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Word file #019RisingStories & games

What does jianghu mean?

江湖jiānghú

Say itJYAHNG-hoonoun

Character by character
  1. 江jiāngriver
  2. 湖húlake

The world of wandering martial artists, outlaws, and drifters outside official society in Chinese martial-arts stories; by extension, an underworld or a society with its own unwritten rules.

Written by the Second Language TeamWritten

Jianghu (江湖) is the world of wandering martial artists, outlaws, and drifters in Chinese martial-arts stories. They live outside official society. The literal meaning is “rivers and lakes.” The jianghu has its own heroes, sects, and feuds. It runs by its own rules, out of reach of the law [1]. In English you meet the word in wuxia novels, Chinese dramas and films, and games, and translators often leave it untranslated. It can also mean a criminal underworld of gangs and triads [1].

English speakers usually say JYAHNG-hoo. In Mandarin it is 江湖 jiānghú. 江 jiāng (“river”) has the first tone, high and flat. 湖 hú (“lake”) has the second tone, rising like a question. The traditional characters are the same as the simplified ones [2]. In Cantonese, which you hear in many Hong Kong films, it is gong1wu4, close to “gong-woo” [3]. In English the word is neutral, neither slang nor formal, and mostly used by fans and critics. In Chinese it is an everyday word with several meanings, and a few of them are not kind.

Word stats

Known in English
Wuxia readers, drama fans, and gamers know it well. Most other English speakers have never seen it.
Said in China today
江湖 is an everyday Chinese word, but it more often means society, life on the road, or a con artist’s trade than sword fights.
Polite
Neutral in English. In Chinese, 江湖骗子 (swindler) is an insult, so watch what comes after it.
Freshness
Every new wuxia drama and game sends more people to look it up. The jianghu keeps growing.

Spotted in the wild

Book club chat · Thursday, 9:40 pm
  1. Priyachapter 3 and he’s already left his sect and is wandering around with a sword
  2. Youwelcome to the jianghu. nobody there has a normal job
  3. Priyaalso there’s an inn fight every two chapters
  4. Youthat’s just jianghu rules. never trust a quiet inn

What it means here: The jianghu is the story’s world of wandering fighters, sects, and inns, far from ordinary life and the law.

Comments under a game trailer
  1. Marcothe trailer just says “enter the jianghu.” enter the what
  2. Linthe martial arts world. wandering swordsmen, rival sects, revenge, rules nobody wrote down. the government is mostly not invited
  3. Marcoso an open world where everyone knows kung fu. ok I’m in

What it means here: Lin explains the jianghu as the game’s setting: a society of martial artists that runs on its own rules.

Text with Dad · Monday, 7:05 pm
  1. Dadhow is the new job?
  2. Youfine, but two managers keep fighting over who owns my project
  3. Dad有人的地方就有江湖
  4. Youso my office is a jianghu now. great

What it means here: Dad says yǒu rén de dìfang jiù yǒu jiānghú, “wherever there are people, there is jianghu,” meaning every group has its rivalries and unwritten rules.

How to use it

  • the jianghu (as a place)The hero leaves his village to make a name for himself in the jianghu.
  • enter / leave the jianghuShe swore to leave the jianghu once her master was avenged.
  • jianghu + noun (jianghu rules, jianghu world)By jianghu rules, you don’t strike someone who has already surrendered.
  • the jianghu of something (figurative)The office has its own jianghu: alliances, feuds, and rules nobody wrote down.

Don’t say it like this

  • Sounds offJianghu is a style of kung fu.

    Say thisThe jianghu is the world where kung fu fighters live and roam.

    Jianghu is a place and a society, not a way of fighting.

  • Sounds offI love reading jianghu.

    Say thisI love reading wuxia, and the jianghu is my favorite part.

    Wuxia is the genre. The jianghu is the world inside those stories.

  • Sounds off“jiàng-hu,” with the first syllable falling

    Say this“jiāng-hú”: high and flat, then rising

    With a falling first tone, jiànghu sounds like 糨糊, a word for paste. Your sword fight becomes a craft project.

  • Sounds offGrandma called him a 江湖骗子, so he must be a great martial artist.

    Say thisGrandma called him a 江湖骗子, so she thinks he is a swindler.

