Why is Chinese online literature popular overseas?

It has been reported that since 2016, the spread of Chinese online literature overseas has become a hot topic in the online literature sector and even in the entire cultural sector, and "online literature going overseas" has become a global cultural phenomenon that has received a great deal of attention from all sides.

According to the June 2017 statistics of Wuxia World, Gravity Tales, and Volaro Translation, the three largest online literature translation websites, the total number of monthly active readers (monthly independent IPs) of the three websites has reached 5.5 million, and the number of Chinese online novels that have been translated and are being translated is close to one hundred. In Southeast Asia, Chinese online novels have even long been a y influential foreign pop culture, created and translated at a rate of about a hundred per year. in May 2017, the international version of Starting Point was officially launched, and as of June, more than 50 works had been published.

The export of Chinese culture used to go through more mainstream channels such as literary awards, book fairs and film festivals, but the emergence of spontaneous translations, online readings and fan communities means that Chinese pop culture has come into the daily lives of ordinary people abroad, and also reflects that Chinese online literature has the potential to compete on the same stage as Japanese animation, South Korean TV dramas, and even Hollywood movies on the international stage.

What does it mean that Chinese pop culture has entered the daily lives of ordinary people abroad? It means I read your stuff not because of anything else, but just because you're the best. The first time you walk into a Chinese restaurant may be because of curiosity, and then often go, do not go to be difficult, then it can only be because of delicious. So cultural export is actually a real game. To put it bluntly, which country's art more popular with the people, more stable and sustainable to meet their increasingly tricky up the appetite, will be more influential. The "just demand" has become the hard truth.

The power of the media revolution is behind the popularity of Chinese online literature in the world. Network sex makes Chinese Internet literature become the literature of "network people", and it has gained wide affinity in the global village that has been re-tribalized by the network; that set of native original production mechanism is the power source of its radiation in the global village. The length of millions of words, the chase, interaction, subscription, and reward are unique to Chinese online literature. Foreigners not only feel fresh, but also shocked by the scale of its mega industry. China is a big country with thousands of years of storytelling tradition, not only in the temple, but also countless folk masters. All kinds of potential literary resources and vitality have been reactivated and reorganized through the medium of the Internet: millions of authors and hundreds of millions of readers are writing, reading, rewarding, and conversing online at the same time - such a mode and scale of production is truly unprecedented in human history, and it's no surprise that the best genre novels are being produced.

Of course, foreign fans were initially attracted to Chinese online fiction because of its novelty, its so-called "Chineseness. In the past, we focused on the so-called "the more national, the more global" in our cultural exports, which was the credo of the "root literature" of the 1980s. Today, it seems that under this mode of thinking, "China" inevitably presents itself as a cultural spectacle in the Western cultural field of vision. As a matter of fact, in the era of global village, only the more networked it is, the more global it can be. In other words, "Chineseness" can only be shown through "networkedness"; after all, as long as it is a Chinese online novel, it will naturally carry "Chineseness". According to the fan comments collected so far, foreigners are very interested in traditional Chinese culture, and they are amazed by the elements of Chinese culture and the way Chinese people imagine. Wuxia World, a website for translated novels, also has a special section to popularize the knowledge of "bagua" and "yin and yang". Throughout the long hours of work and daily companionship, Chinese online novels have truly demonstrated their "networked" and "Chinese" appeal.

Beneath the obvious charms, there is another hidden reason for the popularity of Chinese online literature in the world, and that is the "temperament fit". The current fans are partly readers of the original Chinese martial arts novels, and many are attracted from the Japanese light novels. The earliest gathering place for online translators was a few light novel strongholds, such as "SPCNET" (an independent forum focusing on Asian films and novels), "Lightnovel" (a light novel forum, a section on reddit, one of the largest social news sites in the United States), and "Lightnovel" (a light novel forum, a section on reddit, one of the largest social news sites in the United States). reddit). Some fans say that they are tired of reading Japanese light novels, and that the "daily routine of guarding the beautiful" is particularly boring, while most Chinese online novels are large, big stories with more than 3 million characters, and the protagonist has strong power of action, which makes them particularly enjoyable. The current stage of Chinese online novels still continues the modernity of the grand narrative style, compared with the Japanese light novel post-modern database type writing, more to the appetite of these Western readers.

The past 20 years of China's online literature development have coincided with the country's rapid economic growth. Today, we are closer to the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation than at any other time in history, the country's prosperity, development is unlimited, the writers have a broader world in mind, more lofty ideals, the pen naturally builds a magnificent Qiankun. This is probably the reason why "Three Bodies" is welcomed in the world - the Western readers who have long entered the post-modern society for half a century cannot write their own Arthur C. Clarke-style American science fiction "Golden Age" works, but they still long for the "Golden Age". The "Golden Age" echo, from the modernization of late-developed countries "ability to dream" can be a shot in the arm. Internet literature is not just one Liu Cixin, not "single-handed", but "big god", behind a huge industry, can be a constant supply of network literature with a grand narrative style.

The popularity of online literature has been a surprise, and how to regulate and support it is a challenging proposition. Only in respect of its natural development and fan culture on the basis of "benign guidance", in order to put the good steel on the knife edge, really build the country's soft power.