Discussion Weird quarks of Chinese novels

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Buffelephant, Jun 8, 2016.

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  1. Buffelephant

    Buffelephant Well-Known Member

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    Just wanted to post some of the quarks I noticed in some of the xianxia, wuxia, or other types of Chinese novels. These aren't necessarily bad qualities or good qualities. They are simply a way of storytelling that is different from English novels. I just noticed these and wanted to see what others have noticed.


    For example:


    1. The main character will enter into a state of cultivation for a series of years, enter a teleportation circle, or hide away in a city. When that happens the next paragraph might sound something similar to this. Far away in the mountains a youth with white hair exited from an immortal cave. He has a scar and wears a red robe. Of course he is Mc hero, the person we just described last paragraph entering that cave. If the character wasn't in the story for a few years and we get a discription, then a name, it would seem normal. But some Chinese novels like to discribe the mc, say it's the mc, like it was a surprise. Ex. Xian Xi chapter 209 after teleporting.

    2. Killing everyone in a sect because it prevents retaliation. While it makes sense to get rid of all your enemies before they are strong enough to kill you. The Mc doesn't really stop all retaliation. Those people in a clan/sect/family all have friends, bosses, and family that should retaliate. They aren't all in the city he just butchered. So it's weird how xianxia and wuxia completely ignore this for some novels. Ex. Martial God Asura

    These are just a few. I'll post more when I see them, you guys should post the things you notice.
     
  2. omegazx

    omegazx The Magic Mech Knight

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    How about the MC looking into a recent victim's bag of holding only to discover a treasure that should have been beyond what the guy should have?
     
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  3. babbo3d

    babbo3d Well-Known Member

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    on that note isn't weirder when they find a godly treasure from a area that everyone passes by, but apparently no one notices it.
     
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  4. negritis

    negritis The Mathematician

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    Yeah. Everybody is poor except the mc and the guys he rob :)
     
  5. pentadrian

    pentadrian Wandering donut

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    When I read weird quarks I was like, shit man, Chinese literature is incorporating advanced quantum theory these days lol
     
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  6. Dragn555

    Dragn555 Writer of Unnecessary Essays

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    I find it weird that there is next to no good people in xianxia. You'd think that there would be some chill guy that offers you a drink, but nope, that drink is probably poisoned. Not to mention the elders that act like children or upset teenagers. I know that the cultivation world sucks, but everybody being an asshole has always bothered me.

    The MC can also randomly slaughter a bunch of innocents and still be considered a saint.
     
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  7. Buffelephant

    Buffelephant Well-Known Member

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    This is seen perfectly with the lotus sword technique in I Shall Seal the Heavens.


    I also noticed that everyone has a desciple, no matter what level of strength, beside the mc for most wuxia. A foundation establish teaches qi level. Core instructors teach foundation in larger sects. But the soul severing immortal mc never had a disciple.
     
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  8. Marvin

    Marvin The Man who realize love

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    Almost all people in higher position have a bad personality...... god and devil world
    Makes you think chinese government have a thrash behavior
     
  9. pentadrian

    pentadrian Wandering donut

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    MC be all "Disciples? Ayy lmao"
     
  10. Buffelephant

    Buffelephant Well-Known Member

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    4. Random and brief time skips or future telling for inconsequential characters. Even 700 years later when he became an immortal God he still remembered the pebble the mc gave him that day. Ex Xian Xi ch207
     
  11. omegazx

    omegazx The Magic Mech Knight

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    How about anger induced blood vomiting? I mean I'm pretty sure it's possible in real life but it feels like every little insult makes people vomit blood in CN.
     
  12. rdawv

    rdawv The Ancient of Lore

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    The MC is 'forced' to sleep with the girl in order to save her life.
     
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  13. Demonic Reader lv 451F

    Demonic Reader lv 451F 蝶醒, 梦未.

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    In almost every wuxia/xianxia - the more ancient Martial Art, the greater power.
    No MC ever create something grand until the very end of the book.

    In the tomb where great treasures exist, no one know who laid there.
    Most frustated is : how this great Master built that country-size tomb? Who designed it? Where's the layman?
     
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2016
  14. Buffelephant

    Buffelephant Well-Known Member

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    Good point. Tombs out of no where that are country sized. And that master whose tomb is so large tends to be a weak character later on in the novel. Like only Saint, which seems powerful at the beginning but the mc turns into a god by the novels end and still uses that saints relic. Ex MGA has tons of tombs for the mc to explore.
     
  15. damancy

    damancy Well-Known Member

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    Naming formula : Bring X to Y world
     
  16. Nimroth

    Nimroth Someone

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    Everyone seem so crazy to reach the peak of power they forget to even think of ways to spend their unlimited time or enjoy themselves.
    Not to mention that society seem so underdeveloped despite hundreds of billions of people and wide spread magic powers...
     
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  17. Demonic Reader lv 451F

    Demonic Reader lv 451F 蝶醒, 梦未.

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    Oh, how I forget all that great school tournaments!

    Also the famous cough and blood spitting !!
    No matter what injury, no matter what character, once they fought, they coughed, the spitted blood! Even the right middle toe skin was lacerated by fruit cutting knife, they-cough-blood!
     
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2016
  18. aattss

    aattss Well-Known Member

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    One odd thing that I've noticed is that Chinese webnovels will have all the corrupt officials, martial arts, and protagonist getting power through personal power and living a life of luxury and such. Even when the novel takes place in China and seems to be pro-Chinese, because last time I checked the Chinese government is communist, doesn't like when people talk smack about it or point out its flaws, and while it's been a while since AP World History, I just read something the other day about Falun Gong, a practice about thruthfulness, compassion, forbearance, virtue, morality, which was persecuted by the government through propaganda and human rights abuse starting from 1999.

    Another quirk is that the protagonist in Xianxia is never OP. Like, we're told about how he's a supreme expert in his past life, or even currently has a high cultivation, but then he's always running away being weak like any other Xianxia protag. And we're told that he'd rising in cultivation levels quickly, but he always runs into people who are younger and have higher cultivation levels. If I remember correctly, the last things I read to subvert this was Emperyon Overlord, and a webnovel that wasn't translated called Omnyodo Outsider Tour or something where the protagonist actually had his memories since birth, and thus had years to cultivate to his previous levels, meaning we didn't have to deal with the "tension" of always facing and having to surpass other child geniuses because he was actually OP, and we didn't need to keep track of cultivation levels because we always knew the protag was several states higher than the strongest person at the tournament including the kings who were watching.
     
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