Contrary to being a physical city, Xianxia is a genre of Chinese fantasy literature and media. It is characterized by heavy inspiration from Chinese mythology and is deeply influenced by various traditional philosophies, including Taoism, Chan Buddhism, and Confucianism. The genre incorporates elements such as Chinese martial arts, classical medicine, folk religion, alchemy, and other classical cultural components.
Xianxia developed historically as a subgenre of both wuxia and shenmo before establishing itself as a distinct martial arts genre by the late 19th century. It is often compared to high fantasy genres in other cultures, such as Western sword and sorcery stories or Japanese ninja fantasy fiction.