Wǔxiá (Traditional Chinese: 武俠, Simplified Chinese: 武侠), or Mo hap ("martial arts chivalry"), 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.

The wuxia genre is largely confined and peculiar to Chinese culture; even within East Asian cultures like Japan and Korea there is no equivalence with the Chinese concept of xia (俠), or "chivalry", although the genre is also popular in Korea. Samurai bushido traditions share some aspects of with Chinese martial xia philosophy, but most attributes of xia are specific to Chinese society alone.

Contents

1 Themes 2 Plot 3 Setting 4 Novels 5 Films 6 See also 7 External links

Themes

Fantasy is an important theme in wuxia. Whether applied to movies or books, the wuxia genre is characterized by its fantasy component. The heroes in the movie practice martial arts to reach a state where they attain any number of superhuman powers, so that they can, among other things:

• fight, usually using a codified sequence of movements known as zhāo (招), at lightning fast speeds
• use of improbable objects, such as ink brushes, abaci, and musical instruments, as lethal weapons
• the adept use of assassin weapons (ànqì 暗器) with improbable accuracy
• use qīnggōng (T: 輕功 S: 轻功), or the ability to circumvent gravity, and scale walls or fly about with ease
• use nèilì (内力), which is the ability to control mystical inner energy (qi), to do things like suck an opponent inwards, throwing them, or forcing out poison from oneself
• engage in diǎnxué (T: 點穴 S: 点穴), the skill of paralyzing or killing opponents by hitting their acupressure points (xué 穴) with a finger or weapon

These are not just sleights of hand or magic tricks; often they are justified with strongly abstruse philosophical underpinnings, with allusions to Taoism, Buddhism, and Chinese medicine. These skills are usually also described as requiring talent and many years of study. The details of these 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.

Jiang Hu (Gong Woo), or the wuxia underworld, is another strong theme. ("Jiang-hu" literally means "rivers and lakes." Within the cultural imaginary, these are peripheral spaces outside the imperial center). In the world of Jiang Hu, both favours (恩 ēn) and revenge (仇 chóu) are not taken lightly at all; an entire story may revolve around the single-minded pursuit of a single protagonist for revenge, which may take decades. Characters are also incredibly concerned with face, trustworthiness, and honour, over all of which they are willing to take life (including their own), and this system of Jiang Hu moral code is usually idealized to such a level that would be considered unrealistic in real life. Love is also an overarching theme in wuxia; the relationship between young lovers (who are also unparalleled wuxia masters) may drive an entire story forward.

Another strong theme in wuxia is that the powerful skills must be trained and practiced with the purity in heart. Impatience and improper control of the mind and qi during the training would result in bodily and/or mental injuries (走火入魔 to lose control and fall to the dark side).

Plot

In plot, wuxia novels or books bear a strong resemblance to fantasy-genre fiction from around the world, in that they usually revolve around a young, usually male protagonist in ancient China, who may start out as a child going through exceeding hardship and other tragic circumstances, such as the loss of family, humiliation, or displacement from home. These characters then go through a series of extraordinary experiences, arduous trials, and amazing coincidences, often meeting and studying under great masters of martial arts, who pass on to them near-supernatural martial skills; the protagonist also gains a "chivalrous" outlook on life. Eventually the protagonist emerges as a supreme martial arts master, unequaled or barely equaled across all of China, his/her very name a legend.

On the other hand, the Deer and the Cauldron , the final novel by Jinyong, is distinguished as an "anti-wuxia" 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.

Setting

There is a tradition of the action taking place in the past, presumably as a way to help persuade the audience that the supernatural world the characters inhabit was once a reality, but that through time we have lost the knowledge. There are occasional wuxia movies in modern settings, but they are usually considered unrealistic. When the Star Wars movie came out in the late 1970s, many Chinese audience viewed it as a western wuxia movie set in a futuristic and foreign world. It is unknown if George Lucas's concept of the Jedi was influenced by the wuxia genre.

