Wuxia, which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of historical fantasy literature, its popularity has caused it to be adapted for such diverse art forms as Chinese opera, manhua, television dramas, films, and video games. It forms part of popular culture in many Chinese-speaking communities around the world. According to Hong Kong film director, producer, and movie writer Ronny Yu, wuxia movies are not to be confused with martial arts movies.
The Taiping Guangji, sometimes translated as the Extensive Records of the Taiping Era, or Extensive Records of the Taiping Xinguo Period, is a collection of stories compiled in the early Song dynasty. The work was completed in 978, and printing blocks were cut, but it was prevented from publication on the grounds that it contained only xiaoshuo and thus "was of no use to young students." It survived in manuscript until it was published in the Ming dynasty. It is considered one of the Four Great Books of Song (宋四大書). The title refers to the Taiping Xinguo era, the first years of the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song.
The Empire of China was a short-lived attempt by Chinese president Yuan Shikai from late 1915 to early 1916 to reinstate the monarchy in China, with himself as emperor. The attempt ultimately failed, set back the Chinese republican cause by several years, and fractured China into a period of conflict between various local warlords.
The Governor of Nanke is a Tang dynasty Chinese chuanqi by Li Gongzuo, set in the year 794. It is the basis for the similar Japanese tale The Dream of Akinosuke.
Lady Wu: The First Empress, also known as The Great Empress or Empress Wu Meiniang, is a 2003 Chinese television series based on the biography of Wu Zetian, the only woman in Chinese history to assume the title of Empress Regnant. The series was first broadcast on CTS in Taiwan in 2003 under the Chinese title 武媚娘傳奇.
The Biography of Ying-ying, also translated as The Story of Yingying, by Yuan Zhen, is a Tang dynasty chuanqi tale. It tells the story of a relationship conflicted between love and duty between a 16-year-old girl and a 21-year-old student. It is considered to be one of the most well-known works of fiction in Chinese literature.
Jiandeng Xinhua is an early Ming dynasty collection of Chinese stories by Qu You (瞿佑). The book consist of 21 stories in 4 volumes. It was succeeded by a second book Jiandeng Xinhua wai er zhong.
A huaben is a Chinese short- or medium-length story or novella written mostly in vernacular language, sometimes including simple classical language. In contrast to the full-length Chinese novel, it is generally not divided into chapters and recounts a limited number of characters or events. The earliest huaben are reported in the 12th century during the Song dynasty, but the genre did not flourish until the late Ming dynasty, and after the mid-17th century did not produce works of originality. In the development of Chinese fiction, the huaben are heirs of the bianwen and chuanqi of the Tang dynasty, and are the predecessors of the stories and full-length novels of the Ming.
Gods and demons fiction or Shenmo fiction is a subgenre of Chinese fantasy fiction that revolves around the deities, immortals, demons and monsters of Chinese mythology. The term shenmo xiaoshuo, coined in the early 20th century by the writer and literary historian Lu Xun, literally means "gods and demons novel". Classical works of shenmo fiction include the novels Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods.
Caizi jiaren is a genre of Chinese fiction typically involving a romance between a young scholar and a beautiful girl. They were highly popular during the late Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty.
Bai Xingjian was a Chinese novelist, poet, and short story writer. He was a younger brother of the famed poet Bai Juyi.
Haoqiu zhuan, also known as Hau Kiou Chuaan, is a Chinese caizi jiaren novel published in the 17th-century. The author is known only under the name "Man of the Teaching of Names". The identity of the author and exact date of publishing are not known. Caizi jiaren fictional works published at that time in the Qing Dynasty typically were under a pseudonym.
The Tale of Li Wa is a short novella by Chinese writer Bai Xingjian during the Tang dynasty.
Zhiguai xiaoshuo, translated as "tales of the miraculous", "tales of the strange", or "records of anomalies", is a type of Chinese literature which appeared in the Han dynasty and developed after the fall of the dynasty in 220 CE and in the Tang dynasty in 618 CE. They were among the first examples of Chinese fiction and deal with the existence of the supernatural, rebirth and reincarnation, gods, ghosts, and spirits.
A Brief History of Chinese Fiction is a book written by Lu Xun as a survey of traditional Chinese fiction. It was first published in Chinese in 1930, translated into Japanese, Korean, German, and then into English in 1959 by Gladys Yang and Yang Xianyi. It was the first survey of Chinese fiction to be published in China, and has been influential in shaping later scholarship.
Fin-de-Siècle Splendor: Repressed Modernities of Late Qing Fiction, 1848-1911 is a 1997 non-fiction book by David Der-Wei Wang, published by Stanford University Press. David Wang's thesis is that modernity was already beginning to appear in fiction published in the late Qing Dynasty of China, defined by Wang as beginning in 1849, around the start of the Taiping rebellion, rather than only appearing after the Qing Dynasty concluded in 1912. This is the first English-language full-length book written by a single author that surveyed late Qing Dynasty fiction.
You Xian Ku is a famous Chinese story from the "Legends of the Tang Dynasty" (唐人傳奇), written by Zhang Zhuo (張鷟).
"Hongxian" is a Chinese short story dating back to the Tang dynasty, believed to have been written by either Yuan Jiao (袁郊) or Yang Juyuan (杨巨源). "Hongxian" revolves around a general's maid who strikes fear into the heart of a rival general by infiltrating his bedroom and stealing a golden box.
Ruyijun zhuan (如意君傳), translated into English as The Lord of Perfect Satisfaction, is a Chinese erotic novella written in the Ming dynasty by an unknown author. Set in the Tang dynasty, it follows the political career and love life of Empress Wu Zetian. One of the earliest erotic novels published in China, it was repeatedly banned after its publication.
Huo Xiaoyu zhuan, also translated as The Story of Huo Xiaoyu or The Tale of Huo Xiaoyu, is a chuanqi tale written by Jiang Fang during the Tang dynasty.
