Wuxia genre

[fallenstar]

haha seeing the thread of Hero in the movie section I thought people'd like a thread open for the genre. Since my self a extreme Chinese Wuxia fic fan I'd be honoured to open it. Although, I have limited knowledge in how the English versions has translated, I read the original Chinese version, so besure to spell out names correctly so I can understand. Any other fans of that genre or just want to know about it are welcome to the discussion!!! I will bet Lancaenian is the first to reply, according to what I have seen in the Hero thread....

[Lacedaemonian]

A safe bet mate. You just inform us of the great Chinese wuxia novels, and we decide if the translated versions are any good.

[I, Brian]

I like the idea of reading at least a short recommended novel - the novelty itself would be appealing.

[Lacedaemonian]

Same here, my appetite is well and trully satched! However, a translated version of these works is like gold dust.

[fallenstar]

The Return of the Condor Heroes.... I am not sure if you have even heard of that, but it's my favorite wuxia genre book so far. It has great plot as well as a very very touching romance....

[fallenstar]

wait you want short ones? that one was quite long......

[Lacedaemonian]

I was reading a review of the animated series of that name, is it any good?

[Foxbat]

This looks interesting stuff. I did a bit of hunting and came up with this:

http://www.kungfucinema.com/categories/wuxiapien.htm

It had a definition of Wuxia Pien:

Wuxia Pien as a storytelling genre draws from Chinese mythology and the more esoteric aspects of martial arts. It usually chronicles the exploits of heroic knights who fight to uphold justice in a mythical realm where powerful clans of heroes and villains dominate society and vie for control of the "martial world." Common elements to these stories include swordplay, flying, magic, weapons infused with special properties, and elaborate lairs or traps. In serialized accounts that appeared in Chinese newspapers in the 19th century, long-running wuxia stories were popular. In this period, these stories were also theatrically dramatized in Chinese opera where performers employed martial arts and acrobatics on stage.

Is this much the same as just Wuxia? Or are they slightly different?

[fallenstar]

there is a difference in the books because the things all happened in "real" historical China, not mythological realm and certainly no actual magic according to western view is involved. And Lacedaemonian, I am not sure which one of the series you watched, but I think it could give you a basic idea although I know it's not the best tv series you can find.

[Lacedaemonian]

I have not seen it mate, was just pondering downloading it. I will look out for the book though, cheers mate.

[fallenstar]

cheers!

[Lacedaemonian]

This genre is so refreshing! I am seriously considering encorporating many aspects of wuxia into my current project. However, it is one thing to see wuxia movies and another to see how it is done in the written word. This is going to take some serious research! Ah but it will be so pleasurable....

[Lacedaemonian]

Can anybody supply a list of wuxia novel, in the English language, as I need to see how the action sequences are scripted/described.

My appreciation would be massive.

[Foxbat]

I was bored so I did a little searching for you and came across this

http://www.yellowbridge.com/literature/wuxia.html

It looks like they are available at Amazon.com

I typed 'Wuxia in literature' in Google if you want to check out the rest of the results.
Hope this helps your quest

[Lacedaemonian]

I love it when you are bored!! Thanks mate it is an excellent site.