What Are Wuxia Novels?
To put it simply, the wuxia genre tells stories about martial artists and their adventures in an alternate ancient China. Sometimes wuxia stories feature fantastical elements like we see in The Untamed, but many times they don’t. For a couple cinematic examples of wuxia, think back to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers. There are many types of wuxia stories, but certain elements recur time and again. The protagonist typically comes from the lower class. They usually don’t have social influence, privilege, or power. Wuxia heroes tend to follow a personal code of honor that drives them to fight injustice, right past wrongs, and take down oppressive and corrupt figures. In fact, a good amount of the conflict these heroes face comes from them butting heads against established traditions and social mores. Until the last decade, the most readily accessible way to consume wuxia stories was through film. These days, though, readers can more easily find wuxia novels and comics to read. Both new and old fans can find official English translations of classic novels. There are even a few romance novels that incorporate wuxia elements. And, of course, many novels from the massively popular LitRPG genre on Kindle Unlimited are influenced by wuxia, whether people realize it or not.
Important Wuxia Terms
Before we dive into some examples of wuxia novels, it might be useful to go over a few common terms. Jianghu: This refers to people in the Ancient China depicted in wuxia stories that live by their hands. As ancient Chinese society valued education and scholarly pursuits, these people often found themselves at the bottom of the social ladder. Since wuxia’s martial heroes live by their fists, guess where they belonged? You’ll sometimes see jianghu translated as some variation of the “pugilistic world.” Wulin: While the heroes of wuxia stories belong to the jianghu, they are also usually part of wulin. This is just another way of saying they use martial arts. Another way to think of it would be to imagine that these martial heroes belong to a loosely connected underground society. Cultivation: If you watched The Untamed, you saw many references to this. Cultivation refers to the pursuit of immortality and supernatural abilities. If we’re being precise, The Untamed and other stories like it don’t actually fall under the category of wuxia. They belong to the xianxia genre, which is about cultivation and the pursuit of unimaginable power. Wuxia is alternate history while xianxia draws upon Buddhism, Taoism, and traditional Chinese medicine to fuel its world-building. The definitions have blurred in common usage, so it might be easier to think of xianxia as the fantasy sibling genre to wuxia. The two are originally separate categories, but for the purposes of this list, I include both wuxia and xianxia novels. Read more about Chinese fantasy and its history.
Classic Wuxia Novels
Modern Wuxia Novels
Today, Chinese genre authors typically serialize their works as webnovels. You can think of it as continuing the tradition begun by Jin Yong, whose stories were serialized in newspapers. While you can find unofficial fan translations, as in the case of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, legitimate translations do exist. It’s best to support official adaptations because it both signals a demand and supports the original creators.
Wuxia Fantasy Novels
Romance Novels With Wuxia Elements
Wuxia Webtoons
Hopefully, this sampling of wuxia novels gave you a good sense of what’s out there. As you can see, you have a lot of options across different genres and approaches. Admittedly, if you want something exactly like The Untamed, there aren’t many officially translated queer wuxia romance novels yet. Give it time. In the coming years, I predict someone will fill that gap. If you’re interested in other genres of Chinese novels, here’s a list of Chinese science fiction. Or if you have a different reading niche that you’d love suggestions for, why not give TBR, Book Riot’s recommendation service, a try?
