A Foray into Translated Chinese M/M Webnovels, a Report and Maybe Recs

[extrapenguin]

Greetings! I come bearing canon recs. Chinese M/M (aka danmei) webnovels have been a whole new world for me, full of a slightly different set of tropes than Western fandom's idea of M/M and with slightly different narrative conventions. I've found it enlightening and enjoyable, so I decided to make this post. It's part recommendation, part reading log, and part musings. This post will use Eastern name order throughout, ie surname first. Note that with one exception, the translations are all WIPs. I found these by asking for recs in the xianxia genre, so it's mostly xianxia or multiple-world stuff where one of the worlds is xianxia.

Brief explanations of terms

Cultivation: Trying to achieve immortality and superpowers by Daoist (or Buddhist) meditative means. Should be relatively easy to grasp for people who've read fantasy before; if in trouble, just imagine they're all Jedi.
CP: Character pairing. Main ship.
Danmei: Chinese term for M/M aka yaoi aka slash. The top/seme is called the gong and the bottom/uke is called the shou. Most stuff is written from the bottom's POV.
Transmigration: "I have, for whatever reason, woken up in the body of another for a permanent-ish duration." Might be jumping to another body in the same universe, or more popularly, a modern reader wakes up in the body of a character from a novel.
Xianxia: Like fantasy as a genre, except taking Chinese folk religion and Daoism as its lodestones for making Ancient China magical. Expect a lot of cultivation and people flying around on swords.

The reason why I'm writing this in the first place

A friend on a Nirvana in Fire chatroom recced the works of Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. She's a popular author of danmei, and has written three works (and will start a fourth one in the autumn, as per rumors). Our first rec shall be her sophomore novel, my current obsession, and the one where the translation is furthest in:

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, tr. K of Exiled Rebels
Also known as: Founder of Diabolism, Modao Zushi
Our protagonist Wei Wuxian (the perfect mashup of Troubled Birds items "I've been through hell and come out singing" and "That's a crazy idea. Insane. It doesn't make sense. You'll do it?" "Of course.") is a necromancer who died 13 years ago when the entire cultivational world attacked his stronghold. He wakes up when a lunatic thrown out of his clan commits suicide by sacrificing his body for Wei Wuxian to wake up in. What follows is an exciting adventure with mysteries on multiple levels: there's the immediate mystery of who is the dismembered guy whose pieces they are gathering and what happened to him, the mystery of what happened in the past to make this amicable guy so loathed, and the mystery of what's going on in Mr. haughty and indifferent pokerface Lan Wangji's mind. The novel is the perfect blend of romance to mystery, and Wei Wuxian is everything I have ever wanted in a protagonist: he's shameless and hilarious, kind and loyal yet a mad scientist if I ever saw one. Without him, the novel would be much, much darker.
Chapter index + original summary, chapter one.

Yandere Junior/Senior Who Raised Him

This is a really popular relationship dynamic in the stuff I've read, so it gets its own category.

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, tr. scriptor
In Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's début novel, the protagonist is a modern guy who finishes reading a harem novel where the protagonist, Luo Binghe, was a total Gary Stu and also went down the path of evilness. Then our reader (upon death) transmigrates into the body of Binghe's cruel teacher, Shen Qingqiu, and is constrained by a system that awards him points – and if he goes to zero, he'll transmigrate back to his original dead body. Unfortunately, the original Qingqiu was chopped up into a human stick by Binghe. Thankfully, he's transmigrated in back when Binghe is but a wee tween – so getting to and sticking to his good side should be possible! Wait, what's that OOC warning? Why do I lose points for being nice to him??? I better unlock the OOC function immediately! Shen Qingqiu is a sassy and snarky protagonist who keeps cussing out the poor System, and hilariously enough he seems to have been reading the original novel simply for worldbuilding geekery while the author (who has also transmigrated in) seems to have just made things up as he went along without any care for continuity.
Chapter index + original & translator's summaries, chapter one.

I've Led the Villain Astray, How Do I Fix It? by Yan Ye, tr. Sakhyu
Yu Ziyuan has a little brother who is gay. He's okay with that, albeit a bit regretful. One day, he randomly transmigrates into a novel he hasn't read (though he gets to read the novel once he's transmigrated), and he gets the chance to raise another little brother! The original body was a total asshole to the illegitimate little brother, Xu Zirong, and little Zirong eventually became an evil cultivator and the scourge of the world, eventually being taken down by original Ziyuan and his lover and metamours. The current Ziyuan, however, is constitutionally incapable of being anything but the most indulgent older brother ever to the sweet-looking dumpling that has appeared. Trouble is, Xu Zirong isn't a little innocent dumpling and has all the memories of his past/original life. When he realizes his original brother has been completely replaced, he gets really clingy and overprotective.
Chapter index + original summary, chapter one.

