The Future of Wuxia

[Ken Cheng]

Gu Long is over twenty years dead, and Jin Yong is old and will probably not write any new wuxia novels. There are people out there still writing wuxia stories, of course, but none of these are known to be very good; certainly no new wuxia writer has emerged during the past quarter century who can compete with Jin Yong and Gu Long. Is there a future for wuxia? Will another great writer come along and energize the genre like Jin Yong and Gu Long did a generation ago?

[Whsie]

probably, there will be someone in the near future. Like MJ retired and the rise of Kobe or Lebron.
As of right now, we only see people with some talent, but no where the calibur of the Big 3.

[Loke-Gao-Zhu]

not really, with computer technology in today's society i doubt people will have the creativity of JY and GL. In these days you'll only see computer nerds instead of bookworms. I won''t even imagine people in the future READING wuxia novels (which is a sad thing).

and in JY"s interview he told that teenagers should not write wuxia novels

teenager: hello i'm a 10th grader and im desired to be a wuxia ficiton writer, so what are the requirements to be a wuxia author??

Jin Yong: Teenagers should not write wuxia novels. Writing novesl is a good thing, but only write stuff about you or people you know, like family, friends, teachers, etc. Wuxia novels contains a vast society, and it's about ancient time. It is very difficult to write about it, teenager won't even know the feelings of an adult.

There were a few little girls from mainland china who wants to publish their wuxia novels, they asked to name their novels, write prologues, etc.. i refused them all. Their novels are quite good but how can a 12-13 year old girl knows about the society and adult's emotions? It is useless to write wuxia novels even you're a "genius" kid.

Even there are good wuxia authors i doubt they will be RECOGNIZED in the society since everyone have much more entertainment, video games, mp3, etc.....during my old days in Hong Kong my classmates doesn't read wuxia novels but go to PC bars after school.....during the old days my grandpa always read wuxia novels from newspaper chapter by chapter because there was nothing to do by the time that's how wuxia author got recognized

[Yeung Gor]

I might be wrong, but is it me or there seems to be less wuxia series nowadays as compare to the past? When I go get a rental I have such limited choices and in the old days, I have plenty of them to choose. All I see mostly are cop/detective series or family drama type films or comedy movies. And the wuxia choices I get are crappy too.

I do hope another JY emerges in the future, although I highly doubt it, esp in my life time.

[resident:alien]

There are many authors out there. It's just that they haven't had the same spotlight Gu Long or Jin Yong have had. I'm not Chinese, so I wouldn't have any exposure to these other authors.

What really interests me is the tv/movie adaptations. Once I find that it is a novel, that's when my interest really piques and makes me want to read it even more. If the tv/movie adaptations were to follow the book, scene-for-scene and word-for-word, it would be hard to stomach, imo. That's why I resort to the novels, so I can see what really happens.

Also, reading the novels, one gets to see what the author intentionally wanted readers to imagine.

But I agree somewhat with Yeung Gor, it might not be in my lifetime either.

[kidd]

I might be wrong, but is it me or there seems to be less wuxia series nowadays as compare to the past? When I go get a rental I have such limited choices and in the old days, I have plenty of them to choose. All I see mostly are cop/detective series or family drama type films or comedy movies. And the wuxia choices I get are crappy too.

I do hope another JY emerges in the future, although I highly doubt it, esp in my life time.

Just wonder. Are you limiting your choices to only TVB series. Because I see China are producing lots of wuxia adaptations, not only from Jin Yong's novels, but also Gu Long's, Wen Rui An's, Liang Yu Sheng's and I've even seen one from Xiao Yi's novel.

[Yeung Gor]

Just wonder. Are you limiting your choices to only TVB series. Because I see China are producing lots of wuxia adaptations, not only from Jin Yong's novels, but also Gu Long's, Wen Rui An's, Liang Yu Sheng's and I've even seen one from Xiao Yi's novel.

That is a very good point. I do mostly watch TVB series, because their films speaks in cantonese. So do you agree TVB doesn't make as many wuxia series as before?

Yea, I am slowly transitioning to china series, the bad thing is I don't like dub. But I guess I got no choice.

