What's the difference between these two?

    It's the power system.

    In wuxia, modern weaponry is still useful, like they're still mortals. So, unless the person is like really close to the power limit of the world, one shot from a gun can do them good. Also, they can't fly.

    In xianxia on the other hand, modern weaponry becomes useless, so much so that even hydrogen bombs won't be able to leave a simple burn on the skin of a dainty looking fairy, heck, even her fairy clothes will remain unblemished. Basically, the world of immortals and fairies.

      Actually, they can "fly" in wuxia movies. In the old Hong Kong movies, particularly, they used wires to make the actors fly through the air while fighting. It's supposed to be qi gong or something like that.

      Here's a succint summary from a fan website:

      Wuxia (武俠 wǔxiá) – literally means “Martial Heroes”. Fictional stories about regular humans who can achieve supernatural fighting ability through Chinese martial arts training and internal energy cultivation. Themes of chivalry, tragedy, revenge & romance are common.

      Xianxia (仙侠 xiānxiá) – literally means “Immortal Heroes”. Fictional stories featuring magic, demons, ghosts, immortals, and a great deal of Chinese folklore/mythology. Protagonists (usually) attempt to cultivate to Immortality, seeking eternal life and the pinnacle of strength. Heavily inspired by Daoism.

      Comparison: If Wuxia is “low fantasy”, then Xianxia is “high fantasy”.

      Here's another one from Wuxiaworld:

      What is wuxia?
      Wuxia is made from two characters; ‘Wu’ and ‘Xia’, which literally mean ‘martial hero’. Wuxia stories are basically martial arts stories, with an essentially ‘real’ world filled with people who do incredible things through martial arts and generating ‘qi’, which allows them to leap long distances across rooftops and skip across water, a la Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon. Asian fans here surely have heard of famous novels/adaptations like the Legend of the Condor Heroes, Return of the Condor Heroes, Swordsman/Smiling Proud Wanderer, Seven Swordsmen (by Tsui Hark), etc. ‘Horizon, Bright Moon, Sabre’, is another example of Wuxia. These are all ‘Wuxia’; novels that are grounded in real-life Chinese martial arts and internal energy cultivation (qigong) techniques that are kicked up to an exaggeratedly awesome level.

      What is xianxia?
      As for Xianxia, the characters forming it are ‘Xian’ and ‘Xia’, which literally means ‘immortal hero’. Xianxia is a newer genre and is essentially a ‘fantasy-fied’ version of Wuxia, with magic, demons, immortals, people who can fly, etc. The biggest contributor to the Xianxia genre is actually not martial arts; rather, it is ‘Taoism’, which is a major part of Chinese history. Taoism is both a philosophical way of life as well as an actual religion. Religious Taoism is often blurred together with Chinese folk mythologies, and is chock-full of stories about demons, ghosts, and people learning how to become immortals through meditation/understanding the ways of heaven, and flying in the air and casting powerful magic spells. The legendary Monkey King, Sun Wukong (whom Son Goku of DBZ is based off of) acquired his power through Taoist practices, and the concept of the Yin-Yang is also from Taoism. Xianxia blends lots of these folk stories and magical Taoist legends into their stories in a way which ‘true’ Wuxia stories almost never do.

        Tomoyuki
        You mean gliding? Cuz, I don't remember any wuxia having a flying character. I mean, otherwise they won't be afraid of falling of a cliff right? Even in xianxia, they mostly use flying weapons like swords.

            SlaveOfTheLord There are in The Celestial Zone, and I think the Bat dude in Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber could fly because of his special qigong.

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