Wuxia
In some translations, the martial artist is referred to as a jiànxiá (劍俠) or jiànkè (劍客), either of which can be interpreted as a "swordsman" or "swordswoman", even though they may not necessarily wield a sword.
A code of chivalry usually requires wuxia heroes to right and redress wrongs, fight for righteousness, remove oppressors, and bring retribution for past misdeeds.
Xiake stories made a turning point in the Tang dynasty (618–907) and returned in the form of chuanqi (傳奇; literally "legendary tales").
During the Song dynasty (960–1279), similar stories circulated in the huaben, short works that were once thought to have served as prompt-books for shuochang (traditional Chinese storytelling).
In the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), 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.
Literally meaning "rivers and lakes", Jianghu settings are fictionalized versions of China which focus on social underworlds and the marginalized figures which inhabit them.
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[3]: 20 [12]: 17, 263 In the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), further developments were the gong'an (公案; literally "public case") and related detective novels, where xia and other heroes, in collaboration with a judge or magistrate, solved crimes and battled injustice.
Xiayi stories of chivalrous romance, which frequently featured female heroes and supernatural fighting abilities, also surfaced during the Qing dynasty.
[13] Xiang Kairan (pen name Pingjiang Buxiaosheng) became the first notable wuxia writer, with his debut novel being The Peculiar Knights-Errant of the Jianghu (江湖奇俠傳).
[21] Writers such as Liang Yusheng and Louis Cha (Jin Yong) spearheaded the founding of a "new school" of the wuxia genre that differed largely from its predecessors.
In Taiwan, Wolong Sheng, Sima Ling, Zhuge Qingyun (諸葛青雲), Shiao Yi (萧逸) and Gu Long became the region's best known wuxia writers.
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.
While Chinese wuxia stories incorporate Daoist and Buddhist philosophy, Korean adaptations tend to put more weight in Confucius principles.
Korean historical dramas depict martial arts but tend to downplay the mysticism though there are stories where it is instead embraced like the series Gu family book.
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.
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.
Apart from individualism, these characteristics are similar to Confucian values such as ren (仁; "benevolence", "kindness"), zhong (忠; "loyalty"), yong (勇; "courage", "bravery") and yi (義; "righteousness").
[13] The code of xia also emphasises the importance of repaying benefactors after having received deeds of en (恩; "grace", "favour") from others, as well as seeking chou (仇; "vengeance", "revenge") to bring villains to justice.
[36] Films directed by King Hu and produced by the Shaw Brothers Studio featured sophisticated action choreography using wire and trampoline assisted acrobatics combined with sped-up camera techniques.
[38][39][40] Cheng Pei-pei, Jimmy Wang and Connie Chan are among the better known wuxia movie stars in the 1960s–70s, when films made by King Hu and the Shaw Brothers Studio were most prominent.
More recent wuxia movie actors and actresses include Jet Li, Brigitte Lin, Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen, Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi.
Wuxia was introduced to Hollywood studios in 2000 by Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, though influence of the genre was previously seen in the United States in the 1970s television series Kung Fu.
Following in Lee's footsteps, Zhang Yimou made Hero, targeted for the international market in 2002, House of Flying Daggers in 2004, Curse of the Golden Flower in 2006 and Shadow in 2018.
Western audiences were also introduced to wuxia through Asian television stations in larger cities, which featured miniseries such as Warriors of the Yang Clan and Paradise, often with English subtitles.
[42][43] From the 1990s–2000s, Hong Kong stars Daniel Wu and Stephen Fung have worked with AMC Networks to bring wuxia to a US television audience with Into the Badlands, which premiered in 2015 and ran for three seasons.
[44][45] In 2013, Keanu Reeves directed and starred as the main antagonist in Man of Tai Chi, with Tiger Chen as a martial artist attending underground fights.
There are also MMORPGs, such as JX Online 3,[citation needed] Heroes of Kung Fu[49] and Age of Wulin,[50] and hack and slash games, such as Bujingai[51] and Heavenly Sword.
