Had someone ask (again) about the differences between Xianxia, Wuxia, Cultivation and what, if any parallels there might be with Gamelit / LitRPG. I wrote them a giant reply, and then realised I might as well post it here.
On another note – people who want to discuss this should head over to the Facebook Group I host – Cultivation Novels.
There are 4 terms you should know. If you feel my translations / terminology is wrong, feel free to correct me. Some of this stuff (like Cultivation Novels) is still a bit vague because it’s a term slowly being used / formed (like Gamelit / LitRPG). Anyway, off we go:
Wuxia – translates at martial heroes. Long, long history of writing in China. Generally, martial artists with their powers boosted to supernatural realms. In movies, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, Swordsman I & II, Once Upon a Time in China, etc. Most of these stories are based in ‘ancient times’, with a historical period, so Once Upon a Time is very borderline in that sense (and some might argue it’s not really ‘wuxia’).
The original books were set in the Warring States – 15th century period as I understand it.
It’s worth noting that the original wuxia stories also had a very specific cultural themes, discussions and mythology that grew up around the kind of books. Sects of martial artists (Wu Dang, Shaolin Temples, etc.) as well as a certain mythology about the wuxia heroes and their ‘brand of honour’.
If you want to read a classic wuxia story, there’s a new release for Jin Yong’s classic Legend of the Condor Heroes.
If you have to relate it to Western genres, think of wuxia as the Chinese equivalent of the Western, with its own set of tropes and ideas of what the ‘Wild West’ used to be like. Even if it had nothing to do with historic reality.
Xianxia – is a type of Chinese martial arts novel genre developed from the wuxia genre that is heavily influenced by Daoism and Buddhism (definition taken from Wikipedia). Basically, I translate it for others as Eastern Fantasy. Take wuxia martial artists and add fantasy elements. Anything with gods, spirits, demons, etc becomes xianxia. There are some that are borderline (we were discussing Fist of the North Star as one of those that kind of sit in-between).
Originally, a lot of xianxia work did NOT involve cultivation in the distinct formats you see these days. So, Detective Dee, the Journey to the West, etc.
Most recently, the cultivation stories started appearing in the formats you see within xianxia. Renegade Immortal, I Shall Seal the Heavens, etc came along, and provided these distinctive ‘cultivation’ elements to the entire genre. That became highly popular in the webnovel formats, and is what you see in a lot of the translated webnovels. Due to the format and the way these stories are created, there has been a lot of cross-pollination of ideas, especially for stories that have been translated to English.
I should point out that Wil Wight’s Cradle is pretty much xianxia.
My own A Thousand Li series is firmly xianxia with cultivation elements, though I draw a lot of inspiration from Taoism and the old school wuxia novels. In many ways, I wrote the series with an eye towards people who have never read these kind of novels before, so some common tropes are present. With a little twist, I like to think.
So.
Cultivation stories basically discuss the idea (often using the cultural idea of ‘cultivating’ to gain immortality) via progressing one’s soul / body / state of being. This can happen via martial arts training, grasping the Dao, magical potions or spirit stones, etc. I know there are aspects of cultivation (gaining immortality) from other cultures (see Harmon Cooper’s Way of the Immortals that draws from Buddhism), but my base of knowledge comes from Taoism. Even within traditional Taoist stories, you see the threads of what many of the Chinese webnovels draw from, like the peaches of immortality, alchemical potions, qigong exercises, martial arts, etc.
However, because the ‘idea’ of cultivation can also be rooted without the use of magical elements (i.e. gods, fairies, demons, spirits, etc.); it’s quite possible to have a cultivation story without being xianxia. Unlikely, but it happens.
Now, I’ve also been pushing that people use ‘cultivation’ for their books if they are writing as a western writer. The main reason being that a LOT of books on cultivation have zero (or very little) cultural understanding of Eastern themes. So, since wuxia / xianxia HEAVILY implies (if not requires) it to be set in a form of ancient China, using those terms to describe your book is incorrect and misleading in many cases.
In addition, you also get books like Sarah Lin’s Street Cultivation that takes the idea of cultivation (i.e. cultivation as a magic system) and uses it in a different way to build a unique new world.
Basically, my view is that cultivation could be considered a magic system and is a much better catch all term.
Lastly, for more details on terms, check out Yilin Wang’s great tweet thread on Chinese fiction terminology.
Now, Gamelit / LitRPG – technically, zero relation to any of the above in the strictest sense of their definitions. There are no game elements in xianxia / wuxia / cultivation stories by default. Really, the three are more ‘progression fantasy‘ rather than Gamelit / LitRPG as modern xianxia cultivation novels have these ‘defined’ stages in progress.
However, don’t go into traditional xianxia and wuxia novels expecting the kind of ‘progression fantasy’ form. Not all stories involve powering up. Like traditional fantasy, the genres have a wide range of tropes, sometimes events only taking place in a single location (Dragon Tiger Gate).
That being said, writers have been adding game elements to these stories, creating some of the confusion you see in the marketplace. Obviously Michael Chatfield has game elements in Ten Realms. The Reborn: Apocalypse and Towers of Heaven books are the same. Even Street Cultivation to some extent has ‘Gamelit’ elements in the way the heroes track their progress.
But that’s a choice they made to add Gamelit elements , it’s not necessary or even necessarily common. There are a bunch of Chinese webnovels that mix cultivation and gamelit elements (sometimes in games, like Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God), so it is a trend.
Edit: Updated on 10/6/2020 with some better information
