Wuxia Literature - just entertainment, or intellectual value?

[Ken Cheng]

Most of us enjoy wuxia fiction because it's entertaining. The best wuxia stories, however, have strong intellectual undercurrents dealing with complex themes of morality, spirituality, and social responsibility that go far beyond martial arts action. Should wuxia fiction be treated as "mere" entertainment, or is it worth scholarly analysis?

[ToOn99]

depends on the point of view of the readers, if they're studying chinese literature, art, or something related to chinese culture, Wuxia literature can be an additional source of knowledge as well as fun stuff, especially Liang Yusheng and Jin Yong novels since they described cultural and historical background a little bit in their novels.

[rabadi]

Ken, isn't this topic similar to What did you gain from wuxia fiction?

Anyway, to answer your question: for myself, it's just entertainment, but of course it has intellectual value.

[Tazzy1972]

for hours of fun watching it.... hours for fun debating about it here... hours of fun reading

[shen long]

both I would say,I became interested in China history after watching/reading about them.

[XiaoYe]

Political and hence intellectual?

Didn't JY write his novels based on his view of the politics at the time of writing? But because you can't just openly write about and criticise the government so he chose to disguise it in the form of wuxia.

I'm not sure if LYS was the same, but I know GL definitely wasn't. GL just wanted to be different.

Whether if it is worth scholarly analysis, I think it should be based on how it is written and what values and morals it covers. Whether it is wuxia or not isn't a reason for why it should be studied or not studied.

[goodrick]

Political and hence intellectual?

Didn't JY write his novels based on his view of the politics at the time of writing? But because you can't just openly write about and criticise the government so he chose to disguise it in the form of wuxia.

I'm not sure if LYS was the same, but I know GL definitely wasn't. GL just wanted to be different.

Whether if it is worth scholarly analysis, I think it should be based on how it is written and what values and morals it covers. Whether it is wuxia or not isn't a reason for why it should be studied or not studied.

I don't know about all the novels of Jin Yong, but The Smiling Proud Wanderer definitely stands out as having political undertones.

In fact in the afterword, Jin Yong mentions that The Smiling Proud Wanderer can be read as a political allegory disguised as a wuxia novel. As an allegory, it can happen in "any dynasty or organisation". Jin Yong also stated in the afterword that after the novel was published, Vietnamese politicians have used the names of Yue Buqun and Zuo Lengshan as derogatory terms against others in parliamentary sessions.

Although Jin Yong did not leave any unequivocal evidence, many people believe that characters and factions in the book are representations of people and great powers of the late 1960s, the time when the novel was written. The analogy is that the Five Mountain Sword Sects Alliance represents the Soviet Union with Zuo Lengshan as a personification of Joseph Stalin, while the Sun Moon Holy Cult emblematises China with Dongfang Bubai representing Mao Zedong. The other major sects, including Shaolin, Wudang and Emei, represent the United States, the United Kingdom and other NATO members.

The Smiling Proud Wanderer is written from an interesting perspective. Instead of looking at the situation from the point of view of a politician who is either seeking to start a rebellion or struggling to keep the world peaceful, the main character Linghu Chong is a lonely individual who does not seek supremacy in a power-driven world. Linghu Chong represents the ordinary common man.

[Trien Chieu]

the Sun Moon Holy Cult emblematises China with Dongfang Bubai representing Mao Zedong.

What???
DFBB representing Mao Zedong???
How can this be??? Did Mao Zedong castrate himself to gain power??

[goodrick]

What???
DFBB representing Mao Zedong???
How can this be??? Did Mao Zedong castrate himself to gain power??

It is not supposed to be literal. Take a chill pill.