Gods and Demons Fiction

Gods and Demons Fiction, known in Chinese as shenmo xiaoshuo, is a genre of Chinese fantasy fiction built around the deities, immortals, demons and monsters of Chinese mythology, folk religion and popular Taoist and Buddhist tradition. The term was coined in the early twentieth century by the literary historian Lu Xun in his history of Chinese fiction. The genre took shape as vernacular fiction during the Ming dynasty, drawing on older folktales and legends, with early examples including The Three Sui Quash the Demons Revolt and other period works built around magic, alchemy and supernatural conflict; later Ming and Qing dynasty works within the genre often turned the same fantastical material toward comic social commentary. Its two most celebrated works are Journey to the West, generally attributed to Wu Cheng'en and first published in 1592, and Investiture of the Gods, both from the sixteenth century, with Journey to the West widely regarded by Chinese critics as the genre's finest achievement.