SFF Addicts TBRCon2023 Panel: Wuxia, Xianxia & Asian-Inspired Fantasy (with Xueting C. Ni, Nghi Vo, Wesley Chu, Amélie Wen Zhao, Tao Wong & Alice Poon)
May 12, 2023
Xueting C. Ni (author and editor) leads a lively chat with Alice Poon (Hong Kong–born wuxia novelist), Tao Wong (litRPG and xianxia writer), Amélie Wen Zhao (Chinese xianxia–inspired novelist), Nghi Vo (novella specialist), and Wesley Chu (wuxia-influenced bestselling author). They compare wuxia and xianxia, trace diaspora and pop-culture roots, debate web-novel trends, and talk authenticity, adaptations, and the genre’s global spread.
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Episode notes
Xia As Outsider Justice
- Xia fiction centers on outsiders acting by their own code of honor rather than state law.
- This creates tension between personal righteousness and political authority that defines wuxia/xianxia.
Flavor Over Setup
- Wuxia shares setup with Westerns but differs in flavor, tone, and emphasis on communal duty.
- Martial skill and code of honor distinguish wuxia's cultural lens from Western superhero narratives.
Bootleg Wuxia Shaped A Childhood
- Nghi Vo described growing up watching bootleg martial-arts dramas with her grandfather in Illinois.
- The tapes shaped her early relationship to wuxia despite language and cultural distance.
