Xianxia

Xianxia (traditional Chinese:仙俠; simplified Chinese:仙侠; pinyin:xiānxiá; lit.'immortal heroes') is a genre of Chinese fantasy heavily inspired by Chinese mythology and influenced by philosophies of Taoism, Chan Buddhism, Confucianism, Chinese martial arts, classical Chinese medicine, Chinese folk religion, Chinese alchemy, and other classical elements of Chinese culture.^[1] It is also closely related to the wuxia and shenmo genre, as it developed as a subgenre of wuxia and simultaneously as a subgenre of shenmo before branching out to become a distinct martial arts genre by the late 19th century.^[2][3] It is often considered akin to other high fantasy genres such as the sword and sorcery stories of Western literatures and the ninja fantasy fictions in Japanese literature.

Protagonists of xianxia stories are often practitioners or trainees of magic and divination — i.e. truth cultivators (修真者) or simply cultivators (修士) — seeking spiritual enlightenment, immortality and supernatural miracle powers, or else are transcendent beings called xiān (仙), who have either already ascended or have mastered such aptitudes to varying degrees. Antagonists of xianxia stories typically have similar powers, and often belong to either malevolent rival clans/schools of cultivators, or mischievous/malicious tribes or gangs of ling (fairies and sprites), yao (monsters), mo (demons), gui (ghosts and undead beings such as zombies and vampires) and similar category of inhuman sentient beings. Persons in the xianxia genre manifest superhuman talents or physics-defying superpowers such as flight/levitation, teleportation, telekinesis, divination/soul flight, shapeshifting, materializing objects and force fields, manipulation of energy and the elements, etc.

Concepts from classical Chinese philosophies such as internal alchemy and external alchemy feature in this genre—deities, immortals, yaoguai, demons and ghosts all engage in meditative practices and the consumption of rare substances or creatures to improve their skills or to augment their power. Action tends to take place across multiple realms, the number of which depends on the author or the world in question, but this usually includes the immortal plane, the mortal realm, and in the underworld. The xianxia genre also tends to feature the existence of magical creatures who do not belong to either the yao or mo category, as well as supernatural artefacts capable of upending the status quo.

仙侠を構成する漢字は、仙（xiān）と侠（xiá ）です。仙とは、中国神話、特に道教の伝説に登場する存在で、強力な精霊、神、真人、あるいは自己修養によって不老不死や並外れた長寿を得て超越的な存在となった人物など、複数の要素を兼ね備えています。

「侠」は「英雄」や「自警団員」と訳されることもあるが、特に勇敢で、騎士道精神にあふれ、正義感があり、反抗的な人物を意味する。^{[ 1 ]}この漢字は元々 「武侠」という言葉の漢字の一つとして使われており、現代の「仙侠」ジャンルが武侠の人気や、気の操作によって得られる力など、他のいくつかの要素に影響を受けていることを明確にするために「仙侠」という言葉に移された。

これらの物語は通常、魔法使いや超自然的な出来事に巻き込まれた人間の冒険や成長を中心に展開し、神々や仙人、精霊、悪魔、幽霊、神話上の生き物などの要素を含んでいます。これらの物語は通常、「道教、仏教」、その他の中国神話の要素や比喩、^{[ 4 ]}および神魔物語に根ざした中国のファンタジーです。

仙侠小説には、ライバルの修行者や超自然的な存在とのアクションテーマ^{[ 5 ]} 、権力闘争、超常的なロマンス、報復的正義、弱者（岱司）主人公による逆転劇などのプロット展開が含まれることが多く、男性読者の間で最も人気のある願望充足ジャンルの1つとなっています。また、完璧な女性主人公が登場するメアリー・スー小説もあり、女性読者の間で人気が高まっています。^{[ 6 ]}

Due to the genre's popularity, xianxia has also become a staple of Chinese television series, films, web series, manhua (comics), donghua (animated cartoons) and video games, similar to what wuxia has achieved during the latter half of the 20th century. Such examples of artistic adaptation include A Record of Mortal's Journey to Immortality (2008–2013) by Wangyu and The Attack of Heaven (2005) by Xiao Ding, both of which started as novels and were later adapted into donghua, manhua, television and films;^[7][8] and The Legend of Sword and Fairy series, which started as adventure computer games and have since expanded into a massive media franchise that includes television dramas, web series, films, stage plays, manhua, donghua, novelizations/fan fictions, audiobooks, trading cardgames and figurinecollectibles.

There are many ancient Chinese texts that could be classified as xianxia in the modern sense, such as the Classic of Mountains and Seas from the Warring States period.^[11]Ming dynasty novels such as Quelling the Demons' Revolt, Journey to the East and The Legend of the Spell-Infused Dates were early precursors of xianxia novels, although traditionally they were regarded as a type of shenmo fiction. It wasn't until the Republic of China period of the early 20th century that modern xianxia literature became popularized, as the 1932 novel Legend of the Swordsmen of the Mountains of Shu by Huanzhulouzhu (Li Shoumin) is widely recognized as the first genuine xianxia novel that sparked widespread popularity.^[12]

After the founding of the communist People's Republic of China in 1949, xianxia genre, along with other fantasy genres, was seen as superstitious "poison grass" and banned outright in Mainland China, with Li Shoumin himself attacked politically, forced to stop writing and later suffered a stroke in 1958 as a result. After the Culture Revolution ended, the genre experienced resurgence when the "reform and opening up" during the latter part of 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, including the importation of wuxia television productions and video games from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, many of which were actually more xianxia than wuxia.

Into the 21st century, the increasing availability of commercial book publishers and the newly rise of online publishing platforms such as Qidian and Jinjiang Literature City allowed the genre to diversify exponentially, and many wuxia and xianxia novels written in the 2010s and 2020s have experimented with discussing topics such as neoliberalism and alternatives to what is seen as a stagnant world order brought about by magic and/or religious organizations.^[9] The advent of duanju (short videodrama) on streaming platforms also catalyzed the popularization of the xianxia genre.

仙侠は武侠ジャンルとよく比較され、両者には多くの共通点がある。どちらも準歴史的な古代中国を舞台とし、現実離れした人間の主人公が登場し、善と悪の戦いが描かれている。主な違いは、仙侠の方が一般的に形而上学的なテーマが多いことである。このジャンルは、精神的な成長と超能力の習得、永遠の存在の追求、運命と転生、複数の現実世界、伝説の生き物や精霊との交流に重点を置いている。一方、武侠は人間界を舞台とし、超自然的な要素は少なく、主に武術、個人的な復讐、宝探し、社会正義^{[ 9 ]}、過激な政治^{[ 9 ]}、権力闘争を強調。

Other variants of similar Chinese high fantasy exist as well, such as shenmo, which generally refers to high fantasy works that focuses more on deities, demons and other supernatural beings rather than humans; xuanhuan (玄幻; 'Eastern fantasy') generally refers to high-magic fantasy works that dispense with Taoist elements and have a less realistic setting; and qihuan (奇幻; 'strange fantasy' or 'exotic fantasy') are Chinese works set in a more explicitly Western-style fantasy setting, although generally keeping a Chinese mythological influence.^[18]

• Wuxia, a low fantasy genre, has less supernatural power.
• Guzhuang – ancient Chinese-style costume, typically used in xianxia