The Legend of Mando part 2: the Way of Jianghu
In the first of this two-parter, I’ve explored how Din Djarin is the very model of a Xia, and how his quests mirror so many wuxia tales, but there’s much more to the series, and the universe of Star Wars that aligns with the Chinese genre.
Posted in Articles and tagged Chinese, fantasy, fiction, film, novel, Star Wars, The Mandalorian, Wuxia
A New Era of Wuxia: the Female Writers
The global popularity of Chinese historical fantasy has brought forward a new era of female writers. How did this revolution start?
Posted in Articles and tagged books, chinese drama, fantasy, female writers, literature, martial arts, novels, SFF, TV, Wuxia, Xianxia
Mesmerising Mythical Mayhem: Jentry Chau V.s The Underworld Part 1
There have been a slew of fantastic YA animation projects recently that have captured fan’s hearts, such as She-Ra, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts and The Owl House, all of which I have loved, but none of them grabbed me by the face, and screamed at me “this has been made for you”, in the way that Jentry Chau vs the Underworld did. My excitement for the project was lit the moment I saw the announcement images and teasers, and I began to talk about it on social media, but duties and deadlines actually stopped me from sitting down and watching the show until Spring Festival. I was blown away, and consumed the whole thing in a couple of days. Like any rich banquet devoured so greedily, I knew I would have to sit and digest it before being able to convey how much I enjoyed it.
Posted in Articles and tagged Chinese, demons, Emmy's, fantasy, ghosts, horror, Jentry Chau, mythology, Netflix, occult, SFF, spirits, TV, underworld, YA
On Chinese Senses of Horror (British Fantasy Society Guest Blog)
When I put the words, “Chinese” and “Horror” together, what do you think of? Those long robed and confusingly named hopping vampires? 18th century tales of beautiful female ghosts? Or the latest tirade in the popular press regarding China’s alleged nefarious intentions? Chinese horror as a subgenre of literature is very much underexplored, and as a collector of contemporary strange tales, and a writer of China’s cultures, I am on a mission to encourage the reading, enjoyment and development of this fascinating regional genre. One of the first conditions, where I must ask readers to do some work, is to set aside your preconceptions about the nature of horror fiction, and consider, what is the Chinese Sense of Horror? Read the rest of the article here
Posted in Articles and tagged books, fantasy, fiction, horror, literature, SFF
The Untamed: Why Here? Why Now?
Though I have very much appreciated The Untamed and Modao Zushi, and have written about both the works, and the phenomena of their success, I have generally avoided being drawn into the fandoms, (though there’s nothing wrong with enthusiastic love for a show) or dampening any gushiness with my cultural critique. However, I knew that I would invariably be talking about it professionally at some point, as I ended up doing on a panel discussing the show at 2021’s Eastercon, ConFusion2021, along with two enthusiastic fanfic writers, and a moderator who turned out far more interested in joining in the discussion than facilitating it.
Posted in Events and tagged C Drama, china, Chinese, culture, Daoism, fantasy, idol drama, MDZS, MXTX, SFF, society, The Untamed, TV, Xianxia, xiuzhen, xuanhuan
Big Fish and Small Gods
As a public speaker who saw the oncoming wave of Chinese animation in the early 2000s, and who spent the last decade promoting these to West, it was my absolute joy to introduce Big Fish & Begonia this spring to the general public at various venues in London for the cinema release. Summer brings the home media release, set for the 9th of July, which coincides with the UK publication of my new book From Kuan Yin to Chairman Mao: An Essential Guide to Chinese Deities. Many of the beings I have written about are also featured in this 21st-century animation, and one of the reasons I have written the book is to demonstrate the contemporary relevance of these deities. In this article, I take a look at their origins and their reinterpretation in the film.
Posted in Articles and tagged animation, Big Fish & Begonia, china, Chinese, culture, Daoism, deities, fantasy, pop culture
Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal: the Adolescence of Contemporary Chinese Fantasy Cinema
The Chinese Lunar calendar doesn’t always match up with ours, and our festivals hardly ever overlap. Whilst the West gets all its gruesome ghosts and ghouls taking centre stage at the end of October, the biggest festival of the dead in China takes place half way through the seventh lunar month. This friday saw the end of Zhong Yuan (or Ghost Month https://snowpavilion.co.uk/zhong-yuan-ghost-month/), and to celebrate, here’s a review of 2015’s big fantasy monster movie, released internationally (but not in the UK yet) in August.
Posted in Articles and tagged Attack on Titan, Bingbing Li, china, Chinese, cinema, culture, demon, demon slayer, DevilMan, fantasy, film, Frozen, Ghost Month, horror, Kun Chen, Labyrinth, Lord of the Rings, monster, Peter Pau, Shaw Brothers, Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, Tsui Hark, Wuxia, Zhang Ji Zhong, Zhong Kui, Zhong Yuan
How SFF Is Changing
I have always maintained that diverse writers must be included in the main discourse of subject matters, rather than seconded into special interest groups, thus making them feel like oddities, rather than fully part of the community. It was with this in mind that I was so pleased to be invited to FanfiAddict’s author livestream on How SFF is Changing, which put me on a panel with a wonderful selection of authors from very different backgrounds, all writing about and working in different styles, content and traditions. There were a few points in the discussion I did not get to address at the time, or may not have been concise on, and thought I would take the opportunity to expand on them here.
Posted in Events and tagged Asian, china, commentary, diversity, fantasy, fiction, literature, livestream, mythology, representation, SFF