Yong Sheng

Xianxia, directly translated to 'immortal heroes' comprises a number of popular genres including 'Cultivation', is a genre of Chinese fantasy heavily inspired by Taoism and influenced by Chinese mythology, Chan Buddhism, Chinese martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese folk religion, Chinese alchemy and other traditional Chinese elements.

Protagonists are usually "cultivators" who seek to become immortal beings called xian. Along the way, they attain eternal life, supernatural powers, and incredible levels of strength. The fictional cultivation practiced in xianxia is heavily based on the real-life meditation practice qigong.

The stories usually include elements such as gods, immortals, yaoguai, ghosts, monsters, magical treasures, immortal items, medicinal pills, and the like. They often take place in a "cultivation world" where cultivators engage in fierce and usually deadly struggles to acquire the resources they need to grow stronger. Oftentimes, the initial setting is reminiscent of ancient China, but the stories usually become cosmic in nature, with the protagonists attaining godlike abilities, sometimes creating their own planets, galaxies or universes. While the primary focus is action and adventure, there are also romance-heavy stories.

Description taken from the wikipedia page about Xianxia subgenre.

List of donghua I watched/follow, mostly CGI, that have gotten a rating of 7-9 from me.

I have watched all of them and even re-watched some several times, I vouch for these if you're interested in cultivation, fantasy, adventure, reincarnation.
There are 49 CGI donghua in this stack, and 48 are good quality CGI of decent length per episode, while Yao Shen Ji isn't exactly good quality, it's a decent story and in my opinion fun to watch. Da Wang Rao Ming is the only 2d animation in this list, I love the story and characters, it's also very fun to watch.

I've seen a few interest stacks about this genre but I wasn't satisfied with their list so I wanted to do my own.

Donghua refers to Chinese animated content, which can include TV series, films, and shorts. It's a term used to describe animation produced in China or by Chinese creators.Donghua is often compared to anime, which is Japanese animated content, but there are differences in style and storytelling. Donghua tends to have a realistic (3D) art style and often incorporates Chinese historical/cultural elements.

Some of the more popular Donghua titles include "Battle through the heavens," "Mo Dao Zu Shi," "Soul Land," etc.

bio credits: chat gpt

This list is not exhaustive but offers the titles I thought were relevant to include (and that I enjoyed the most). hope this helps ! enjoy :)

Contains only one entry per show, multiple seasons exist for most of them but only first season is entered.
Ordered by my personal rating.

Collection of all Cultivation Donghua (only the first season entry)

Cultivation is a reoccuring theme which can be found in Xianxia/Xuanhuan, the extent varies

To be part of that list an anime (or donghua/aeni) needs:
-To be complete since at least 1 year.
-To be first serie adaptation of an anime OR of a remake. (no earlier prequel/parent story)
-To not be in top 1000 popularity.
-To have a popularity rank 5 times as high as its scoring rank minimum.

Donghua is the term used to refer to animation produced in China, encompassing all animated works but specifically referring to Chinese animation. Donghua adapts manhua comics and is often associated with 3D CG animation, although it can also use more standard anime-style animation.

All entries are based on popularity, views (audience), rating, quality, and my opinion.

All donghua in this interest stack are considered above-average or top-tier, animation and/or story-wise.

Some donghua on this list have not been watched by me but are generally well received.

I have generally excluded donghua with low-quality graphics (budget), but I would like to mention that they are by no means bad. 

Check out my other list ([SSS] 2D donghua) for more recommendations. Visit my profile for more.


Highly recommend checking some of these donghuas' novels and dramas.



Anticipated upcoming donghua:
1. Absolute Resonance
2. Cyber Sword Immortal Tieyu
3. Half Star (Ban Xing)
4. The Galaxy of Seven Kingdom
5. The Proud Alchemy God
7. Sou Shen Ji (2024)
8. The Age of Spiritual Flow
9. San Xia Wu Y

Additional donghua recommendations:
1. The Rich God
2. God of ten thousand realms
3. Wushen Zhuhai
4. Ling Jian Zun
5. Wu Shang Shen Di
6. My Heroic Husband
7. Wo Shi Da Shenxian


Movie recommendations:
1. Bai She: Yuan Qi
2. Nezha Zhi Mo Tong Jiang Shi
3. New Gods: Nezha Reborn

All sorts of Chinese animes/3D series that is above overall 8 points, and should watch in my experience. Only the first seasons are included.

I am not a Chinese speaker, so all the series included has more or less decent English subtitles.

Shortcut to "cultivation" series: must watch; Fanren Xiu, Xian Ni and Dadao Chaotian

Anime where the premise is leveling up or cultivating in a martial arts system.