    江湖骗子 jiānghú piànzi means a con artist. In Chinese, 江湖 can mean the world of drifting quacks and street sellers [2].

jianghu or not?

Is each of these jianghu? Pick an answer to find out.

  1. A wandering swordsman settles a feud between two rival sects at a roadside inn.

  2. Court officials compete for the emperor’s favor inside the palace.

  3. A retired fighter hides in the mountains, but old enemies keep finding him.

  4. You take a kung fu class at the local gym every Tuesday.

The jianghu family

  • wuxia 武侠The genre of Chinese stories about martial heroes who fight for justice.Wuxia is the book. The jianghu is where the book takes place.
  • wulin 武林“Martial forest”: the community of martial artists, their sects, and schools.Every wulin master lives in the jianghu, but not every jianghu drifter is in the wulin.
  • 老江湖 lǎo jiānghu“Old jianghu”: a worldly person who has seen everything and is hard to fool.No sword needed. Just years of experience and a knowing smile.

Where it came from

  1. Warring States periodThe Daoist classic Zhuangzi uses 江湖 in a passage about fish. When a spring dries up, the fish keep each other alive with their wet breath, and the book says it would be better for them to forget each other in the rivers and lakes [3]. Here the word still means real water.
  2. Tang dynastyIn his poem “Pipa xing,” Bai Juyi uses 江湖 for drifting from place to place across the country [2].
  3. Song dynastyFan Zhongyan’s essay “Yueyang Lou Ji” sets 江湖 against the court: the faraway places where people live away from power, like a hermit [2].
  4. Late imperial timesThe word comes to mean the world of travelling merchants, wandering doctors, and fortune tellers. In modern times it also means triads and gang life [1].
  5. TodayWuxia and xianxia novels, dramas, and games carry the word into English, where fans use it for the martial-arts world of the stories.

Jianghu in English vs. 江湖 in Chinese

In English, jianghu nearly always means the martial-arts world of the stories. In Chinese, 江湖 has many more jobs. Several of them have nothing to do with swords.

MeaningChinese exampleUsed this way in English?
The martial-arts world of wuxia stories笑傲江湖 xiào’ào jiānghú, the title of a Jin Yong novelYes, this is the main meaning
A criminal underworld of gangs and triads江湖规矩 jiānghú guīju, “jianghu rules”Sometimes, in crime films and fiction
All over the country; life on the road走江湖 zǒu jiānghú, “roam the land, make a living on the road”Rarely
Drifters who lived by performing or selling medicine, and their trades江湖骗子 jiānghú piànzi, “swindler”No
A hermit’s retreat, far from the court处江湖之远, from a Song-dynasty essay by Fan ZhongyanNo
Society, with its rivalries and unwritten rules有人的地方就有江湖, “wherever there are people, there is jianghu”Sometimes, among fans
A worldly, experienced person (said jiānghu, with a light second syllable)老江湖 lǎo jiānghu, “old hand”No

Chinese dictionaries also list two meanings English never uses: the drifting street performers and medicine sellers of the old days, and a hermit’s retreat far from the court [2]. Taiwan’s Guoyu Cidian also gives the light, neutral-tone reading jiānghu for a worldly person, as in 老江湖 [2]. So a Chinese speaker who hears “jianghu” may think first of office politics or a con artist, not a sword fight.

Fans also mix up jianghu with two nearby words:

  • Wuxia (武侠) is the genre: stories about martial heroes.
  • Jianghu (江湖) is the world those stories happen in. Besides fighters, it is full of beggars, bandits, innkeepers, and fortune tellers.
  • Wulin (武林), literally “martial forest,” is the community of martial artists inside that world: the sects, schools, and masters [3].

Jianghu is not only for wuxia. The same world is the setting for many xianxia (immortal-hero) stories and gong’an (crime and judge) stories too [3].

Sources

  1. jianghu — Chinese English dictionary (江湖 jiānghú)MDBG Chinese Dictionary
  2. 江湖的解释|汉典Zdic (汉典)
  3. JianghuWikipedia

More words to decode

Articles

Wander your own jianghu

Second Language is a pixel-art RPG where you roam, take on quests, and learn the Chinese behind words like 江湖. The intro course is free to play.

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