Virtual world the new playground for fans of fantasy
Mega-selling books, such as the Harry Potter series, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and The Chronicles of Narnia have been immensely popular in China over the past few years.
However, "ages before these Western fantasy novels were introduced to China, generations of Chinese readers have enjoyed reading their fantasy classics.
Zhang Yiwu, a Chinese literature professor with Peking University says Journey to the West, Canonization of the Gods, and Tales from Make-do Studio and Flowers in the Mirror, all reflect this strong tradition.
The genre, however, was marginalized over the past 100 years when realism dominated the literary scene in a nation then plagued by uncertainty and turbulence.
In the era of globalization and economic prosperity, Chinese have had more options, he explains.
"Prompted by Western fantasy works, including both novels and their adaptations like TV series, movies, cartoon books and online games, local authors again are enthusiastic about creating fantasy literature with a strong local flavor," says Wang Henan, a copyright manager with hjsm.tom.com, on which fantasy fans can buy novels online.
In recent months, the fantasy genre has ranked No 2, below top-ranking romance on the Top 50 Keywords List of several search engines, such as Baidu.com.
However, fantasy stories, such as Execution of the Gods and Ghost Blows Off the Lights, lead the Top Ten Online Novels List of search engines, which include Baidu.com and Google.cn, and beat romance and thriller genres.
Each novel has drawn millions of hits on a single website since it was posted. "Imitating Western fantasy blockbusters in terms of narrative device is unavoidable for Chinese authors, mostly young netizens, the youngest of whom are reportedly 7-9 years old," says Wu Wenhui, general manager of www.cmfu.com, one of the most-visited websites of originally created novels.
Local authors are also trying to borrow ideas from ancient Chinese legends and classics and mix ingredients from romance, kungfu and detective novels to lure more local fans, says Shen Haobo, a Beijing-based publisher.
Shen has successfully promoted fantasy novels, such as Execution of Gods and Stories of A Tomb Raider.
At earlier stage, most of the fantasy novels were posted on open forums and people could hit and read free of charge.
But today, the top-quality fantasy downloads come at a price, says Yu Qian, a university student and fantasy fan from Wuhan, in Central China's Hubei Province.
"What intrigues me most about these works is not the imaginative plots and awesome figures who, with supernatural power, can shuttle between this world and an imagined world, but the moving depiction of the relationships between the heroes and heroines," she admits.
Because many local authors are young, they tend to lend their own feelings and experiences to the characters they create, which makes it appealing to young readers, observes Zhao Dao, a literary critic.
In Xiao Ding's Execution of Gods, the young author portrays Zhang Xiaofan, a single child who at first was weak and often humiliated by campus bullies. However, later he becomes a master of magic power and fights for justice.
"Zhang's situation hits the right chord among millions of single children in China who, without the personal experience of brotherhood or sisterhood, are very keen on finding friendship and support among peers," Zhao says.
With the fantasy novels gaining popularity in the virtual world, some of the bigger hits have found their way to the bookshelves. At least 100 fantasy novels have been published across the country, according to Sun Peng, a publisher from Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province.
However, he admits most of the fantasy novels are still looked down upon by editors of publishing houses. Critics say these writers lack solid training in writing, general knowledge, and life experiences.
"I first wrote for fun. But now I write both for fun and for money," argues Jiang Nan, one of the four authors who have jointed an online writing project years ago to create a gigantic, imaginative world called Nine Continents.
"Becoming a good writer is my goal of life. I am constantly striving to offer my readers better work," he says.
(China Daily 08/14/2007 page18)
