Wuxia, Gonfu, Digi-Fu, Bullet Opera

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   From the NEW YORK SUN, 24 June 2003, pg. 14, col. 3:

   On the movie screens of 2003, _everybody_ is kung fu fighting.
(...)
   The emphasis is on the new-wave _wuxia_, or "martial chivalry" films of
the 1960s and 1970s...
(...)(Col. 5--ed.)
   Likewise, John Woo's "bullet operas" are clearly informed by the genre's
wild excesses.
(...)
   From the earliest days of the martial-arts film, the folkloric
dissemination of _gonfu_ ("skilled effort") to the masses was a metaphor for
self-determination through spiritual discipline and righteousness.
(...)(Col. 6--ed.)
   Ultimately, it's the abstract beauty of rhythm we respond to in the
_wuxia_, kung fu, or digi-fu spectacle.


("Wuxia" has 131,000 Google hits.  OED?  Merriam-Webster's 11th?--ed.)