Wuxia

Wǔxiá (also Wu Xia) ({{zh-ts|t=武俠|s=武侠}}; pronounced "oo-shyah") literally meaning "martial arts chivalry" or "martial arts heroes", from Mandarin Chinese, is a distinct genre in Chinese literature and cinema. Wuxia figures prominently in the popular culture of all Chinese-speaking areas, and the most important writers have devoted followings.

History and Context

Earlier precedents

Wuxia stories have their roots in some early youxia (??) and cike (??) stories around 2nd to 3rd century BC, such as the assassination attempts of Jing Ke and Chuan Zhu (??) listed in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian. In the section entitled "Assassins" (????), Sima Qian outlined a number of famed assassins in the Warring States who were entrusted with the (during then considered noble) task of political assassination. These are usually shike (??) who reside in residence of feudal lords and nobilities rendering services and loyalties much in the manner of Japanese samurais. In another section "Roaming Xia" (????)?he detailed many embryonic features of the xia culture of his day. This popular phenomenon continues to be documented in historical annals like The Book of the Han (??) and The Later Book of the Han (???).

Related Topics:
Jing Ke - Sima Qian - Records of the Grand Historian - Assassin - Warring States - Feudal - Japan - Samurai

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Xiake stories made a strong comeback in the Tang dynasty in the form of Chuanqi (??, literally "lengendary") tales. Stories like Nieyin Niang (???), The Slave of Kunlun (???), Jing Shisan Niang (????), Red String (??), The Bearded Warrior (???) served as prototypes to the modern wuxia stories, featuring fantastic, out-of-the-world protagonists, often loners, who perform daring heroic deeds.

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The earliest novel attributed in the genre might be Water Margin also known as Outlaws of the Marsh, written in the Ming Dynasty, although some would classify parts of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms as a possible earlier antecedent. The former was a political criticism of the deplorable socio-economical state of the late Ming Dynasty, whilst the latter was an alternative historical retelling of the post-Han Dynasty's state of three kingdoms. Water Margins championing of outlaws with a code of honor is especially influential in the development of Jianghu culture. Three Kingdoms contain many classic close combat descriptions which were later borrowed by wuxia writers.

Related Topics:
Novel - Water Margin - Outlaws of the Marsh - Ming Dynasty - The Romance of the Three Kingdoms - Han Dynasty - Jianghu

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Many works in this vein during the Ming and Qing dynasties were lost due to the prohibition by the government. The ethos of personal freedom and conflict-readiness of these novels were seen as seditious even in times of peace and stability. The departure from mainstream literature also meant that patronage of this genre to be limited, and stifled some of its growth. Nonetheless, the genre continued to be enormously popular, with certain full-length novels such as The Strange Case of Shigong (?????) and The Romance of the Heroic Daughters and Sons (?????) cited as the clearest nascent wuxia novels. Justice Dee stories seen in San Xia Wu Yi (????) and Xiao Wuyi (???) incorporated much of social justice themes of later wuxia stories.

Related Topics:
Ming - Qing dynasties - Justice Dee - Social justice

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Modern wuxia novels

The modern wuxia novels started in the early 20th century. Historians have attributed this surge as a psychological decry in response to the upheavals in the politics in China, starting with the of the downfall of the Qing Dynasty, followed by Dr. Sun Yatsen's new party Kuomintang who gave way to the warload Yuan Shikai. Yuan sought to re-establish a new imperial China and his dream proved to be shortlived. Inevitably Kuomintang decomposed through corruption and incompetence, and led to their ultimate eviction by the Chinese Communist Party. Laypeople found it more and more difficult to trust the so-called lawful establishments and seeked a different world, a martial, somewhat underground one, which is governed by different sets of rules and ethos. In the second-half of the century, many of the modern wuxia authors were educated and came from affluent upperclass families left the People's Republic of China, or were forced to leave, after the Communists took control. Wuxia writing continued in earnest in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Related Topics:
China - Qing Dynasty - Sun Yatsen - Kuomintang - Yuan Shikai - Chinese Communist Party - People's Republic of China - Taiwan - Hong Kong

