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The main difference between the two is power-scaling. Wuxia only strays to a limited extent from feats that a "peak human" could perform, though there's supernatural bullshit that has roots in Chinese herbalism, alchemy, traditional medicine and the like. Xianxia takes that and dials that to 9000, then keeps on cranking.
Wuxia: The protagonist punches someone and they break through a door or wall.
Xianxia: The protagonist punches someone and they break through a mountain.
Wuxia: The protagonist finds a pill that extends their lifespan by 20 years.
Xianxia: The protagonist finds a pill that lets them live for a length of time that requires scientific notation.
Wuxia: A sword-master who spent their life meditating on the Great Dao might be able to fight a hundred opponents and win.
Xianxia: Someone's 'sword-intent' chops your dick off from a parallel dimension away.
Wuxia: You've reached the peak. True immortality is probably out of your grasp, but now all of China will remember your name.
Xianxia: You've reached the peak of the mortal realm. Yet your tired eyes spot the hints of an even taller range beyond, and you rub them while muttering something about Mt. Tai. None dare challenge you, but you're not content, not yet. After years of preparation, you go all out and barely survive after facing the wrath of Heaven for your impudence. You've managed to breakthrough and become worthy of the next realm. Congratulations, your previous powers mean fuck-all, and you're barely worthy of joining a sect in the upper realm as a janitor. Time to start from the bottom now that you're here.
This cyclic nature is one of the hallmarks of Xianxia, though it's not always a given. The usual goal for any self-respecting protagonist is to first achieve immortality, then get bored and go for omnipotence. If you're not defying the Heavens and overturning the laws that restrict you, why even bother?
Batman might be a a typical Wuxia character. Superman would be a weak character in a Xianxia setting, especially in a novel that's managed to steadily creep up in both power and page count. There are of course novels that don't indulge in the power fantasy to the extent that universes are being blown up with every punch, but that's something that people familiar with the genre wouldn't be surprised by haha.
We often have pretty different taste in novels, but I also love the xianxia genre. I'm just usually of the opinion that like one mega novel every few years is enough for me.
I've read A Will Eternal, which I think is supposed to be one of the more lighthearted works by Er Gen.
The other book I read I can't even find the title of. I tried for a while with chatGPT and it was unable to find anything.
Its hard to read about total sociopaths for me. I still generally prefer the Western trope of caring for something being the reason to gain power.
I'd say its worth people trying it out, especially if they have read a bunch of western fantasy and find themselves going down increasingly weird subgenres and getting bored with the mainstream hits.
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So, if J. R. R. Tolkien had been Chinese, Lord of the Rings would have been wuxia, and the Silmarillion would have been xianxia?
Nah, the Silmarillion is still closer to wuxia.
The strongest heroes are still credibly threatened by a sufficiently large pile of orcs. Their greatest deeds are fundamentally mortal achievements, not cosmic ones, with one exception: the creation of the Silmarils.
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Uh.. I never read past a few pages of the Silmarillon, it struck me as somewhere between a dictionary and a novel. But speaking broadly, I guess that works?
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What’s the thrill of this, though? It just satisfies some impulse toward viewing / reading / thinking about relentless upward progression, even if fictional and ridiculous?
Yes and no.
It’s a different approach to triggering the sense of “coolness” which underlies a lot of fiction genres.
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It's cultural empowerment power fantasy, in the same way that a lot of anime is Peter Pan Syndrome, or how there's a significant undercurrent of classic Marvel in which X-Men is schoolage nerd oppression fantasies (we go to school, we're hated for what we are, but we're actually the super cool and powerful -n-e-r-d-s- mutants!).
Recognize that in the China cultural context, and thus a lot of the Wuxia/Xianxia, those 'heavenly' and 'god' allusions aren't the sort of Christian heaven or greco-roman gods where the gods are an anthromorophization of a concept (greek gods). It is often a literal government bureaucracy with the gods as much assigned to certain roles as 'naturally' holding them, and it's very hierarchical, and the gods have great power over mortals who are accountable to them, even though they are of course not accountable to the mortals in turn. And when you go that that 'next realm,' it is... yet another hierarchy of bureaucrats, each more powerful than the last realm, with more power, wealth, and beauty.
Which is to say- it is a cultural metaphor for Chinese government, and the strata upon strata of hierarchical positions of people with power over you.
And it's not referring to a specific government either. The mythological metaphor well, well predates the Chinese Communist Party, so it's not anti-CCP (unless it's trying to hard), and so it's a form of government commentary for which there's a bit of a cultural blindspot. After all, no one really believes the Chinese government is made of super-human magical power cases who are often arrogant, insufferable, flaunting their power (and mistresses), and deserving a punch in the face, each just a strata below the next level of even more powerful, more arrogant, and more beautiful mistresses...
So when Protagonist rises from nothing to soaring the heavens realms above where they started, punching arrogant pricks in the process and getting the babes that come with such power level, it's a pretty conventional metaphor for beating the petty-bureaucrats and the less petty-but-still-infuriating bureaucrats of the governmental hierarchy, which starts from local officials to provincial to party to national and so on. It's a 'rise to the top of your society' metaphor in the same way that the American anime sphere saw Naruto and quickly characterized it as 'Kid wants to grow up and be Ninja President.' And like Naruto, which was also at heart a mix of 'lonely kid wants to be popular with schoolmates' and 'dismissed loser finds his special skill and humiliates arrogant geniuses,' there's an element of not just rising in the system, but punishing the jerks who inhabit it.
The thrill- beyond the action and the babes- is beating the system that the reader intuitively understands, and the sort of pricks they've come to hate.
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The majority of Xianxia is pure slop. Chapters rushed out on a near daily basis, both by the author and paid/volunteer translators who sometimes do a questionable job at translating them.
But that's true of any genre! Most novels are slop! Superhero novels, YA novels, romance novels. The majority of books are barely worth reading, and what people advocate for are cherry-picked examples.
That being said, there are excellent novels. I've name-dropped a few. Beyond the power fantasy, they have great plots, characters and world building. Chinese fantasy is also alien to Western sensibilities, or at least refreshingly different. Most Xianxia protagonists are refreshingly pragmatic, manifestations of Will to Power without the moping and navel-gazing of their western counterparts.
They get the girl. They get girls (consent is questionable). They are more than happy to slaughter their foes and exult in the lamentations of their women and children. They want to be powerful, exceed the limits of biology, ascend to godhood, and punishment for their hubris is something they prepare for and seek to overcome.
Western fantasy has gotten stale for me, but Xianxia hasn't. And when you find a good novel, you can probably spend half a year reading it, given how long they tend to be.
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Would Journey to the West be Xianxia? Monkey is fairly constrained in it, but he is the equal of heaven (I know they give him the title as a joke, but it's accurate, they can't beat him and he can't beat them) but he isn't really a match for Buddha, dropping a mountain on him only traps him for 500 years, he can look like anyone or anything, and he can pluck hairs from his body and make them identical copies of himself. Monkey's goal though, having achieved immortality already, is to gain humanity, which he learns his burgeoning omnipotence is an impediment to. I've heard it described as wuxia before, after reading your description it seems like it could go either way.
I think it really ought to be Xianxia. And in fact, it's a strong inspiration for the genre as a whole.
When someone is slaying gods and leaving across the universe in a single jump, they're a proper Xianxia character. Though it's a shame he still gets trolled by the Buddha through literal sleight of hand.
Besides, Sun Wukong inspired Sun Goku, and DBZ has its own share of Xianxia tropes, especially when it comes to power scaling.
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