Transmigrating into a Mob Character to Rehabilitate the Villain Plan by Sha Xiao Wan, tr. Winter, Orange, Helli Translations, Bonbon BL Translations
Ling Xia is a modern guy who transmigrates into the very beginning of a web novel, back to when the hero and the villain were 10 years old and also friends. Ling Xia then decides to use his skills in tutoring children to bring Yu Zhijue onto the right path so he won't destroy the world! Each volume ends with him dying and waking up in his original body – and reading the web novel only to find that the ending's become even more terrible.
I liked the first two volumes, but then Yu Zhijue grew up and it got really really rapey fast, and I had to quit at volume four because of a key concept change.
Volume 1, Volume 2 ch 1-2, ch 3-23, Volume 3, Volume 4.

Every Day the Protagonist Wants to Capture Me by Qing Duan, tr. BC novels
Like in Villain Astray, our protagonist Chu Yu transmigrates into a webnovel where the body's original owner really mistreated his disciple-brother Xie Xi, and here the original Chu Yu was murdered by the original Xie Xi. Our Chu Yu has decided he'll help Xie Xi on his way to becoming a harem master and repair the physical damage he's caused, then go live happily ever after away from Xie Xi. Unfortunately, the System (that displays readers' comments on the webnovel and gives him the task of making the novel even more popular!) is a troll, and Xie Xi is behaving weirdly.
In the recent chapters, Xie Xi's been a bit too yandere for my liking; I hope Xie Xi realizes he should lay off the stalking.
Original & translators' summaries, chapter one.

Other novels, serious

Heaven Official's Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, tr. Sakhyu
Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's most recent novel! Xie Lian, formerly the Crown Prince of the Xian Le kingdom and the darling of the world, ascends to the Heavens for the third time as a powerless laughing stock. His first task is to solve a case of a powerful demon who kidnaps brides. Like in MXTX's prior work, the past plays a large role, and it's in medias res where the stories from Xie Lian's first and second ascensions are told in flashbacks, and we get a more complete picture about how the proud Crown Prince became a man who doesn't see his reputation or dignity as worth defending.
Original summary, chapter one.

Who Dares Slander My Senior Apprentice Brother? by Gu Yu Wen Xiang, tr. enxiao
Wen Jing transmigrates into his favorite webnovel before he has the chance to read the final chapter. He manages to avoid being possessed by the body's original resident's grandfather, and gets into the same cultivational sect as the novel's protagonist, Jun Yanzhi. This is obviously the best opportunity ever to set up Jun Yanzhi with Wen Jing's favorite of the significant female characters! Alas, Jun Yanzhi is uninterested, and seems to pay that attention to Wen Jing instead.
Chapter one.

Quickly Wear the Face of the Devil by Fengliu Shudai, tr. Kez
Top hacker Zhou Yunsheng has been captured by a system that makes him enact the roles of villains and cannon fodder while also forbidding OOC. After going through hundreds of thousands of these worlds, he manages to hack his way into independence and sets forth on the path of revenge: No matter whom he incarnates as, he will achieve that person's deepest dreams and shit on the face of the plot! Going through the worlds, he finds love – and soon realizes his lover is the same person in every world.
Zhou Yunsheng is a bit overpowered, but I don't mind since I like how competent and, well, horny he is and how he's totally willing to chase the love interest. (Also, canonically gay and knows it from the start, rather than a straight guy discovering bisexual tendencies.) This is the one where the translation is complete!
Original summary, arc one chapter one.

Other novels, comedy

The People Who're Supposed to Kill Me Fell for Me Instead by Jiu Yi, tr. dummytranslations
Gu Yan is a very popular author whose novels are simply irresistible, despite his constant track record of Bad Endings like the human race getting wiped out. He lives alone with his cat, Qiuqiu, until one day he's forced to transmigrate into his novel. He tries to survive unscathed as a human in a society of shapeshifting master race big cats who find humans very, very delicious and edible.
Honestly, I have no idea how I found this; it's straight-up Space Fantasy while I was searching for another genre entirely. I dropped it 20-ish chapters in once it became clear that it was going to be like 80% descriptions of Gu Yan petting a cat.
Original summary, chapter one.

The Villain's White Lotus Halo by A Big Roll of Toilet Paper, tr. Sakhyu
A guy who transmigrates countless times only to always find himself minor cannon fodder finds his way to the Rebirth Company store between dimensions. His only wish is to finally get to be the final boss villain, so he buys the Fiend Halo to help him on his way there. He then transmigrates into the body of a Yin Biyue in a cultivation world, after the original Yin Biyue tries some desperate use of his powers to get out of his cultivation-suppressing oppressive prison and detaches his soul from his body to float around in the multiverse. Now, our villainous friend Yin Biyue needs to get his way out of the prison so he can have a long and fruitful career as the Villain Boss. The world's protagonist, Luo Mingchuan, is of the "Holy Mother" type, so he should help, even if he was the original Yin Biyue's target in the massacre that got him imprisoned. Then Yin Biyue activates his Fiend Halo – except the salesperson gave him a White Lotus Halo instead, so everyone now sees him as an innocent and misunderstood woobie when he just wanted to be a charismatic main-credits villain. This novel is so far really good at making one think about how one characterizes others' actions – Yin Biyue is doing his best to be what would in a Western context be that charismatic villain played by a guy in a suit and a British accent, while everyone else sees him as a noble soul who's tragically misunderstood and suffering but doesn't want to blame others, even if it'd mean his death.
Original & translators' summaries, chapter one.