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The Old School

Modern wuxia novels outlined values complimentary to Confucius' (551-479 BCE) teachings concerning the virtues of Ru (excellence, scholarship) but combined this with a willingness to use force. This was in sharp contrast to the unchanging style of talent-search bequeathed by the Confucius School for 2500 years of Chinese history, a system which advocated harmony rather than conflict. Some students of this period of history go as far as to say the value of xia (or xia-yi) was the missing element of the Yin-Yang of Taoism, indeed the missing component of ru jia, which Westerners know as Confucianism. A parallel universe, the Jiang Hu world, was thus created in all of the wuxia novels, partly to engender acceptance of the alternative history thus propositioned. By the same reasoning The Water Margin and The Romance of the Three Kingdoms cannot be seen as wuxia novels precisely due to the fact that they do not take place in a jianghu world.

Related Topics:
Confucius - Taoism - Confucianism - Jiang Hu - The Water Margin - The Romance of the Three Kingdoms

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The New School

The works of Jinyong can be seen as yet another category in which actual historical backgrounds intermingled with the fictitious. Historically accurate Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasty settings, including the Emperors and nobility of the day were woven into the storylines, e.g. giving a Han-lineage to the Manchurian Qing Emperor Qian Long.

Related Topics:
Jinyong - Yuan - Ming - Qing Dynasty - Manchurian - Emperor Qian Long

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Plot and setting

The modern wuxia stories are basically adventure stories with a strong dose of cultural and historical context. Plot differs largely from writer to writer. A common plot would revolve around a young male protagonistin China, who starts out life with a tragedy with the loss of a family or an old master, and would then go through exceeding hardship and arduous trials before studying under great master(s) of martial arts or comes into possession of a long-lost scroll of an unrivalled martial arts expertise. Eventually the protagonist emerges as a supreme martial arts master unequaled in all of China, and would then proffer his skills chivalrously to mend the ills of Jianghu.

Related Topics:
Martial arts - Jianghu

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Another common thread would involve a mature extremely skillful hero with an equally powerful nemesis with whom he had misgivings and the storyline would meander from the past to a final showdown between protagonist and his nemesis where the hero would eventually triumph.

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Undoubtedly the theme of Good versus Evil where good ultimately prevails is generic to all modern wuxia novels; likewise to the stories of Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars trilogy and JRR Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring, most of the recognized wuxia novels are also about the protagonists and what they hold dear other than being their outer xia or chivalrous selves.

Related Topics:
Luke Skywalker - Star Wars - JRR Tolkien - Fellowship of the Ring

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The Deer and the Cauldron, the final novel by Jinyong, is distinguished as an "anti-hero" novel that breaks all of the cliches above, and his anti-hero, the lazy, greedy, lewd, sycophant brothel boy Wei Xiaobao, has become a cultural symbol of sorts, loved by some and hated by others. Other novels, especially those by Gu Long, creates detective-type and romance stories in the setting of ancient China.

Related Topics:
Deer and the Cauldron - Jinyong - Anti-hero - Brothel - Wei Xiaobao - Gu Long

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Philosophy of Xia

The closest western equivalent to understand the concept of xia is modern-derivatives of the Robin Hood mythology, and the Samurai code of Bushido which was brought over to Japan by traders and apprentice alike in the 9th to 10th century AD. Top and foremost in the chivalry of xia is yi and sin, or trustworthiness and honour, and emphasizes the importance of gracious deed received or favours(恩 ēn) and revenge (仇 chóu) over all other ethos of life. This chivalry-code of xia is simple and grave enough to kill and die for, and can last for decades and passed on from one to the next generations until resolved by way of retribution.

Related Topics:
Robin Hood - Samurai - Bushido - Revenge

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Jiang Hu

Jiang Hu (??) (Gong Woo), (literally means "rivers and lakes") or the wuxia parallel universe, is common to the genre. Jiang Hu refers to the alternative world of martial artists and pugilists, usually congregrating in sects, disciplines and schools of martial arts learnings. It has been described as a kind of "shared world" alternate universe, inhabited by wandering knights and princes, thieves and beggars, priests and healers, merchants and craftspeople. It corresponds roughly to America's Wild West period, or to the era of the Book of Judges in the Bible. The best wuxia writers draw a vivid picture of the intricate relationships of honor, loyalty, love and hatred between individuals and between communities.

