The wuxia novel is a Chinese novel genre, which features martial arts heroes, i.e. swordsmen and those related to them, with the plot dedicating to the intricate relationships of honor, loyalty, love and hatred between individuals in the world of martial arts. There's usually a thread of martial arts practice and demonstration running through the plot.

In most cases, wuxia novels are set in ancient China. And these novels have their unique cultural background with martial arts at the core, involving ancient Chinese medicine, Buddhism, Taoism, Yishu (the art of living with changes) and various types of occultism etc. So, the concepts of values held by the characters in wuxia novels as well as the main spirit of the whole work are based on the basic ideas of martial arts.

"Martial arts" means "to stop fighting" in ancient Chinese, in other words, to end conflicts with force. This means that the aim of martial arts practicing is to stop oppressing the weak by sheer strength. Guided by this thought, wuxia novels are created in a way that justice and evil are clear and definite.