2000 Years Evolution of the Wuxia Genre

This is the evolution of Wuxia literature over its 2000+ years of history.

🕒[TIMESTAMP]🕒
0:00 Introduction
0:29 The state of Wuxia Today
3:47 Origin of Xia
7:54 Tang Dynasty Xiayi Fiction
10:04 Breakthrough
12:48 A New Age for Wuxia
13:53 Modern Wuxia
17:05 Wuxia Today

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🎥PLAYLISTS🎥
History Meets Literature
Three Kingdoms
Qin Dynasty Origin
Cool Chinese History (By release)
Hundred Schools of Thoughts:

📚SOURCES:
罗立群, 2008, 中国武侠小说史
水滸傳
WU Guangzheng, 2007, Buddhist-Taoist rivalry and the evolution of the story of Lü Dongbin’s slaying the Yellow Dragon with a flying sword
Alexei Ditter, Jessey Choo, Sarah Allen, 2017, Tales from Tang Dynasty China - Selections from the Taiping Guangji
John Christopher Hamm, 2005, Paper Swordsmen_ Jin Yong and the Modern Chinese Martial Arts Novel
Professor Stephen Teo, 2009, Chinese Martial Arts Cinema - The Wuxia Tradition

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#History #Documentary #Asia #Confucianism #Buddhism #Taoism

[CoolHistoryBros]

A Xia does not need to be a kung fu fighting Chinese person. What other heroic figures do you think fit the Xia archetype?

[yohannessulistyo]

This wuxia literary culture also strongly influences unique Indonesian "silat" genre, an unmistakably Chinese kung fu stuff with Indonesian Nusantara setting, from Kho Ping Hoo's "Bu Kek Siansu" which adapted into Angling Dharma, "Alap-Alap Laut Kidul" (Southern Sea's Falcon), "Bagus Sajiwo", and many others. Bastian Tito also wrote a famous silat character "Wiro Sableng", a humorous martial artist that scours the entire semi-fictional Nusantara setting to serve justice, which has been adapted to various cinema films.

[mak]

Great video. I think the appeal of the Wuxia genre comes from the fact it gives power to the common people. Most of the protagonists are from humble or at least non-noble background yet through hard work can achieve powers that let them defy the established order.

[jcnavera]

As a kid growing up in the Philippines, I loved Condor Heroes (with Liu Yifei as Xiaolongnü) and the Suikoden JRPG. Then read the OG Water Margin as an adult. :)

[kevinrosales]

Cj your presence on this site is a breath of fresh air

[lobnaokashah]

It is amazing how you managed to summarize so much and contain so much information and present it in understandably easy flowing way. Thank you so much and please continue enriching us with culture so rich and beautiful. 🌹👏🏻

[tonerikohime]

I literally just started reading Jin Yong's "A Hero Is Born" last week and it is hands down the best book I've read this year! Really appreciate the historical and cultural context you've offered in this video.

[mrspeigle]

I've been slowly enjoying the genre bit by bit. I had no idea it went back so far.

[biocapsule]

*Wuxia* (especially new school) in the terminology of RPG focus on the 'Jiang Hu' as a world setting, which is basically the 'undercurrent' beneath civil society, and martial arts as the combat system. The gangs, rebels, wanderers, smugglers, mercenaries, all who walks between the respectable society and the shadow economy, the secret society, the crime stories. So Wuxia with more historical contexts tend to be set in unstable period in history. If there is a western video game that most embodied the ethos of Wuxia, it would be Assassin's Creed, in particular Black Flag. Star Wars is also very Wuxia, but not because of the space magic which only represents the combat system. It's more about the idea of the conflicts of the undercurrents of society. Rebels, recruiting criminals to fight the empire. The colorful characters that pop up all over the place while empire fought across the stars. It's the type of concept Wuxia is build on. The reason you use John Wick, it's because it's the same concept. The assassins, the criminals, the undercurrent of civil society.

[dan_was_here]

Jin Yong (Louis cha) is definitely my favourite wuxia writer. He wrote the condor heroes, the heavenly sword and dragon sabre, the smiling proud wanderer, the deer and the cauldron, and loads of more books.

[francietaylor]

Thank you CJ and crew for all of your fantastic videos. I have learned so much from you. Appreciate all of your hard work very much. I especially enjoyed your series on Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

[JTT]

The feeling of righteousness and heroism exhibited by the characters drew me into these stories just as much as the fantastical martial arts did when I was a child. I'm still pretty addicted to these stories haha.

[ltleflrt]

I was thinking that Wu Xia sounds a lot like vigilante stories, like Batman or Spiderman, and then when you mentioned them near the end I was very proud of myself lol... one of the stories you mentioned actually reminded me a lot of The Punisher, but I was definitely stuck in a comic book mindset, so John Wick didn't occur to me. But yeah, John Wick sounds like he fits in :D

[zepherfire]

Thank you so much! I love the Wuxia genre so much and am bummed that so few books are available in English.

[wow-hios]

“侠之大者，为国为民” One of the most important feature of Jinyong's Xia is nationalism, which is not talked about in this video.

[Zathurious]

I've got to hand it to you CJ. I have always had an inquisitive curiosity for foreign philosophy and mysticism. Your channel serves as a conduit for deeper research on my part. I've purchased a few books and movies after seeing them mentioned here. Overall, thanks bro.

[muhammadabdullahhanif]

Wow, this is great. My favorite content of yours is when you dissect asian culture/tropes/literature.

[seanleanable]

the breadth and depth of research is very impressive, i got alot out of this. great stuff.

[shazamsakazaki]

My favourite wuxia book is "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer", my favourite wuxia film is the 1997 version of "Demi-gods and Semi-devils"

[homanism]

In my country (Indonesia) the most Popular Wuxia is Journey To The West thanks to Dicky cheung's tv series adaptation, we called it as Kera Sakti (lit. Magical Monkey) and the opening song of that series was covered by a local rap group