Fanqie Novels Explained: What 番茄小说 Is and How to Actually Browse It
TikTok's recommendation engine, pointed at 1.35 million novels. Brilliant at feeding you things, useless at letting you look.
DaoSearch
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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.
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.