Xianxia novel

''Xianxia'' ( zh, s=, t=仙俠), directly translated to 'immortal heroes', is a genre of Chinese fantasy heavily inspired by Taoism and influenced by Chinese mythology, Chan Buddhism, Chinese martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese folk religion, Chinese alchemy and other traditional Chinese elements.

Etymology

The characters forming ''xianxia'' are ''xiān'' ( 仙) and ''xiá'' ( 侠). A ''xiān'' is an immortal, a kind of transcendent being from Chinese mythology. ''Xiá'' is usually translated as "hero", but specifically implies a person who is brave, chivalrous, and righteous.

History

There are many ancient Chinese texts that could be classified as xianxia, such as the '' Classic of Mountains and Seas'' from the Warring States period, or the Legend of the White Snake. ''Xianxia'' novels were popularized during the Republic of China period, but it was the 1932 novel '' Legend of the Swordsmen of the Mountains of Shu'' that sparked the modern popularity of the genre.

Characteristics

The stories usually include elements such as gods, immortals, ''yaoguai'', ghosts, monsters.

Cultivation

Xianxia also includes the popular subgenre known as 'Cultivation' (; ; ; ). In the 21st century, this subgenre became popular with the advent of online publishing, with sites such as Qidian.com, Zongheng.com, and 17k.com giving a platform for authors to reach wide audiences with high-volume, serialized content. It was popularized outside of China primarily by fan translations in the early 2000s. Novels such as ''Stellar Transformations'', ''Coiling Dragon'', ''Martial God Asura'', and ' led to a boom in such fan translations. This genre is also a staple of Chinese television shows, films, ''manhua'' (comics), ''donghua'' (animation), and games.

In these stories protagonists are usually "cultivators" (; ; ; or ) who seek to become immortal beings called '' xian''. Along the way, they attain eternal life, supernatural powers, and incredible levels of strength. The fictional cultivation practiced in ''xianxia'' is heavily based on the real-life meditation practice ''qigong''.

In Chinese Web novel, Xianxia is one of the biggest genres and is mostly liked by male readers. Xianxia novels are often contain action themes.

Films and television

Perhaps one of the earliest successful ''xianxia'' films was the 1983 Hong Kong film ''Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'', which was followed up by the 2001 film '' The Legend of Zu''. Other film adaptations of novels have been well received, such as the 2017 romantic ''xianxia'' film '' Once Upon a Time'' and the 2019 '' Jade Dynasty''.

Overall, television shows are more numerous than films when it comes to ''xianxia'' adaptations.

Some of the most popular and successful Chinese TV series in recent times are of the ''xianxia'' genre, such as '' Ashes of Love'', '' Eternal Love'', ''The Journey of Flower'', '' The Untamed'' and '' Love Between Fairy and Devil''. It is worth noting all four dramas are adapted from popular novels published on the website . In addition, there are '' Swords of Legends'', '' Noble Aspirations'', '' Love of Thousand Years'', ''Love and Redemption'' and other films and TV series. The already existing fandom of ''xianxia'', and other fantasy novels has led to most new television and film titles to be adaptions and their warm reception by fans, along with increased exposure and high rates of anticipation.

Relationship with other genres

''Xianxia'' is often compared to the ''wuxia'' genre, and often shares many similarities - being set in a quasi-historical ancient China, featuring larger-than-life protagonists, and so on. The main difference is that ''xianxia'' generally has a much larger focus on spiritual growth and powers, multiple realms of reality, interacting with spirits and immortals, and so on; while ''wuxia'' is somewhat more grounded. Crude Western approximations might be that ''wuxia'' is loosely similar to the (American) Wild West as a genre, where vigilantes, feuding factions, and gunfights / martial arts duels are common; while ''xianxia'' is closer to European high fantasy in tone, except with a vaguely ancient China-like setting. Other variants exist as well; ''xuanhuan'' generally refers to Chinese fantasy works that dispense with Taoist elements and have a less China-like setting; and ''qihuan'' are Chinese works set in a more explicitly Western-fantasy style setting, although generally keeping Chinese influence.

Influence

As ''xianxia'' novels have become more popular worldwide, other genres have been influenced by it, such as progression fantasy, including authors such as Will Wight.

In popular culture

See also

* ''Xian'' (Taoism)
*Chinese philosophy
* Chinese mythology
* – ancient Chinese-style costume, typically used in and

References

{{Reflist

Chinese fantasy
Chinese literary genres
Fantasy genres