MCLC: Chinese women crave Tanbi lit

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Chinese women crave Tanbi lit
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For more on this literary phenomenon, see

Jin FENG, "Addicted to Beauty": Consuming and Producing Web-based Chinese
Danmei Fiction at Jinjiang." Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, vol.
21, no. 2 (fall 2009), pp.1-41.

http://mclc.osu.edu/jou/abstracts/feng.htm

http://www.jstor.org/stable/i40072803


Kirk 

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Source: China Daily (6/25/14):
http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/culture/2014-06/25/content_17614569.htm

Chinese women crave Tanbi lit
By Sun Ye (China Daily)

Tanbi is a form of Japanese literature depicting love between men that its
hardcore following of young, heterosexual women can't get enough of. Sun
Ye reports on the growing phenomenon.

In the literary world of tanbi [danmei 耽美], a Japanese term meaning "the
pursuit of beauty" and often used to refer to two good-looking men in a
romantic relationship, there are answers to what a heterosexual woman
wants in love and life.

At least, this is the case for Cici Zhou, a 25-year-old real estate agent
who has devoured 1,200 tanbi books over the past 10 years, drawn to them
by the strong characters and their fighting spirit.

Zhou's favorite, Tianxiadiyi (translated to English means "No 1 in the
world"), is the story of two opposing majestic kings who are mutually
attracted but have to fight against each other and their desire.

"You can't find these characters in normal chick-lit," she says. "They're
both strong, outstanding men. There are dramatic ups and downs and greater
obstacles to overcome."

There is no official tally, but there are an estimated one million readers
of tanbi stories in China, according to Yang Ling, associate professor
with Xiamen University who studies tanbi sub-culture.

The scene is dominated by work from Japan and China's Taiwan, but tanbi
lovers are also putting out original stories in forums, podcasts,
custom-made books and other items that target hardcore fans.

Jinjiang Literature, one of the more popular websites that features
original tanbi stories, clocks two million log-ins a day. Ninety percent
of its users are female, and 80 percent are in the 18 to 35 age group,
according to a report the company provided to China Daily.

Tanbi borders on gay fiction, but the readership is predominantly
heterosexual women.

"I never thought it strange when two men become a couple," Zhou says. "We
are reading about two guys together exactly because we like boys."

"They're reading for the variety tanbi offers," Yang says.

The genre is broken down into a gamut of sub genres, that touch on a wide
variety of themes from apocalyptic tales, star wars, martial arts, and fan
fiction. The stories can be "clear-water" (platonic) or x-rated. Tanbi is
written in so many styles that there are stories told in dialects from
northeastern China to Cantonese.

"Whatever subject you like, you can find it there," Yang says. "It's like
a small literary kingdom."
And then there is the love story at the core.

"In tanbi, love and relationships have no set patterns like in Cinderella,
where a hero rescues a beauty in danger," Yang says. "Both sides can be
strong. Or they can take different roles in different circumstances. There
are many more possibilities to explore."

That is perhaps one of the reasons why these readers are more open-minded
when setting their own terms, and more understanding to others, Yang says,
who has interviewed many tanbi fans in recent years.

"These are definitely positive influences. When they are open to different
types of relationships, they are also open to other discussions, such as
staying single for longer, or raising a child on their own," Yang says.

According to Ducky, another seasoned reader of 10 years, who will only
reveal the name she uses online, "I'm an independent woman, I get to make
my own decisions in work as well as in life." She says she prefers stories
where both members of the couple are standing on their own two feet and
fighting for what they want in love.

"However, we still like alpha males better," she says. "When there are two
of them, there is the tension we want. Especially now that boys are
becoming feminine and girls have somehow turned aggressive."

In the strong male characters, the female readers find their most desired
kind of romance.

"I believe tanbi describes the purest kind of love," says Jodie Cheng, who
first discovered tanbi when looking for news of her idols, the Korean pop
group Super Junior, in 2010. In a fictional account, written by tanbi
fans, band members become lovers.

"But as long as a story has a modicum of realism, two men together means
trouble, and giving up everything for love," Cheng says. "That's rare in
our real life, therefore, we look for it."

With the rise of Sina Weibo and Wechat, two major instant messaging
platforms in China, tanbi is no longer the cult genre it was a decade ago.
There has been a growing number of girls, or fojoshi (a Japanese term for
girls who endorse male homosexual love), who have started to write fan
fiction that moves tanbi into the world of mainstream literature.

A recent work pairs two X-men, Magneto and Professor X, powerful opponents
who care about each other, at least in the Hollywood megahit X-Men: Days
of Future Past.

"There are so many fojoshi that it's almost a selling point now," Yang,
the researcher says.

"But whatever the girls are attracted to, they are after the true, good,
beautiful human feelings that have always been at the center of
literature."