my-otp-list

Hi Rio, Wuxia and Xianxia are two slightly different genres. Wuxia means the work (it can be a novel/movie/drama/comic etc) focuses on martial arts, occasionally with elements of low fantasy. Characters in Wuxia are martial artists who yield cold weapons (swords, sabers, spears etc) or they also can fight bare-handed, and the background of an Wuxia story is usually “jianghu” (a lawless society where martial artists wander around and fight on a daily basis lol). Very often, the most important thing to look out for (beside the plot) when watching an Wuxia drama is the fight scenes and action sequences.

On the other hand, Xianxia, while also consists of a bit of martial arts, often focuses on immortals/fairies and high fantasy elements like magic, spells, magical weapons, talismans, monsters, gods and demons etc. Characters in Xianxia are usually heavenly immortals who have lived for (tens of) thousands of years or a mortal man who is trying to become an immortal through cultivation. The background of a Xianxia story is usually the three realms (Heavens, Mortal Realm, Underworld). Unlike Wuxia, the most important thing to look out for when watching a Xianxia drama is often the CGI/special effects.

Note that Xianxia might sometimes be mistaken for Xuanhuan (literally means fantasy), since both these genres contain fantasy elements. The biggest difference is that a Xianxia work must have something to do with "xian" - which means immortal/fairy.

I hope this helps!