Type of Story

ABOUT WUXIA, XIANXIA, AND MORE

There are many type of story but you when you hear or read someone comment of a 

Chinese story is 'Wuxia' and other type of Chinese novel there are. Here are some 

explanation for these unknown gender that you come across and some other that 

you know just for some info: 

Wuxia

Wuxia is made from two characters; ‘Wu’ and ‘Xia’, which literally mean ‘martial hero’. 

Wuxia stories are basically martial arts stories, with an essentially ‘real’ world filled with people 

who do incredible things through martial arts and generating ‘qi’, which allows them to leap

 long distances across rooftops and skip across water, a la Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon. 

Asian fans here surely have heard of famous novels/adaptations like the Legend of the 

Condor Heroes, Return of the Condor Heroes, Swordsman/Smiling Proud Wanderer, 

Seven Swordsmen (by Tsui Hark), etc.  ‘Horizon, Bright Moon, Sabre’, is another example of 

Wuxia. These are all ‘Wuxia'; novels that are grounded in real-life Chinese martial arts and 

internal energy cultivation (qigong) techniques that are kicked up to an exaggeratedly awesome 

level.

Xianxia

As for Xianxia, the characters forming it are ‘Xian’ and ‘Xia’, which literally means ‘immortal 

hero’. Xianxia is a newer genre and is essentially a ‘fantasy-fied’ version of Wuxia, with magic, demons, immortals, people who can fly, etc. The biggest contributor to the Xianxia genre is actually not martial arts; rather, it is ‘Taoism’, which is a major part of Chinese history. Taoism is both a philosophical way of life as well as an actual religion. Religious Taoism is often blurred together with Chinese folk mythologies, and is chock-full of stories about demons, ghosts, and people learning how to become immortals through meditation/understanding the ways of heaven, and flying in the air and casting powerful magic spells. The legendary Monkey King, Sun Wukong (whom Son Goku of DBZ is based off of) acquired his power through Taoist practices, and the concept of the Yin-Yang is also from Taoism. Xianxia blends lots of these folk stories and magical Taoist legends into their stories in a way which ‘true’ Wuxia stories almost never do.

Science Fiction (Sci-fi)

Definition of Science Fiction Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which the stories often tell about science and technology of the future. It is important to note that science fiction has a relationship with the principles of science—these stories involve partially truepartially fictitious laws or theories of science. It should not be completely unbelievable, because it then ventures into the genre fantasy. The plot creates situations different from those of both the present day and the known past. Science fiction texts also include a human element, explaining what effect new discoveries, happenings and scientific developments will have on us in the future. Science fiction texts are often set in the future, in space, on a different world, or in a different universe or dimension.