Donghua
The Chinese word for animation. In English fandom, it commonly refers to animation from China. It includes films, series and shorts in many styles.
A little context goes a long way.
A beginner’s glossary for Chinese animation and fantasy. Start with the story; these words can help along the way.
Wuxia
Stories of martial heroes, personal codes and the social world of the jianghu. Their relationship to magic varies; genre boundaries overlap.
Xianxia
Immortal-hero fantasy, often involving cultivation, sects, spiritual advancement and ideas drawn from Chinese myth and Daoist traditions.
Xuanhuan
A broad category of imagined fantasy worlds and power systems. A progression story is not automatically xianxia; each world sets its own rules.
Cultivation
Training to develop spiritual or supernatural abilities. Methods, realms and limits belong to the particular story; there is no universal level chart.
Qi
Often rendered as energy or vital breath. Fantasy stories give it their own mechanics; read it in the context of the work, rather than as a fixed scientific term.
Jianghu
Literally rivers and lakes; in martial-hero fiction, the wider social world of wandering fighters, schools, loyalties and rivalries.
Sect
A martial or cultivation school, community or lineage. Its organization and relationship to other groups depend on the fictional world.
Danmei
A Chinese fiction category centered on relationships between men. An animated adaptation can change how explicitly the relationship is presented.
ONA / web series
Original net animation: a distribution format for animation released online. It does not tell you whether the animation is 2D or 3D.
PV / special / OVA
PV means promotional video, not a regular story episode. Specials and OVAs may contain side stories or other material; check the title’s own viewing notes.
Language, context and further reading
These are short Atlas editorial explanations. Genres overlap and translations vary; cultivation systems should be explained within each work.
Wuxiaworld publisher glossary ↗Wuxiaworld introduction to xuanhuan ↗Explore genres, history and classics