CDrama Review: The Romance of Wuxia in Pursuit of Jade (PoJ)

When I began watching Pursuit of Jade, something in the fighting scenes felt immediately familiar.

Growing up, I watched martial arts films of Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung. Drunken Master and Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain are childhood favorites. Later, I became a fan of Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Tony Leung and Chow Yun Fat, which eventually led me to adore Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and my Michelle Yeoh fangirling era. Wuxia became my favorite genre.

PoJ is not wuxia.

It is a historical romance drama rooted in household, kinship, trade, politics and community life. And yet, for me, it frequently speaks in the visual and emotional language of the wuxia I know from childhood.

The term wuxia itself combines two ideas:

wu — martial or military

xia — chivalry, righteousness, the moral hero

This distinction matters because wuxia has never only been about fighting.

It asks: What does a person fight for? Justice? Loyalty? Protection? Duty?

This is where PoJ becomes increasingly interesting to me. The drama repeatedly uses martial movement not simply as a showcase but as relationship. When Changyu and Yan Zheng spar, they are not merely exchanging blows.

They are learning rhythm. Testing boundaries. Negotiating power. Building trust. Establishing balance.

Their bodies speak before the reconciliation happened in Episode 33. This is why the sparring scenes linger.

The choreography emphasizes reciprocity rather than domination.

Adjustment rather than conquest. Movement becomes dialogue. At the same time, PoJ does something different from many wuxia narratives.

Traditional wuxia often centers jianghu: wandering heroes, martial worlds and lives lived outside formal structures. PoJ repeatedly returns us to the kitchen, festivals, village life and stories of ordinary people.

Changyu’s butcher knives become weapons. The kitchen becomes survival. Household labor becomes martial labor. Care work becomes heroism.

Perhaps this is why the fighting scenes feel so emotionally resonant to me. PoJ borrows the language of wuxia but brings it back home. This is what makes it memorable not just the martial arts choreography but the martial movement that shows care, community and repair.

If you have a deeper more expansive knowledge of wuxia, feel free to share and engage. We learn something everyday.