It all started with a man, his toilet, and an idea. Zhang Sichuan, a 1920's film director, quickly rushes to the bathroom before his stomach explodes. He brought with him one of his son’s novels to read because he knew it might take a while. Zhang was so intrigued by the story that he came up with the idea of putting written words into film. And so the genre of swordplay was born. Well maybe it didn’t exactly happen this way, but it sure is fun to think so. Fun, to me, is the exact word to describe this genre. From the first swordplay film to the current releases this genre has consistently amazed audiences with its special effects, choreographed fight scenes, and melodramatic stories. In this text, I give a brief history of the Chinese swordplay genre and how it has evolved through the years along with some of its more notable stars. I also substitute the more accurate word for this genre "wuxia" in place of the word "swordplay."

     The wuxia genre is actually a sub-genre to the American action/adventure film. US movies were imported by China in the early 1900's. Not until the 1920's the Chinese studios create their own films. Producers intelligently adapted stories from popular Chinese literature to their scripts because there was already an audience for it. Chinese viewers also grew tired of Hollywood’s inaccurate portrayals of their culture and society. They wanted something they could call their own and that would represent the Chinese culture correctly. The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple, a silent film about the rescue of a commander held captive in a temple full of traps, was released in 1928. The director, Zhang Sichuan, adapted the film from the novel The Tale of the Extraordinary Swordsman. The movie sold out for 23 days straight. Its initial success lead to more productions of wuxia films including 18 sequels. But wuxia never became a solid genre due to the Chinese government’s bans on films that they thought harmed the mentality of its audience. At the early stages of the genre the Chinese government minimized their participation in the creation of movie scripts. They were more worried about a Japanese invasion than supervising film studios. The government gave the studios considerable freedom about the production of wuxia films. But as popular literature evolved, so did films. What once were stories purely for entertainment and escape became stories that criticized government ideology and the strive for personal freedom. In order for the country of China to grow and not fall behind the US and other progressive nations the Nationalist government and Communist party of China concerned themselves with stability and control. They sided with ideas like the advancement of science and technology. On the other hand Chinese citizens, mainly those of lower class, found it difficult to adjust to modernization. Citizens blamed Confucianism on their inability to move forward. If authors and producers wanted to keep their audience, they had to create stories that would appeal to the people. The newly evolved wuxia stories made it seem ok for ordinary people to criticize a form of government they disagreed with. The Chinese Nationalists and Communists were outraged and began to label the wuxia genre as unprogressive. Politicians also disliked the competition between the studios and themselves about who were the authentic representatives of China and its history, but stopping the production of wuxia films would only increase the public’s negative attitude toward their government. Ironically, the Chinese government found a way to get rid of wuxia through the Japanese hostility. Japanese aggression in Manchuria and the Shanghai bombing created a patriotic and nationalistic mood among Chinese people. Politicians urged the public to unify under their government and back them in their decisions in order to get through their ordeals. Interest in wuxia flicks started to wane. This made it easier for the Chinese government and the National Film Censorship Committee to put a ban films that they felt threatened political unity and contained superstition and religious subjects. Many of the wuxia films that were made around the 1920's and 1930's were lost due to the ban.

     Though the Chinese government banned all wuxia movies, the genre’s film conventions helped it to avoid disappearing in theaters forever. There was something about the world of wuxia that appealed to the common person.

     The heroes and heroines of a wuxia film are called xia. Unlike action films in the US women warriors were central characters in these films. Translated into english the word xia meant knight-errant. They are wanderers in search of adventure living on a set of morals apart from society. The xia believed in honor and justice, not personal gain. While the Chinese lower class saw the xia as heroes, elitists viewed them as rebels who only cared about their physical abilities and disregarded family values and education. Elitists felt threatened by xia’s because they were often the cause of the xia’s anger.

     The theme of "good triumphs over evil, but with a price" remained consistent through the history of wuxia films. Plots often consisted of a struggle between social loyalty and personal desire. The hero wants to live the rest of his days with the woman he loves, but vengeance for past wrongs hinders him from ever committing. The wuxia story almost always ends in a tragic death.

     All wuxia films, past and present, take place in ancient and mythical China, during the feudalistic time period. Films were adapted mostly from the stories written during the Tang dynasty around ninth century AD. Directors and producers made heavy use of beautiful landscapes to try and establish a certain mood during a scene.

     The success of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon gave the world a taste of what the Chinese have been enjoying since 1928. Although still not mainstream wuxia type films are finding their way into different countries. In 2001 Brotherhood of the Wolf, directed by Christophe Gans, was released in French theaters. Its fight scenes and cinematography resembled many of the past wuxia movies.

     Right now wuxia films aren’t being mass produced. A new one comes out maybe once every two years. The wuxia genre have stepped aside to the romantic comedies that are becoming more popular amongst the Chinese teenagers. But I wouldn’t say this genre is dead. Wuxia films never really die. It is always lingering around. Once people get tired of the current popular genre, they always have wuxia to fall back on.