A Free API for Chinese Web Novel Data: What You Can Build With It
DaoSearch has a free, read-only JSON API: books, search, rankings, booklists and tags from six Chinese web novel platforms. What it covers.
DaoSearch
Blog
What the genres and tags actually mean, how Qidian, Fanqie, JJWXC, Faloo, Qimao and Zongheng measure popularity, and how to find your next novel.
How to Find Hidden Gem Web Novels: Minimum Filters and Hide Dropped
Guide
7 min read
Put a floor under each platform's own numbers, hide novels that stopped updating, and sort past the famous ones. A way to find what no top ten lists.
How to Find the Raw of a Chinese Web Novel You Know in English
Guide
7 min read
You know the English name and want the original: its Chinese title, the platform that publishes it, and whether it finished. Here is the shortest route.
Free Chinese Web Novels: Fanqie, Qimao and JJWXC's Free Shelf
Comparison
6 min read
Which Chinese web novel platforms are free to read at the source, which charge by the chapter, and how to browse the free ones without the noise.
How to Find Danmei Novels in English: Filters, Boards and Booklists
Guide
6 min read
Where danmei lives, how to filter it by shou or gong lead, trope, length and free or paid, and which JJWXC boards and booklists are worth opening first.
Infinite Flow Novels Explained: 无限流 and Where to Find It
Explainer
6 min read
Infinite flow drops its cast into one deadly scenario after another. What 无限流 means, how it differs from quick transmigration, and where to find it.
Qimao Explained: 七猫, Free Reading, Popularity and Must-Read Votes
Explainer
Updated 9 October 2026
6 min read
Qimao (七猫免费小说) is a free, ad-supported web novel app. What it holds, what Popularity, Readers and Must-read votes mean, and how to use its boards.
Zongheng Explained: 纵横, Monthly Tickets, Clicks and Recommendations
Explainer
Updated 9 October 2026
5 min read
Zongheng (纵横中文网) is a long-running paid platform for fantasy, cultivation and history. What its figures mean, how its boards work and what is hidden.
How to Find Finished Classics and Novels That Are Still Updating
Guide
Updated 9 October 2026
5 min read
Ongoing rarely means updating. How to use the Updated filter and sorts to find long novels still being written, books that just ended, and old classics.
What Happens When You Report a Book or Booklist on DaoSearch
The Report link on every book and booklist goes to a real person. What to send, what we can fix, and how you hear back in your notifications.
Your Reading Desk: Profiles, Notifications and a Daily Shelf Digest
DaoSearch now sends one note a day when books on your Planned and Reading shelves get chapters, finish or climb a chart. Plus profiles and notifications.
Why Naruto Stays Naruto: Retranslating Titles With a Fandom Glossary
Explainer
Updated 9 October 2026
5 min read
DaoSearch is redoing its English titles, synopses and booklists with GPT-6 Luna and a large fandom glossary, so fandom names read the way fans know them.
Faloo Explained: 飞卢, Fanfiction, Flowers and Monthly Tickets
Explainer
Updated 9 October 2026
6 min read
Faloo (飞卢) is the home of fanfiction and power fantasy. What it holds, what Reads, Flowers and Tickets mean, and how to browse it in English.
How to Save Searches and Keep a Reading Shelf on DaoSearch
Save a filtered catalogue search, sort novels onto five shelves, follow booklists and download it all. How the DaoSearch account features work.
How to Search DaoSearch: Titles, Authors, Pasted Links and Filters
Guide
Updated 9 October 2026
6 min read
Search by English or Chinese title, find an author's other books, paste a source link, then filter and sort across all six platforms.
Qidian, Fanqie and JJWXC by the Numbers
Data
Updated 9 October 2026
5 min read
Three Chinese web novel platforms and nearly 5 million listed books: how big each one is, how long finished books run, and what each is made of.
Danmei, Baihe, No CP: A Translator's Glossary of Web Novel Labels
Explainer
Updated 9 October 2026
7 min read
How to put 纯爱, 百合, 无CP, 快穿, 无限流, 迪化, 女配 and forty other Chinese web novel labels into English, using the words English readers already search for.
JJWXC Explained: Favorites, Clicks, Gifts and the Rankings
Explainer
Updated 9 October 2026
6 min read
JJWXC (晋江) counts favorites, clicks per chapter and Gifts (营养液, nutrition) instead of votes or reads. What each number means, and which boards to read.
Why Fanqie Novels Keep Changing Their Titles, and How to Keep Track
Explainer
Updated 9 October 2026
6 min read
Bookmarked a Fanqie novel and now it has a different name? Why Fanqie titles change so often, which title DaoSearch shows, and how not to lose a book.
Fanqie Reads vs All-Time Reads: What Fanqie's Numbers Mean
Explainer
Updated 9 October 2026
4 min read
Fanqie shows two read counts, a score and a shelf count. What each one measures, why they disagree so much, and which to sort by when picking a book.
The Biggest Genres in Chinese Web Fiction, by the Numbers
Data
Updated 9 October 2026
7 min read
What 2.8 million indexed Chinese web novels look like when you count them: which genres dominate, and how Qidian and Fanqie diverge completely.
How to Find Chinese Web Novels Worth Reading (Without Speaking Chinese)
Guide
Updated 9 October 2026
7 min read
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
Explainer
Updated 9 October 2026
5 min read
Fanqie is ByteDance's free web-novel platform, and bigger than Qidian 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?
Comparison
Updated 10 October 2026
6 min read
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
Explainer
Updated 9 October 2026
8 min read
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
Explainer
Updated 9 October 2026
8 min read
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
Explainer
Updated 9 October 2026
6 min read
Qidian publishes ten 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
Explainer
Updated 9 October 2026
6 min read
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
Guide
Updated 9 October 2026
9 min read
What Chinese web novels are, how the platforms work, why the chapters never stop, and how to find your first one without drowning in millions of books.