Wuxia - Chinese dramas

Nov 24, 2021
Wuxia - Chinese dramas
First semester in college, a roommate introduced me to anime. I got hooked. The college's internet had a strict web filter, but I found one site to download anime from. They would have a different series each month for free download. When I discovered it, the monthly special was a shoujo anime. The next month was a series called Return of Condor Heroes. I had no idea what anime that was. I was imagining something like Gundam. Turned out to not be an anime at all. I was disappointed. It was a live-action Chinese drama. I watched the first episode anyway. It was like nothing I had seen before. It was weird. It was kinda cool. It took place in an ancient, fantasy Chinese setting of martial arts. I didn't know it at the time, but the genre is called "wuxia". These martial arts were not the realistic kind. They were a mix of, basically, magic. People could run through the air (lightness skill). They could poke or tap pressure points to incapacitate humans. They had weapons like paper fans, silk cloth, and needles, in addition to swords. There were poison and antidotes. Action, adventure, political drama, romance. The CG wasn't the best. Neither was all the acting. The names were confusing, there were so many characters, and the subtitles were translated awkwardly. The series was very long (50 episodes at about 45min each). But I fell in love with it. My dorm room changed, and my new roommate who saw what I was watching thought it was so wacky.
12 years later, and I still occasionally watch these kinds of shows. Now, I'm watching Princess Agents. It starts off with slave girls being hunted for sport by some royal nobles. Some of the other nobles don't like it, and try to defend the girls from released wolves. One girl survives due to her own skills and the secret help from one of the men. She lost her memory of her past due to a close death encounter. She ends up serving in one of the houses, advances rank, and becomes a spy for the master who had initially saved her life.