When Singaporean Tong Weiqiang watched Hong Kong wuxia dramas more than 10 years ago, he was greatly impressed. He then pioneered a local movement to support hanfu, or traditional Chinese clothes, and started the Han Cultural Society of Singapore in 2012 to attract more fans. "Many people in our cultural society first learned about hanfu from these Chinese wuxia dramas," he told China Daily.
In recent years, with the increased popularity of Chinese culture through dramas and online literature, wuxia-related content has started to regain popularity with viewers all over the world, including those in Southeast Asia, According to China Daily, Wuxiaworld, a web novel site started by Chinese-American Lai Jingping in 2014, attracts millions of page views per day from users in more than 100 countries.
One reason for its popularity is that wuxia works bring them fresh new experiences. The economies (经济) of many Southeast Asian countries are based on agriculture. As China Daily mentioned, what really interests them is the different lifestyles of wuxia heroes they have never experienced.
New thoughts and ideas in wuxia works also help it go a step further abroad. Unlike traditional wuxia, the modern form of wuxia which has gained popularity in Southeast Asia is a broader idea that includes xianxia and xuanhuan.
But there's one thing that never changes-its core (核心) spirit. Mixing the Chinese characters "wu" and "xia", these works always keep the spirit of the Chinese heroes fighting against social injustice (不公正) and beating bad people, noted the Interact Kungfu website.
"Although wuxia is a special part of Chinese culture, the core spirit of pursuing (追求) freedom and justice is generally accepted by people all over the world," Lily Lee, president of You-Cloud which operates AppGrowing, told China Daily.
