This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with the Los Angeles–based film producer Peter Shiao about his vision of bringing wuxia 武侠 — a genre that tells stories of chivalrous martial artists with supernatural abilities — to global audiences through comics, graphic novels, and films. The son of renowned martial arts novelist Shiao Yi (蕭逸 Xiāo Yì), who passed away in 2018, Peter wants to create a wuxia storyverse that will be to Chinese martial arts literature what the Marvel Comics Universe has been to the superhero genre. Read more about Peter’s Immortal Studios at https://www.immortal-studios.com/.
8:34: Bringing wuxia to mainstream audiences
12:27: Wuxia as a contribution to global pop culture
18:11: Chronicles of the Immortal Swordsmen
28:30: Regional differences in wuxia writing and appeal
Recommendations:
Peter: Visit Immortal Studios’ website here, and consider supporting the studio.
Kaiser: The 1997 TV miniseries Ivanhoe, featuring the late, great Christopher Lee, who plays the head of the Knights Templar.
