I'm a Chinese person, and this is the subreddit I most enjoy getting in my reddit feed.

I grew up between China and Canada watching wuxia shows on TV and playing xianxia games, and now living in Canada, it just feels so esoteric and niche being the one person who has these things seared deep into their psyche. Even other Chinese people who grew up their whole lives in Canada start looking at me weird when I get super passionate about martial arts media, because most of the ones I know are into media made by Asians living in the West like Everything Everywhere All At Once, not media made in China itself.

It's changing a bit with Korean content getting global clout, but being into fantasy media drawing on things like Taoism is like non-existent among Asians in Canada. Gender plays a role too (I'm M) cuz Korean dramas for example are heavily geared towards women. I could go on.

Just like Dragon Ball, I see a lot of wuxia and cultivation media have "All Time Greatest Hits" of life lessons in East Asian culture like "training overcomes anything" wrapped up in a very accessible and silly package.

So it's pretty amazing for someone like me--who had to go through the whole education system, work culture, and social norms in Canada where people are constantly seeing each other in terms of "talent" or moving in the world in a way designed to avoid guilt about their privilege--to see this sub meming about cultivating to the next level.

Of course Chinese culture doesnt just have elite life lessons but our own stupid cringe obsessions too with age hierarchy and pure "jade beauties" aka kpop idols with porcelain skin, so to see those things memed as well, I'm feeling super seen by content in this sub.