My project, #LiteraryJianghu / #江湖书斋, is a series of creative digital works (translations, photo essays, etc) that I’m creating to engage with the wuxia (martial arts) fiction genre and related literary traditions.
How This Project Started
“Jianghu” 江湖 is literally “rivers and lakes.” A fantasy counterpart culture of ancient China, this wild, lawless, chaotic, and liminal world is home to wandering heroes, travellers, mercenaries, and others roaming outside the bounds of conventional society and institutions.
In 2018, I spent 3 months travelling around Mainland China and HK to conduct research on the origins of the wuxia genre, its influences, its existing translations, real-world martial arts, and jianghu culture. I’ve also spent the past 3 years researching related Chinese folktales.
The 2018 research trip I took, which I first wrote about here for carte blanche in the context of #RacismInCanLit, is one of the inspirations for this project.
Writings & Creative Digital Works:
Here is what I have written so far for this project.
- What Speculative Fiction Writers Can Learn from the Origins and Evolution of the Wuxia Genre
- A Xiákè in Jiānghú: Wǔxiá Fiction, Translations, and #RacismInCanLit (content warning for racism and workplace bullying)
- “The Woman in the Carriage” 车中女子 — The First Chinese Folktale about a Woman Ringleader of Thieves
- Wuxia Fiction Author Jin Yong 金庸: His Writing Process & Inspiration (& a Guest Visit from His Granddaughter Jasmine Chiu)
- A choose-your-own-adventure story using wuxia fiction tropes (SineTheta Magazine social media takeover)
Social Media Posts:
I’ll be posting updates on this project here on this page as I create work. Please also follow me on Twitter and Instagram, as well as check the hashtags #LiteraryJianghu / #江湖书斋 for updates.
- Photos of Chang’an and Tang dynasty
- Yang family mansion
- Wuxia, my research trip, and the Sino diaspora – a postcard swap
- Chinese folklore and mythology books
- Common tropes in wuxia
- Wuxia & food
Interviews
- Wuxia Fiction and Urban Spaces: An Interview with Yilin Wang
- Interviewing Anna Holmwood, the co-translator of Jin Yong’s Legend of Condor Heroes
- Podcast with Asians Represent Podcast about wuxia and xianxia.
- Note: I have requested a previous interview with Bedrock Games be taken down due to the producer Brendan working with a wuxia and xianxia writer and translator who does yellowface.
Support this project:
I’m open to working with editors and publications that would like to solicit articles related to wuxia, Chinese mythology, and translation. The best way to reach out to me regarding this project is via my website contact form.
If you would like to support this project, please consider donating to my Ko-Fi page.
Acknowledgements:
Thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts’ Digital Originals 2020 initiative for funding the initial stage of this project.