Book Cover of Jin Yong's Legend of the Condor Heroes
Editing in progress, not completed
Wulin (武林)(pinyin: wǔlín) (literally means martial arts forest) typically refers to the martial arts world or community often depicted in wuxia novels, films, dramas, comics, and video games. Wulin is a fictional social system comprised of martial artists, sects, families, knights-errant, secret organizations, and martial arts associations. Wulin is often portrayed as a secretive or semi-autonomous world existing parallel to mainstream society, where martial virtues, duels, and power struggles govern interaction and order among its members.
Wulin is a general term for various martial arts schools. It primarily refers to a large group of people with a martial arts background, rather than simply individuals. For example, a martial artist can be considered a member of the Wulin, meaning that the individual is included in the Wulin community.
Wulin is closely related to, but not identical to, the Jianghu (jianghu), which generally refers to a broader marginalized society that encompasses the Wulin, Wulin specifically refers to the group of martial artists and their organizations, sects, families, styles, and behavioral norms.
History and Context[]
Earlier precedents[]
"Wulin"(武林)(martial arts forest) was once a nickname for Hangzhou, named after Wulin Mountain (now Wushan Mountain) in the area. Zhou Mi used it to refer to Hangzhou in his Song Dynasty work "Wulin Past Events."
Since the 1920s, with the development of modern Wuxia novels, the Wuxia novelist Gong Baiyu(宫白羽), possibly inspired by the concept of "wenlin (文林)(literary forest)" or "rulin(儒林)(Confucian Forest)", first used "Wulin(武林)(martial arts forest)" to refer to the martial arts society. This word was first used to refer to the fictional world and its social system centered on martial arts, and became a common term in the wuxia worldview. Later, new martial arts writers such as Jin Yong, Liang Yusheng, and Gu Long further enriched and systematized this concept, making "Wulin" has gradually come to refer to a fictional world and its social system centered around martial arts, becoming a common term in the wuxia worldview.
Cultural characteristics of Wulin[]
In wuxia novels, terms such as wulin masters, leader of the wulin, wulin conference, and famed throughout the wulin often appear. But what exactly is wulin (literally “the forest of martial arts”)?
Wulin is not synonymous with jianghu. The jianghu encompasses a much broader social sphere, including people from all trades and walks of life—fortune-tellers, monks, Taoist priests, and even beggars or petty rogues can all be called people of the jianghu.
Nor does wulin refer to a place filled with martial arts schools or escort agencies, or to the gathering grounds of outlaws. Rather, wulin is a general term for the collective community of martial arts sects and practitioners. It represents a vast group formed by those who possess martial skills, rather than a single individual.
Thus, when we say someone practices martial arts, we can say that person is “a member of the wulin”—in other words, every practitioner of martial arts belongs to this larger community known as the wulin (“the forest of martial arts”).