, Wax Off
• Waif Fu
• Wire Fu: Used in films to perform exaggerated feats of qinggong ("light body skill").
• Worthy Opponent

Examples of Wuxia include:

Anime & Manga/Manhua/Manhwa

• Chinese Hero, the epic Manhua saga by the author of The Storm Riders, starting with Chinese fighters defending Chinese pride against racists in America with martial arts before moving on to other settings.
• G Gundam was heavily inspired by wuxia. In fact the director, Yasuhiro Imagawa, rather likes wuxia, which also shows up to a greater degree in Giant Robo and less so in Shin Mazinger.
  • Master Asia (well, his name, anyway) is a Shout-Out to the Villain Protagonist of Swordsman II.
• The first season of Gundam Seed can be read as a loose adaptation of Jing-Yong's Heaven Sword And Dragon Saber novel, especially concerning Kira as a rewrite of the kind-pacifist turned Warrior-God Jang Wu-Ji.
  • It seems more likely to be a loose adaption of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series though, with elements from more recent ones thrown in.
• Dragon Ball, which was loosely based on Journey to the West.
• The Manga Mahou Sensei Negima has become this through a combination of Writer Revolt and gradual Genre Shift. Also magic.
• How I Killed Your Master.
• The Breaker, Veritas, Now, and Ping are all Korean Manhwa that use wuxia tropes.
• Fist of the North Star has all the elements of wuxia... other than being set in a post-nuclear-apocalyptic Earth that has no law in the first place, rather than a corrupt one. Its Prequel Fist of the Blue Sky is actually closer in style and spirit to classical wuxia being set in Shanghai during the twilight years of classical China helps.
• Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, though originally more of a simple high school fighting shounen/satire, as the plot gradually moves forward it becomes more and more like a modern-day wuxia, as Kenichi becomes increasingly involved in his masters relationships and rivalries, as well as the rivalries/friendships Kenichi himself builds with their rivals and their rivals disciples. The world Kenichi lives in has also been shown to have a well-developed and complicated secret martial arts world, which most of the more "normal" cast are entirely ignorant of at the start, much like the Wulin concept.
• King of Fighters has an ongoing manga that is heavily influenced by wuxia manhua, which is perhaps expected giving it's artist and writer has a great deal of experience drawing and writing for that particular comic genre.
• Hero Tales, a manga by Huang Jin Zhou (a unit composed of Hiromu Arakawa, Genco and Studio Flag), is inspired by wuxia drama and novels.

Film

• The Burning of Red Lotus Temple, one of the earliest wuxia films, released in 1928.
• Once Upon a Time in China, set in the twilight years of Imperial China, chronicling the saga of historical hero Wong Fei Hong (played marvelously by Jet Li), greatest Doctor and Warrior of Canton. Singlehandedly revitalized the genre as one worthy of artistic respect and capable of conveying political meaning.
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon brought the classical form of the genre to the mainstream in the West.
• Hero is notable for coming out a few years later than Crouching Tiger, with a lot more controversy. It was a big Wuxia production relatively soon after the Chinese takeover of Hong Kong, which made some critics see the Historical Hero Upgrade of the king as a way to win the approval of the Chinese government, while others insisted that variants of this "Emperor And Assassin" story had been told in China for centuries, even in Hong Kong under British rule.
• House of Flying Daggers
• Warriors Of Heaven And Earth
• The entire Star Wars franchise is arguably a wuxia saga disguised as a space opera.
• The Kill Bill films were at least heavily influenced by wuxia.
• The Forbidden Kingdom is another Western example.
• Kung Fu Hustle
• Kung Fu Panda is either an Affectionate Parody or a slightly more comedic example of the genre. Either way, even the Chinese thought it was a worthy addition to the genre.
• Kung Pow is a straight up exceptionally weird parody.
• Swordsmen In Double Flag Town is a "down and dirty" hybrid of wuxia and western set in China's own Wild West.
• The Chinese Ghost Story series has more of a fantasy element than most stories in the wuxia genre.
• As does Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain, which is as bizarre as Chinese fantasy movies get.
• Savior of the Soul is a more sci-fi take on wuxia featuring futuristic fantasy warriors.
• The Myth
• Kung Fu Cult Master, an adaptation of the Jin Yong novel The Heaven Sword And Dragon Sabre.
• Tai Chi Master aka as Twin Warriors.
• Heroic Trio is this genre mixed with the Superhero genre.
• The Bride with White Hair
• Curse of the Golden Flower has elements of this during fight scenes.
• Detective Dee
• Legend of the Black Scorpion