So What if You've Been Reborn? by Marooned in Paradise, tr. Luka
When he was three, Chen He was pushed into a pond and hit his head on a rock, so he's unable to form memories. When he's six and they're visiting a Buddhist temple in the mountains, his cousin pushes him off a narrow rope bridge – into a valley filled with cultivators. Shi Feng adopts him as a junior disciple brother and does his best to raise him and help him on the path of cultivation. Then, when Chen He is 17, a valuable cultivational object is discovered – and this thing with the potential to destroy cities is the rock Chen He hit his head on, and accepts only Chen He as its master. They go to investigate incognito, except half the people they meet seem to have long-nourished grudges against Chen He, who forgets everything and hasn't ventured out of the valley since he was 6.
Original & translator's summaries, chapter one.

When a Fanfic Protagonist Transmigrated into the Original Novel by Zhong Xiaosheng, tr. BC novels
In the original novel, Zhangsun Zijun was solid and reserved while Yi Xichen was free-spirited and uninhibited, and together the fellow disciples went on numerous adventures. In the popular yaoi fanfiction, OOC was strong, and Zhangsun Zijun was a jealous, insatiable sex addict and Yi Xichen became sweet and delicate. Then, fanfic Zhangsun Zijun transmigrated into the original world, and now has to navigate the fact he's gone back in time by 8 years, men can't get pregnant, and everyone's personality is utterly different. It's a hilarious parody of a number of BL fanfic tropes, though I have to skim a bit due to my overly sensitive embarrassment squick. Also, I'd like to read the slash version of the original novel.
Original summary, chapter one. (The table of contents lies, there are currently 5 chapters out rather than 2.)

Comments

[melannen]

This is super interesting! I might have to try that first one, it sounds like Exactly My Thing.

Is transmigration really this ubiquitous in the genre, or just in the stuff you recommend? :D

[extrapenguin]

You have an excellent taste! :P It's also the one with the largest fandom, both in Chinese fandom (where I think it's a megafandom, as is Heaven Official's Blessing) and in English fandom. (The AO3 tag doesn't contain the translation for the name, which is perhaps a good thing, considering how ... varied the competing translations are.)

Transmigration is just that ubiquitous - I actually have a preference against transmigration, especially of the "modern schmoe randomly transmigrates into another world" type, and certainly didn't seek it out. The two novels I've tried but dropped almost immediately and thus didn't include onto this list were also "modern dude transmigrates into Fantasy Ancient China" novels. (Legendary Master's Wife I bounced off of partially due to style and partially due to the protagonist; Let Me Tease You I dropped solely because the translation(?) added the referent of the pronoun after nearly every pronoun, when the translator should've just accepted that the pronoun is clear enough, or placed the name instead of the pronoun.) I have another batch of things that have been recced to me; after I read them, I'll make a sequel post to this one.

[genarti]

Thank you so much for this overview! It's super interesting.

Only a couple of them sound like my kind of tropes, but those couple sound intriguing. And this is the kind of genre where I'd've had no idea where to start or where to find the books once I did get a rec, so this write-up is great.

[extrapenguin]

You're welcome! It's nice to hear that you found at least some of them intriguing. Will you be posting reactions? :P

NovelUpdates is a decent enough place to start; not every translation finds its way there, but stuff that's there is at least partially translated. Most of these were found via searching there with the Series Finder link in the sidebar. (Note that like on AO3, entries might be thoroughly tagged for everything that appears, or minimalistically tagged only for genre.) The rest were checking out translators' other projects.

I have another batch of novels that've come from other people on the Secret Danmei Confederation discord server when I asked for recs over there; there's a largeish pile of them, but I'll read them and report over here once I'm done. Are these write-ups decent enough, or would some sort of more formal rating system/guesses at the intended readership need to be included?

[jainas]

How, this is so interesting, thank you for sharing, it's like a brand new world! :D

So if I understand you well, those are original works, not fanfics? And the translations are fan translation?

[extrapenguin]

Always nice to find a whole new thing, isn't it? And yup, these are fan translations of original works! Some of them (especially Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's works) have fandoms of their own, with fic and art and vids and such.

[anotherslashfan]

Thank you for this! Thanks to Guardian, I'm now determined to finally enter the world of danmei xiaoshuo ;). And with my level of Chinese, it's good to have translations, too, because I can't be bothered to look up everything I don't understand.