Modern Chinese fantasy genres have already made their way into the global literary scene, and many Western readers are eager to read them for the first time. One of these is xianxia, a subgenre that incorporates Chinese mythology. To be considered xianxia, a story must include a specific story arc. Just as the romance genre should end in a Happily Ever After or Happy For Now, xianxia should be about humans seeking immortality. When reading a synopsis of a xianxia story, the term “cultivation” almost always comes up because the characters in a xianxia story “cultivate” powers from the sect they join.
“Cultivation,” in this context, means the quest for immortality and supernatural abilities. Another subgenre, wuxia, is often confused with xianxia. While wuxia operates alongside xianxia, as it also features a cultivation arc, it’s mostly a historical fantasy or alternate history, whereas xianxia draws upon Buddhism, Taoism, and traditional Chinese medicine to craft its wo...
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