Literature

• Water Margin, a novel dating from the fourteenth century, is probably the earliest example, although it is clearly based on even earlier folk stories. Especially influential in defining the Jiānghú world.
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms, again probably written during the fourteenth century, but based on earlier histories.
• Journey to the West, still another classic novel, probably fifteenth century in this case, also based on earlier folk stories.
• The novels and short stories of Jin Yong, Gu Long, and Liang Yusheng, the great masters of modern wuxia literature.
• One of the legends in Hitherby Dragons is a wuxia parody/homage.
• Despite martial arts not being the center of their plots, Bridge of Birds and the other Master Li & Number Ten Ox novels by Barry Hughart are set in, "an ancient China that never was," that is a clear homage to Chinese mythology and the Wuxia genre. He lists Romance of the Three Kingdoms among his main influences.
• The Judge Dee novels and short stories draw on many wuxia elements. Ciao Tai is a typical gentleman-outlaw swordsman character, and his best friend Ma Joong is the kung-fu master.
• The Dragon Series by Laurence Yep.

Live-Action TV

• Short Sabre Story: A comedy variant.
• Geico's "Wuxia" commercial, a parody of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
• Juuken Sentai Gekiranger is heavily inspired by the genre, and is quite popular outside Japan.
• 神鵰俠侶 or Return Of The Condor Heroes by Jin Yong has been adapted several times for television, most recently in 2006 (see image above).
• 武林外传 or My Own Swordsman is a very successful 80-episode Wuxia Sitcom, that sends up the whole genre in an Affectionate Parody.
• Spirit Warriors has the cast in another dimension based on this.

Music Videos

• Erasure - Always

Tabletop Games

• The AD&D-derived game Dragon Fist has wuxia as its primary genre, again leaning toward fantasy.
  • 3.5 edition had the Tome of Battle sourcebook, with new classes (similar to the fighter, monk and paladin) which drew on Wuxia influences to soften the effects of Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards. Often regarded as the best 3.5 book ever printed.
  • 4th Edition mentions this as one of the various campaign styles you can run.
• The 69 juncture of Feng Shui lends itself quite well to wuxia stories, particularly those of a more fantastic bent.
• As do the Period Martial Arts and Bizarre Fantasy genres from Hong Kong Action Theatre.
• As a genre which is focused on awesome stunts, personal interactions, and a small group of people being vastly more powerful than anyone else, Wuxia has inspired a number of RPGs:
  • Weapons Of The Gods and its successor Legends Of The Wulin are epic systems designed to showcase both the variety of kung fu techniques and the high power level of Wuxia - "Ranked Fighters" (AKA "Xia") can literally take down dozens of nameless Mooks right out the gate, and character abilities deal with destiny, the wills of heaven and hell, and the fate of all of China (though it does have a lot of detail in its musings on cultural detail).
  • At the opposite end of the spectrum, Qin The Warring States has much greater realism. Such tricks as walking on water or disabling two foes with a single sword stroke are exceedingly difficult, and starting characters will have some trouble facing even three or four ordinary thugs. Many brands of Chinese mysticism are also examined, including oddities such as Internal Alchemy.
• Jadeclaw is essentially a furry wuxia RPG.
• Exalted: Its stunts, martial arts and Charms are specifically set up to support wuxia-style play.
• The world setting and short stories connected to Zodiacs are heavily and openly influenced by wuxia, The Western, Samurai and the Viking Sagas.
• The not-yet-released Far West is essentially a Wuxia setting... modeled after the Wild West.

Theatre

• Cirque Du Soleil's KA owes a lot to this genre, especially in its visuals.

Video Games

• Bujingai the Forsaken City uses this trope as its primary motif, although it takes place in the future of Japan.
• The Dynasty Warriors series, obviously, since it's an action-based adaptation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Also notable in that, for someone who's not familiar with the original novel, the feats the characters in the games perform seem absolutely ridiculous, while reading the novel, you can tell that, yes, that's the way they were originally portrayed.
• Some fighting games have been influenced by this genre.
• Jade Empire is probably the most notable video-game example.
• Most video games actually made in China tend to have a wuxia theme, likely going on the principle that drives western developers to fall back on Tolkien when designing a Western RPG.
• Legend of Kay is the mixture with this, The Legend of Zelda, and furry.
• Taito's Legend of Kage and Demon Sword, although the latter also has Western medieval fantasy elements.

Visual Novels

• Kikokugai -The Cyber Slayers- combines wuxia with cyberpunk and send it DEEP to the cynical territory. It's from Nitroplus.

Western Animation

• Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel, The Legend of Korra.