The Biggest Genres in Chinese Web Fiction, by the Numbers
Everyone has an impression of what Chinese web fiction is mostly about. Here is what the catalogue actually says.
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What the genres actually mean, how Qidian and Fanqie decide what is popular, and how to use two million rows of catalogue to find something worth reading.
How to Find Chinese Web Novels Worth Reading (Without Speaking Chinese)
Seven concrete ways to find good Chinese web novels from English: ranking boards, trope filters, booklists and word counts, with the exact filters.
Fanqie Novels Explained: What 番茄小说 Is and How to Actually Browse It
Fanqie is ByteDance's free web-novel platform and the largest Chinese fiction catalogue by title count. What it is good at, and how to browse it properly.
Qidian vs Fanqie: Which Chinese Novel Platform Should You Read On?
Paid versus free, prestige versus volume, subscription versus algorithm. China's two biggest web-novel platforms compared on real catalogue numbers.
What Is a 书单? Chinese Booklists, and Why They Beat Algorithms
Booklists are reader-curated novel collections, and the most underrated discovery tool in Chinese web fiction. How to read them, and how to mine them.
The Chinese Web Novel Tag Glossary: 25 Tropes Explained
Transmigration, System, Rebirth, face-slapping and three dozen more: the tags Chinese readers actually pick books by, translated and explained.
How Qidian's Rankings Work: Monthly Votes and Tickets Explained
Qidian publishes twelve ranking boards and each measures something different. What monthly votes, tickets, collections and fans mean, and which to trust.
Xianxia vs Xuanhuan vs Wuxia: The Difference, Explained Properly
Three genre words English readers use interchangeably that mean three different things in Chinese. What separates them, and how to tell them apart fast.
Chinese Web Novels: A Beginner's Guide to What They Are and How They Work
What Chinese web novels are, how the platforms work, why the chapters never stop, and how to find your first one without drowning in two million books.