[kidd]

That is a very good point. I do mostly watch TVB series, because their films speaks in cantonese. So do you agree TVB doesn't make as many wuxia series as before?

Yea, I am slowly transitioning to china series, the bad thing is I don't like dub. But I guess I got no choice.

Oic. Your problem is the language barrier. I have this language barrier too. I can understand when speaking mandarins when friends, but with the accents in china and taiwan series, it's pretty hard to figure out what they are saying. So, when I watched China series, I need to pause often to read the subtitles or reverse back to previous scene to listen to the conversation again.

It is true that TVB doesn't produced much wuxia series nowadays. But they did make and effort to produced at least 1 (usually 2) wuxia series per year. TVB's production follows the taste of viewers. The reception of wuxia series is not encouraging now. Their latest wuxia series Lethal Weapon of Love and Passion gets a really low ratings according to TVB standards.

[S Beaver]

There are many authors out there. It's just that they haven't had the same spotlight Gu Long or Jin Yong have had.

hm, now one's got to question, were pre-1900 wuxia writers given such limelight either?

[dragon2005]

We need someone with a good grasp of Chinese history, a scholar of some sort who is devoted to literature. They need to be a natural story teller as well. When you try too hard to tell a story, most likely it's going to fail.

[Ken Cheng]

A couple of our people here could probably write some decent wuxia (Laviathan and Athena come to mind, among a few others).

[dracnom]

I reckon that telling a story is fairly simple, but for it to rise to the top is hard, so many good novels remain on the bottom of many bookstore shelves, unnoticed by the general public. I think that creating martial art technique names will be difficult if you don't copy other peoples ideas.

I agree with the chinese history part, but it would be cool to see a novel blend wuxia and romance into a modern world, gonna be difficult but will be awesome if executed properly.

[Yeung Gor]

I reckon that telling a story is fairly simple, but for it to rise to the top is hard, so many good novels remain on the bottom of many bookstore shelves, unnoticed by the general public. I think that creating martial art technique names will be difficult if you don't copy other peoples ideas.

I agree with the chinese history part, but it would be cool to see a novel blend wuxia and romance into a modern world, gonna be difficult but will be awesome if executed properly.

I prefer they stay away from modern world. Wuxia is best set in ancient times or mythical realms.

[Ken Cheng]

I agree with the chinese history part, but it would be cool to see a novel blend wuxia and romance into a modern world, gonna be difficult but will be awesome if executed properly.

Gu Long kind of did this. It's been noted by some observers that although Gu Long's stories took place in an ancient setting, his characters tended to behave like modern people more than Jin Yong's did (and I would agree with that observation). Gu Long's characters were still bound by the social conventions of their time, but their psychological makeup tended to be more modern than that of Jin Yong's characters. Luk Siu Fung and Chor Lau Heung didn't really behave like Chinese men of the 15th Century; they were more like wuxia analogues to James Bond.

[Gundam-Freedom]

Is there a future for wuxia?

I think u will b the next wuxia author

[Sparky]

The future of wuxia -- REMAKES.

[Suet Seung]

I think u will b the next wuxia author

What is this suppose to mean? "I think you will be the next wuxia author and "
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The future of wuxia will be like it has always been...being discovered by this generation and then rediscovered by another generation of people.

[dbx]

I don't think literature is a perpetual thing. Like who the hell has written anything to rival Tolken or RoTK or Water Margins? Will there be another Dumas or Cervantes?

Will they even remember Jin Yong and Gu Long in 100 years?

The funny thing about literature is not an unending chain of authors that can be popularized and merchandised.

That's publishing, literature is just as often about addiction, suffering, madness, financial difficulties, languishing in obscurity followed by a early death.

[dragon2005]

True, to be a great writer, one has to have experienced some sort of life changing experience. In Jing Yong's case, he possibly lived through the cultural revolution. His writing may reflect some of what he saw and experienced. Gu Long to my knowledge was a pretty messed up guy.

[kidd]

Maybe wuxia fiction will have a future if people give the unknown writers a chance instead of reading Jin Yong over and over and over again. Production houses also can help by making adapations of less known novels to spark readers interest. I mean, the publishing of Huang Yi's novels increase after TVB adapt his novels.