| Common WuXia Terms WuXia: [Woo-She-aw] The proper term for the Chinese "Swords and Sorcery/Swashbuckling" Fantasy genre, refers to the Warriors themselves in the same way we call "Westerns" "Cowboy Movies". They are also known simple as "Xia" [She-aw]. Also sometime written as "WuSha". Jiang-Hu: [Jee-ang Hoo] The "Martial Arts Underworld/Subculture" that existed in old China, also sometimes translated as the "Martial World", or "River-Lake" (which is the literal meaning of the words, because these men tended to live in connection with China's vast network of waterways). Also sometimes written as "Giang-Hu". Gong Fu: [Gong Foo] This term literally means "Hard Skill", and not specifically refer to Martial Arts, although it is most commonly associated with Martial Arts. (I remember once watching a movie where a Chinese man looked at a sculptor's work and remarked "He has remarkable Gong Fu" (in Chinese, of course), referring to the man's skill level and technique.) Combat Martial Arts are actually "Wu Shu" [Woo Shoo] or "War Arts" in Mandarin Chinese. Of course this is also written as Kung Fu, which is taken from the Cantonese pronunciation of the word. Qi Gong [Chee Gong]: Literally means "Qi Control" or "Breath Control", and seems to commonly be used to refer to the "Lightness of Breath" technique that Martial Artists in WuXia stories use to defy gravity. (Occasionally I have seen WuXia novels in English also translate this as "Levitation Skill".) Qi [Chee]: The life energy that flows through all living things, humans have a network of lines of Qi that run through their body carrying Yin and Yang energy. If these lines of energy are disrupted or altered, they can cause physical effects (which is what Accupuncture and Pressure Points Techniques do). Qi energy in WuXia stories can also be used to alter the body of living things, and even control the forces of nature and matter to some degrees. Also called "Ki", which is the Japanese writing of the word. |