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Thread: "Wulin" and "Jiangwu": are these terms interchangeable?

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Default "Wulin" and "Jiangwu": are these terms interchangeable?

    Do the terms "wulin" and "jiangwu" really refer to the same thing? Wuxia characters and wuxia readers seem to use the term interchangeably, but I seem to perceive a slight difference. "Wulin" seems to refer exclusively to the society of martial arts practitioners, learners, and teachers; "jiangwu," on the other hand, seems to refer to a broader society that includes not only martial arts practitioners, but also non-martial artists who nevertheless have deep ties with the world of martial arts (i.e. criminals, government officials, wealthy merchants and powerful landlords, certain professional tradesmen such as physicians, skilled workers such as blacksmiths, and some religious clergy, etc.). Is this so?

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    Senior Member HuangYushi's Avatar
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    You're right. "Wulin" and "Jianghu" are not the same thing. Loosely put, the "wulin" is a subset of the "jianghu".

    A while back, I came up with this definition of the "jianghu" (which more or less corresponds to your definition): Jiānghú 江湖, literally "the rivers and the lakes", refers to both physical space as well as the social group that lives there. Members of this group usually wander from place to place as they seek to make a living by their wits. They include fortune-tellers, quack doctors, itinerant entertainers, deliverymen, mercenaries, adventurers and riff-raff of various degrees. "Ordinary" people, such as farmers, villagers, merchants and scholars, tend to give them a wide berth.

    If it helps, a venn diagram (sort of, anyway) is attached to give a visual cue to the jianghu and its various subsets, including the wulin.
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    Default Difference Between Wulin and Jianghu

    Can anyone enlighten me the differences between the two

    Jianghu - 江湖
    Wulin - 武林

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malevolent View Post
    Can anyone enlighten me the differences between the two

    Jianghu - 江湖
    This one pertains to numerous trades, of which martial arts is but one.

    Wulin - 武林
    This pertains to the realm of martial artists *only.*

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    So if I was to write a wuxia story I should classify jianghu as martial world and wulin as martial fraction?

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    Senior Member Ian Liew's Avatar
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    I think if you were to write a wuxia novel, the jianghu referred to would pretty much mainly be the wulin (although wulin doesn't necessarily mean you know martial arts, just that you operate among the pugilists). The jianghu exists even today, something like.. the professional world (not necessarily underworld)... but the wulin obviously does not.

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malevolent View Post
    So if I was to write a wuxia story I should classify jianghu as martial world and wulin as martial fraction?
    "Gongwu" would designate all tradespeople, including non-martial artists; "wulin," however, covers martial artists only.

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