Wuxia as SF?! Yes!

Recently, in my gaming group, there was a brief discussion about whether or not wuxia was fantasy.

To wit, the discussion went something like this:

Me: "Is wuxia really fantasy?"

Everybody Else: "YES!", with the subtext of "Obviously, dumbass!"

Granted, there were a few more comments than that, and they were more tactful, but you get the gist.

I, however, remained ... not unconvinced, but not completely convinced, either.

For my part, I originally conceived of wuxia more along the lines of pulp fiction rather than strictly fantasy, or any other genre. Thus, a mish-mash blend of history, occult, and ass-kickery. Moreover, as I understand it, a lot of the popular wuxia tales were actually Chinese pulp fiction written in the early 1900s.

Wuxia seemed to me a lot closer to the Shadow than to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Harry Potter, or Conan, though it might be more closely compared the exploits of Cuchulain or Beowulf, in the sense of bad-ass warrior heroics. Then again, the knights errant style of wuxia also pushed it a bit closer to King Arthur in my mind. Wuxia also has a bit in common with the Spaghetti Western, sharing some elements (outsider comes to town, restores order, leaves town) with Kurosawa's films, said films having influenced Spaghetti Westerns in the first place.

Ultimately, though, I thought that wuxia had a different flavor than the Western notion of "fantasy"; moroever, this difference seemed to me to go beyond merely cultural differences. Wuxia, I thought, is its own thing.

Then ...

G.M. Skarka, RPG designer, mentions the following when discussing his current project, Far West:

"I wanted some element of the fantastic -- the wuxia tales feature high-flying kung fu, but seldom do the tales involve "magic", as fantasy fans would define it. The majority of 'magical' elements in wuxia stories are secret knowledge -- alchemy, hidden techniques, etc. Far-fetched, to be sure, but within the realm of "science", as it was understood. Given the 19th-century vibe of the western, the best analog to that would be steampunk. Far-fetched, but within the realm of "science", rather than the truly magical."

Now that actually sounds like a reasonable conception of wuxia. Moreso, I think, than the "fantasy" label. Not so much magic, but secret knowledge and techniques. Granted, it doesn't match our conception of SF in the modern era, but it does seem to relate to Chinese history in the same way Frankenstein or the works of Jules Verne or Steampunk relate to Victorian history. It's also science fictional in the same way as the prana-bindu fighting arts of the Bene Gesserit in the Dune novels. (And yes, I do know that wuxia predates Dune.)

Wuxia as SF--a very interesting idea. I kinda' like it.