Related Topics:
Jiang Hu - Wild West - Book of Judges - Bible

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A common aspect to jiang hu is the tacit suggestion that the courts of law or courts of jurisdiction are dysfunctional. Differences can only be resolved by way of force, predicating the need for xia and their chivalrous ways.

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In the jiang hu, law and order are maintained by the alliance of wulin or wulin mengzhu, the society of martial artists. They are elected and commanded by the most able wuxia, who is usually (but not always) the protagonist of that novel. This alliance leader is an arbiter, who presides and adjudicates over inequities and disputes. He is a de jure chief justice of the affairs of the jiang hu.

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Martial arts

Although wuxia is based on true-life martial arts, the genre elevates the mastery of their crafts into fictitious levels of attainment like:

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• fight, usually using a codified sequence of movements known as zhāo (招) where they would have the ability to withstand armed foes.
• use of everyday objects such as ink brushes, abaci, and musical instruments as lethal weapons and the adept use of assassin weapons (ànqì 暗器) with accuracy
• use qīnggōng (T: 輕功 S: 轻功), or the ability to move swiftly and lightly, allowing them to scale walls, glide on waters or mount trees. This is based on real Chinese martial art practices. Real martial art exponents practise qinggong through years of attaching heavy weights on their legs. Its use however is greatly exaggerated in wire-fu movies where they appear to circumvent gravity.
• use nèilì (内力) or nèijìn (內勁), which is the ability to control mystical inner energy (qi) and direct it for attack or defense, or to attain superhuman stamina.
• engage in diǎnxué (T: 點穴 S: 点穴) also known by its Cantonese pronunciation Dim Mak 點脈, or other related techniques for killing or paralyzing opponents by hitting or seizing their acupressure points (xué 穴) with a finger, knuckle, elbow or weapon. This is based on true-life practices trained in some of the Chinese martial arts, known as dianxue and by the seizing and paralyzing techniques of chin na.

Consistent with Chinese beliefs about the relationship between the physical and paranormal, these skills are usually described as being attainable by anyone who is prepared to devote his or her time in diligent study and practice. The details of some of the more unusual skills are often to be found in abstrusely written and/or encrypted manuals known as mìjí (秘笈), which may contain the secrets of an entire sect, and are often subject to theft or sabotage.

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Another neutral theory as to why the current martial arts practitioners could not possibly attain the levels described in the wuxia genre was related to the methodology of passing on the martial arts crafts. Only the favourite pupil of a master gets to inherit the best crafts but the masters tend to keep the most powerful or significant chapter to himself. Hence what we have today at the Shaolin or other schools are but a fraction of what they were centuries earlier.

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Undoubtedly it must be pointed out the martialartsmanship detailed in the wuxia novels were substantially fictitious in nature and the substance should be left up to the imagination of the readers, rather than subject to analyses or comparisons.

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Suspension of disbelief

Suspension of disbelief is an important requirement in wuxia. Whether applied to movies or books, much wuxia action is characterized by its fantasy component. Because the wuxia genre occupies a difficult-to-define position between pure fantasy and reality, and many tales are set in clearly defined historical periods, Western audiences may have difficulty accepting the conventions of wuxia genre, dismissing them as pure improbability.

Related Topics:
Suspension of disbelief - Movie - Book - Fantasy

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However, it is paradoxical that Western audiences can readily accept the concept of the Force in the Star Wars series or the superpowers of The Matrix, or the magic in JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings or JK Rowling's Harry Potter. The difference can be explained by the general inconsistencies within the lineage of the novels. That is, insufficient background or ground rules have been detailed for the fantasies in the novel to be visualised by Western readers. With the exception of the works by Jinyong and Liang Yusheng, many wuxia novels are mono-dimensional, lacking the layering of elements that Western readers have come to expect from fantasy authors. Asian audiences understand the context of the "martial arts world" in which wuxia takes place, so such stories are self-explanatory in their own context.

Related Topics:
Force - Star Wars - Superpower - The Matrix - JRR Tolkien - Lord of the Rings - JK Rowling - Harry Potter - Jinyong - Liang Yusheng

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With the works of Jinyong begining to be translated into English, it is anticipated that western readers will begin to accept the some of the wuxia fantasies in the same way as they have with Tolkien's and Rowling's works.

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