Jian Lai

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.

Final update: This list is old and outdated because of the recent amount of donghua and stacks available for those but I'll leave just the ones best representing the genre here. If you want cultivation donghua check the "Cultivation (Donghua)" stack.

Includes→
• Original Chinese anime.
• Donghua adaptations of manga, manhwa or manhua.

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

Check "Cultivation II (Donghua)" stack for more

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. Donghua in this interest stack are considered above-average or top-tier, animation and/or story-wise. Entries higher up are generally (not definitively) better based on the criteria above.

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.


"Short" (5-8min/ ep donghua) recommendations:
1. Martial Master
2. Legend of Xianwu
3. Spy x Sect - Surprisingly enjoyable for me
4. Against the Sky Supreme
5. Alchemy Supreme
6. Peerless Martial Spirit
7. Tales of Demons and Gods

CGI shows I've seen that I think are worth watching.
Sorted in what I consider best to worst order.

Best of the best (ongoing). I mostly watch wuxia/xianxia or historical shows so will be biased towards those genres.

To be frank, the bar in terms of good writing for donghua is very low, because most of the novels that have good writing are adapted for the much more profitable live-action drama industry. The target age demographic for donghua is also generally younger, which unfortunately often means simpler plots and pacing issues.

Even though I casually enjoy some "slop," this list only consists of titles that would be on par with the much more mature JP animation industry standards of character & plot writing, visuals, etc. I consider writing quality as slightly more important than visuals, so shows that have subpar animation but excellent writing will still make it onto this list.

Ranked from high to low... Each title represents its whole series/seasons (please start watching from the first season).
Future additions : Renegade Immortal , Perfect World , Shrouding the Heavens , One Hundred Thousand Years of Qi Refining , The Master of Diabolism , Tales of Herding Gods , A Will Eternal , My Senior Brother Is Too Steady , Ten Thousand Worlds , The Peak of True Martial Arts , Against The Sky Supreme , Legend of Deification.

Chinese anime or donghua is developing more and more nowadays, with the jaw-dropping 3D animations, osts or the amazing plots adapted from novels or not. Many of them are on par with Japanese anime or even better. Give the donghua's a try if you're a beginner and even if you're not one you can watch the ones you haven't in the list and get lost once again in the beautiful world of donghua.