Question Origin of Cultivation Novels

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Glib, Dec 23, 2018.

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  1. Glib

    Glib Well-Known Member

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    I am curious as to where Chinese authors got their ideas. As far as I know, mostly came from Daoism. Actually, I'm not sure because I don't know much about it, aside from that it is a religion. To narrow down these thoughts, I am particularly curious where the inspiration of Qi and Sects (pretty obvious how the two came about but ill include it anyway), Flying Swords, Sword Pill, Cultivation Manuals, Sowing Karma, seeking Immortality, so many to mention... what is their very origin?

    help me fellow nuf-ians. Recommend sites where I can read them or a dedicated discussion/page is very much appreciated (of you'd like to make one, id be happy to subscribe).

    Sincerely,
    Glib o' tongue
     
  2. CharLok

    CharLok Well-Known Member

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    Probably religion and ancient myths.
    There’s lots of myths including pills that make you immortal, martial techniques, God’s, immortals, jade emperor etc,
    Karma and the such is very interrelated with religion as well.
     
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  3. Mount Tai Unleashed

    Mount Tai Unleashed This one has tai but can't see mount eyes

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    Even I the eternal heavenly saint do not know, only the one known as the google sage might.
     
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  4. EvilDevil

    EvilDevil Guardian Devil

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    The past!
    The ancient history!
    It's all real ppl, at least when there was plenty of Spiritual Qi in the realm before the industrial era!!


    #personalOpinion
     
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  5. CharLok

    CharLok Well-Known Member

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    For example there’s a myth about a man that shot down 6 of 7 suns, then was gifted a pill of immortality, but he abused his wife, his wife stole the pill and ate it, became immortal and raised to heaven, but the jade emperor punished her since the 7 suns were actually his children, and made her live in a stone palace on th moon for eternity in solitude.
     
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  6. Eques

    Eques Translation machine (not)

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    This is like asking where Western fantasy writers get their ideas - from folklore, myths, fairytales, also other books. Perhaps you could read, idk, Jin Yong's novels?
    Xianxia novel
     
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  7. Fluffy Jellyfish

    Fluffy Jellyfish 『Number 1 Lolicon under Heaven』

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    I grow up watching "Journey to the West" with Andy Lau as the actor of Wukong.
    also watching the adaptation of classic trilogy of Jin Yong and Gu long.

    Jin Yong novels seems emphasized in flashy moves or technique (Xianxia nowadays)
    Gu Long novels seems emphasized in one turn kill move.
    Seems like the trend in the past (1940-1980) is Wuxia though

    I'm also curious about Xianxia origin :cookie:
     
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  8. grish99

    grish99 [Pelican Hater] [Hater of Face-Slapping]

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    myth and legends same stuff that greeks,norse and egiptians did.
    people all over the world follow the same pattern.
    you saw something that you cant explain-you ponder why its happend-you dont have technology to answear why its happend=FANTASY!
     
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  9. Expatamoeba

    Expatamoeba Have eyes but still couldn't see Mount Tai

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    Eastern people also have their own folklore, myth and fairytale. Just like your prince arthur and Excalibur tale.
     
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  10. flannan

    flannan Well-Known Member

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    The trick is, we can connect much of modern western fantasy with one man. J.R.R. Tolkien. Because he took myths and fairy tales, he took pulp stories, and assembled then into what we now recognize as "fantasy".
    Are there any comparable influences in Chinese cultivation novels?
     
  11. tides

    tides Well-Known Member

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    that is a mix of two-three ancient folk tales.
    the man who shot down the sun is hou yi, and his oldest origin has nothing to do with chang'e, who is the maiden on the moon.

    later however, chang'e became his wife, but this iteration has some problems, because there is no reason for him to shoot down the suns in this version.

    as for chang'e, she has always been the fairy on the moon.
    she has many origin stories, and the most popular is that she was the wife of qin shi huang, who is obsessed with immortality. he killed many children and finally made an elixir of immortality, but chang'e ate it instead because she didn't want him to become immortal and she ascend into the moon.

    somewhere along the lines, hou yi, chang'e and the story of her being qin shi huang was made into a love triangle.

    i dont recall any legends of hou yi being a wife abuser tho....you probably read DE and got all of the folk tales messed up
     
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  12. tides

    tides Well-Known Member

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    xianxia is really a subgenre of wuxia, with many elements of taoism in it.

    cultivation realms stem from the creativity of authors. qi is primary from wuxia. sects,pills also also from wuxia, but many of these sects are also reflects of how life was like in ancient china, where temples,martial schools and rebels/bandits were very united.

    karma is a Buddhism and is very prominent in wuxia -> xianxia

    alot of authors are influenced by jin yong. gu long was very popular in several parts as well.
    liang yu sheng is also another author who helped shaped xianxia. he wrote mainly about yaos.
    in cn, demon and yaos are different.
    demons are like, from hell with horns and shit, while yao are like animals who can take human forms. like a big snake,fox ...ect

    anyay u can kinda trace almost everything in xianxia back to these 3 people aside from cultivation realms
     
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  13. AKIKAN

    AKIKAN The Dicktator

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    I thought Houyi shooting 9 Suns myth is from Zhou Dynasty, after they replaced Shang Dynasty. So the moon maiden should be younger than Houyi's myth.
     
  14. tides

    tides Well-Known Member

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    there are so many variations of hou yi's legends that nobody really know which one is the correct one anymore.
    like you said, the majority of legends that have chang'e in them, are much more recent than hou yi and the one where chang'e is his wife should be false because he has no reason to shoot down the suns in this legend!

    some of the legends i know are that the 10 suns are just there, and the world was a wasteland, so the gods asked him to shoot it down.
    another legend is that the 10 suns dehydrated & killed his wife so he shot down the suns
    another legend is that the 10 suns are all children of the gods

    one thing about these chinese folklore is that they are all so old that are there none of them are accurate anymore.
    imho, they are just stories that people told their children.
    many of these characters in chinese folklore are not deities or gods with the exception being chang'e

    alot of chinese authors like to use these famous characters in their stories because it makes it feel relatable.
    it also makes their writing much more contempory. jin yong for example, set his novels in historical eras, where the emperors, ministers are all real people and so on and this practice has carried on since then.
     
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  15. CharLok

    CharLok Well-Known Member

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    Eehhh, I learn to it from my chinese teacher, I’m a chinese kid so I generally learn about folk lores from the word of mouth, the one I learnt was the one written in my chinese text book though.
    It may had been a different version of it that had been altered by a writer.
    Or some obscure, origin story that doesn’t come up much.
     
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