From John Woo’s Red Cliff to Donnie Yen in 14 Blades and The Lost Bladesman, how wuxia film tropes infuse 21st century Chinese blockbusters

To show a new face to the world, China in the 21st century embraced the wuxia film genre Nationalist and Communist governments had previously banned as backward

In blockbusters such as 14 Blades, Red Cliff and The Lost Bladesman, Donnie Yen and John Woo used wuxia film tropes while giving them a modern sheen

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Donnie Yen in a still from 14 Blades. The big-budget Chinese movie, and others such as The Lost Bladesman and John Woo’s Red Cliff, updated wuxia films for the 21st century.

Published: 6:15am, 23 Jan 2022

Wuxia films didn’t disappear at the start of the 21st century – the genre simply became subsumed into the big-budget “Chinese blockbusters” (daipan) which were then often co-productions between Hong Kong and mainland China.

As Stephen Teo points out in his book Chinese Martial Arts, although wuxia films were banned in China from 1933 to the 1980s – successive governments thought their traditionalist viewpoints sent the wrong message about modernisation – there was a change of tack in the 2000s.

Because of their easily accessible portrayals of Chinese history and culture, wuxia films were rehabilitated and used to promote the new “Brand China” to the world.

Below we look at how three daipan reflect the traditions of wuxia films.

14 Blades (2010)

Hong Kong director Daniel Lee Yan-kong is a big fan of classic Shaw Brothers wuxia films, and it shows. 14 Blades, which stars Donnie Yen Ji-dan, is a typical wuxia film elevated by the high-class special effects and lush production values that a big budget brings.