Why are you interested in Chinese fantasy novels?

wangyuxicuhk

Hi, I'm a fan from China and I've read a lot of martial arts/Wuxia novels (written by Jin Yong and Gu Long) since very young. I got to know about Wuxiaworld from weibo (Chinese version of Twitter) and I was surprised that non-Chinese readers are big fans of Chinese martial novels!!! I was really amazed and started reading I Shall Seal the Heavens in English (I haven't read the Chinese version before). 
Now I'm doing research on this website to see the cultural exchange functions of the Chinese fantasy novels and I'm curious about why are you fellow Daoists interested in the novels. Is it because of the world view, the plot, the characters? Which novel on Wuxiaworld is your favorite? And do you feel more interested in Chinese culture or language after reading the novels? (Actually, Harry Potter is an essential motivation for me to learn English.) I would be very grateful to see your sharing. And if you have questions about the Chinese idioms and translation, you can ask me and hope I can help you!!!   

Coco

starkpyre

Well, for me at least it was a breath of fresh air, with how everything is so different from the mangas and books I read, and there was also a sense of satisfaction coming from an mc that isn't necessarily bound by modern morals, which is rather rare to come across elsewhere, as well as the part where the mc doesn't necessarily struggle, in some novels he "struggles", but it's nothing more than building up the story so he can once more awe us and guve us a cheap sense of satisfaction. After a while it got old, but then I found some stories I genuinely like for the character, the world and the plot, and seeing as my time is limited and once I start reading I don't usually stop so it's great for me to have my reading controlled by chapter releases.
To make a long story short: was hooked in by stupid wish fulfilment (such as tdg) and novelty, stayed for good stories.
Hope this helps

wangyuxicuhk

starkpyre said:

Well, for me at least it was a breath of fresh air, with how everything is so different from the mangas and books I read, and there was also a sense of satisfaction coming from an mc that isn't necessarily bound by modern morals, which is rather rare to come across elsewhere, as well as the part where the mc doesn't necessarily struggle, in some novels he "struggles", but it's nothing more than building up the story so he can once more awe us and guve us a cheap sense of satisfaction. After a while it got old, but then I found some stories I genuinely like for the character, the world and the plot, and seeing as my time is limited and once I start reading I don't usually stop so it's great for me to have my reading controlled by chapter releases.
To make a long story short: was hooked in by stupid wish fulfilment (such as tdg) and novelty, stayed for good stories.
Hope this helps

I see. Everyone has to learn to live with stress and this sense of satisfaction is, in fact, very basic need for us. Although stories usually have similar narratives but we need stories in our lives. That's true. And thank you for your comment, it's really helpful! And when you mentioned about manga, is it Japanese manga or mangas like Marvel?

Azureus

It is just satisfying when arrogant young masters get squashed by MCs in xianxia novels. And the cultivation system in xianxia novels is what makes me keep reading more novels.

starkpyre

wangyuxicuhk said:

starkpyre said:

Well, for me at least it was a breath of fresh air, with how everything is so different from the mangas and books I read, and there was also a sense of satisfaction coming from an mc that isn't necessarily bound by modern morals, which is rather rare to come across elsewhere, as well as the part where the mc doesn't necessarily struggle, in some novels he "struggles", but it's nothing more than building up the story so he can once more awe us and guve us a cheap sense of satisfaction. After a while it got old, but then I found some stories I genuinely like for the character, the world and the plot, and seeing as my time is limited and once I start reading I don't usually stop so it's great for me to have my reading controlled by chapter releases.
To make a long story short: was hooked in by stupid wish fulfilment (such as tdg) and novelty, stayed for good stories.
Hope this helps

I see. Everyone has to learn to live with stress and this sense of satisfaction is, in fact, very basic need for us. Although stories usually have similar narratives but we need stories in our lives. That's true. And thank you for your comment, it's really helpful! And when you mentioned about manga, is it Japanese manga or mangas like Marvel?

I'm talking about Japanese/Korean mainly, and I'm rather confidant you can assume people talk about the Japanese variety when calling it manga, otherwise it would probably be called comics
Also happy to help

Tbaism

I got into the novels because I liked some of the tropes, parts of the magic system, and a bit of the concepts that focus on adventuring, discovery, philosophy and pieces of what world building is available.

I don't know if I would say it made me more interested in Chinese culture since considering the genre, it doesn't strike me as being a particularly realistic representation of modern, or even really ancient China, to any significant extent. LOL If it actually were, I think I would have, along with hundreds of millions of others, picked up a firearm and immediately started an war with the nation since frankly, there's some ridiculously stupid and false ideology in these novels. Hitler would have been considered a monk in comparison to a couple of the MCs I have come across. The world view represented is pretty asinine, characters are one dimensional, and there's not really any kind of plot aside from some mc typically rising from nothing in order to achieve a fairly shallow and meaningless goal. I suppose that because there's more negatives than positives in the writing and concepts as a whole, and mainly because it's really the only sub-genre I have focused on, it hasn't broadened my interest as say, how almost instantaneously Japanese manga and anime did for Japanese culture.

I did look up some videos about the Imperial Exams and other stuff, but it was more in line of just trying to figure out what some of the things were that are constantly being talked about such as what a Jade Slip looks like.

Valheran

Quantity has quality of its own. Before landing here I amused myself on Fanfiction.net, still, sometimes there would be wait of many months, or even years, before new update to particular story. Now, sometimes I struggle to read everything I want. One just needs to switch off internal quality/plothole/originality/etc check, and enjoy.

FriedMice

I've been reading fantasy/scifi types stories for most of my life.  When I was younger I read mostly fantasy novels I picked up a flee markets, thrift shops and if I had the money book stores. A few years later when I got on the internet I started reading a lot of manga along with the fantasy novels.  Over time I've gotten sick of most of Western and Japanese stories.  Especially with more recent western stories that always seem to be trying sell a message.  I don't want people to lecture at me.  I'm just looking for entertainment.  Some people talk about wish fulfillment in these stories like it's a bad thing, but really that is all I'm looking for (although stories I like still need to have some logical consistency).  At any rate Chines stories are new, and the people who write them don't seem to be preaching at me, so in recent years they've been the main type of fiction I'm consuming.  As for Chinese culture I'm not sure what from these stories is actual Chinese culture and what is just tropes people like to use in these stories.