Western audiences can readily accept the concept of the Force in the Star Wars series or the superpowers of mutants in X-Men or an alien in Superman. However, the same audience may have trouble accepting the wuxia type of fantasy because the wuxia heroes are supposed to be regular people with superpowers.

Novels

Wuxia novels (Traditional Chinese: 武俠小説, Simplified Chinese: 武侠小说, Pinyin: wǔxiá xiǎoshuō) constitute a highly popular fiction genre in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Wuxia novels, especially by eminent authors like Jinyong and Gu Long , have a cult-like following in Chinese-speaking areas, not unlike fiction or science fiction in the West.

Important wuxia novelists include:

• Jinyong
• Gu Long
• Huang Yi
• Wen Rui'an
• Liang Yusheng
• Sima Ziyan
• Xiao Yi

Many of the most popular works, such as most of the work by Jinyong, has been repeatedly converted into films and TV series in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China, so much so that the watching and comparison of different renditions of the same novel is a pastime on its own. In addition, the study of Jinyong's work has created an independent branch of study called Jinology.

Films

Wuxia film (or wuxia pian, Mo Hap film, Mo Hap Pin) (Traditional Chinese: 武俠片, Simplified Chinese: 武侠片, Pinyin: wǔxiá piān) is a film genre from Taiwan and Hong Kong. The term "wuxia", from Mandarin Chinese, means "martial arts heroes". Because of distinguishing characteristics, this genre is considered different from other martial arts film styles.

This genre has been around in the Pacific Rim region since the late 1950s to 1960s. The earlier Wuxia movie dated back to the 1920s. The Shaw Studio was the forerunner of the current form of this genre with a lot of wire-work. It was introduced to mainstream Hollywood for the first time in 2000 by Ang Lee's movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. However, in 1986, John Carpenter's film Big Trouble in Little China drew heavily on the wuxia style.

The Matrix series has many elements of wuxia, however, the heroes and the primary villains of The Matrix gain their supernatural powers by recognizing and bending the rules of artificial reality. They can nonetheless run along walls, leap superhuman distances, and, in more specific cases, fly, levitate, transform into shrieking wraiths, and dodge and stop bullets.

Following Ang Lee's foot steps, Zhang Yimou made Hero targeted for the international market in 2003.

There is a strong link between wuxia films and wuxia novels, such as those of Jinyong. Many of the films are based on novels; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was an example of this.

Significant wuxia films include:

• Torching the Red Lotus Temple (《火燒紅蓮寺》1928) — one of the earlier wuxia movie series followed by 17 sequels until the whole genre was banned by Chinese government in 1931. Copies of the film were confiscated and burnt. In March of 1935, filmmakers in Hong Kong (a British colony then) introduced the 19th episode to the movie in Cantonese. Its popularity brought on the 20th episode. Due to the banning in China, the genre died off until the 1950s.
• Ru Lai Shen Zhang (《如來神掌》1964) — Hong Kong's popular black and white wuxia movie series starring Cho Dat Wah (曹達華) and Yu So Chau (于素秋).
• Dragon Gate Inn (《龍門客棧》1966) — for its introduction of wire-work into this genre. This genre is later dubbed wire fu.
• The One-armed Swordsman (《獨臂刀》1967) — for extreme gore in its era.
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) — for this genre's debut in Hollywood.
• Hero (2002) — for its artful presentation of this genre.
• House of Flying Daggers (2004) - the newest release, directed by Zhang Yimou, written by Li Feng, Zhang Yimou and Wang Bing.

See also

• Chinese martial arts
• cinema of China
• fantasy film
• kung fu
• martial arts movies
• qigong
• Shaolin
• wire fu film
• Wudangshan
• wushu

External links

• Intro to Wuxia genre http://www.heroic-cinema.com/eric/xia.html
• Wuxia pian http://members.tripod.com/~journeyeast/wuxia_pian.html (with a tripod ad)
• A Chinese page on the history of wuxia film http://www4.cca.gov.tw/movie/cinema/study/study200109_01.htm
• Zhang Ziyi CSC: The Wuxia According To Ang Lee http://csc.ziyi.org/filmography/cthd/wuxiafiction/angleewuxia.html