Wuxia: Difference between revisions

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Although some ''wuxia'' stories are set in modern times, or even the future, most take place in the "Martial Arts World" of ''Jiānghú'' (江湖 -- literally—literally "rivers and lakes") a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] of [[Imperial China]]. The ''Jianghu'' is a "shared universe", populated by martial-artists and monks, [[Knight Errant|wandering knights]] and beautiful princesses, thieves and beggars, priests and healers, merchants and craftsmen. The best ''wuxia'' writers draw a vivid picture of the intricate relationships of honour, loyalty, love and hate between individuals and between communities in this milieu. It is implicit that law and government are unjust, ineffective and/or corrupt, requiring the ''xia'' to settle differences by force moderated only by their chivalrous code, and often forcing them to live as outlaws despite their noble characters. In modern Chinese, perhaps as a result of these connotations of a separate world with its own rules, the term ''jianghu'' has taken on other meanings, including [[The Triads and the Tongs|the underworld or criminal gangs]].

A more romantic term known as ''Wulin'' (武林 -- literally—literally "Warrior's Forests") is used when one wants to talk specifically about the world of martial artists and warriors ''specifically'', divorced from the ugly connotations of criminality that ''jianghu'' has come to embody. ''Wulin'' is basically a majestic way of saying "The World of Warriors."

=== Common tropes include: ===