Earlier precedents Even though the term "wuxia" as the name of a genre is a recent coinage, stories about xia date back more than 2,000 years. Wuxia stories have their roots in some early
youxia tales from 300–200 BC. The
Legalist philosopher
Han Fei spoke disparagingly of youxias in his book
Han Feizi in the chapter ''On Five 'Maggot' Classes'' about five social classes in the
Spring and Autumn period. Some well-known stories include
Zhuan Zhu's assassination of
King Liao of Wu, and most notably,
Jing Ke's attempt on the life of the King of Qin (who later became
Qin Shi Huang). In Volume 86 of the
Records of the Grand Historian (
Shi Ji),
Sima Qian mentioned five notable assassins – Cao Mo,
Zhuan Zhu,
Yu Rang, Nie Zheng and Jing Ke – in the
Warring States period who undertook tasks of conducting political assassinations of aristocrats and nobles. These assassins were known as
cike (刺客; literally "stabbing guests"). They usually rendered their loyalties and services to feudal lords and nobles in return for rewards such as riches and women. In Volume 124 of the
Shi Ji, Sima Qian detailed several embryonic features of xia culture from this period. These popular phenomena were also documented in other historical records such as the
Book of Han and the
Book of the Later Han. Xiake stories made a turning point in the
Tang dynasty (618–907) and returned in the form of (). Stories from that era, such as
Nie Yinniang,
The Kunlun Slave,
Thirteenth Madame Jing (),
Red String () and
The Bearded Warrior (), served as prototypes for modern wuxia stories. They featured fantasies and isolated protagonists – usually loners – who performed daring heroic deeds. During the
Song dynasty (960–1279), similar stories circulated in the
huaben, short works that were once thought to have served as prompt-books for
shuochang (traditional Chinese storytelling). and
Lin Chong fighting under Mount Liang, based on the
Water Margin The genre of the martial or military romance also developed during the Tang dynasty. In the
Ming dynasty (1368–1644),
Luo Guanzhong and
Shi Nai'an wrote
Romance of the Three Kingdoms and
Water Margin respectively, which are among the
Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. The former is a romanticised historical retelling of the events in the late
Eastern Han dynasty and the
Three Kingdoms period, while the latter criticises the deplorable socio-economic status of the late Northern Song dynasty.
Water Margin is often seen as the first full-length proto-wuxia novel: the portrayal of the 108 heroes, and their code of honour and willingness to become outlaws rather than serve a corrupt government, played an influential role in the development of
jianghu (Jianghu is the setting that wuxia stories inhabit. Literally meaning "rivers and lakes", Jianghu settings are fictionalized versions of China which focus on social underworlds and the marginalized figures which inhabit them.") culture in later centuries.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is also seen as a possible early antecedent and contains classic close-combat descriptions that were later emulated by wuxia writers in their works , one of the main heroes of
The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants In the
Qing dynasty (1644–1911), further developments were the () and related detective novels, where xia and other heroes, in collaboration with a judge or magistrate, solved crimes and battled injustice. The
Justice Bao stories from (; later extended and renamed to ) and , incorporated much of social justice themes of later wuxia stories. Xiayi stories of chivalrous romance, which frequently featured female heroes and supernatural fighting abilities, also surfaced during the Qing dynasty. Novels such as () and have been cited as the clearest nascent wuxia novels. Wuxia works like
Water Margin were deemed responsible for brewing anti-government sentiments, which led to rebellions in those eras. The departure from mainstream literature also meant that patronage of this genre was limited to the masses and not to the literati, which led to the stifling of the development of the wuxia genre. Nonetheless, the wuxia genre remained enormously popular with the common people. It was serialised from 1921 to 1928 and was adapted into the first wuxia film,
The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple (1928). Zhao Huanting (), who wrote
Chronicles of the Loyal Knights-Errant (, serialised 1923–27), was another well-known wuxia writer based in Shanghai. Starting from the 1930s, wuxia works proliferated and its centre shifted to Beijing and
Tianjin in northern China. The most prolific writers there were collectively referred to as the Five Great Masters of the Northern School ():
Huanzhulouzhu, who wrote
The Swordspeople from Shu Mountains;
Gong Baiyu, who wrote
Twelve Coin Darts ();
Wang Dulu, who wrote
The Crane-Iron Pentalogy (); Zheng Zhengyin (), who wrote
The King of Eagle Claws (); Zhu Zhenmu (), who wrote ''The Seven 'Kill' Stele'' (). Wuxia fiction was banned at various times during the
Republican era and these restrictions stifled the growth of the genre. Despite this, wuxia prevailed in other Chinese-speaking regions. In Hong Kong, between the 1960s and 1980s, the genre entered a
golden age. Writers such as
Liang Yusheng and
Louis Cha spearheaded the founding of a "new school" of the wuxia genre that differed largely from its predecessors. They wrote serials for newspapers and magazines. They also incorporated several fictional themes such as mystery and romance from other cultures. In Taiwan,
Wolong Sheng,
Sima Ling, Zhuge Qingyun (),
Shiao Yi and
Gu Long became the region's best known wuxia writers. After them, writers such as
Woon Swee Oan and
Huang Yi rose to prominence in a later period.
Chen Yu-hui is a contemporary female wuxia novelist who made her debut with the novel
The Tian-Guan Duo Heroes (). There have also been works created after the 1980s which attempt to create a post-wuxia genre.
Yu Hua, one of the more notable writers from this period, published a counter-genre short story titled
Blood and Plum Blossoms, in which the protagonist goes on a quest to avenge his murdered father.
Influence and dissemination As works from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China gained popularity in Asia in the 20th and 21st centuries, creators in Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia began to draw influence from them, including from Wuxia and other martial arts genres.
Works influenced by, remade, or adapted from Chinese wuxia and martial arts Korea •
Warrior Baek Dong-soo •
Arthdal Chronicles •
Memories of the Sword •
Gu Family Book •
Iljimae •
The Return of Iljimae Japan •
Thunderbolt Fantasy •
Ranma ½ •
YuYu Hakusho •
Kenji (manga) •
Fist of the North Star •
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple ==Themes, plots and settings==