Thank you so much for your comment! The reason I keep apologizing is that I’m a bit shy. I’ve been wandering around international websites for about three years now, and every time I post, I use a translator. Even the fanfiction I publish on AO3 is machine-translated. I’ve always felt a little uneasy about this, but I don’t have much choice since my English isn’t very good.
As for Chinese fan culture, it’s true that it’s not as early as in the U.S.—I can’t deny that. In my impression, the earliest fan works in China appeared around the 2000s, so I started writing fanfiction relatively late. I did take a look at the webpage you shared, and I feel it’s not very complete—there are still many gaps. If possible, I’d be happy to help; I do have some understanding of Chinese fandom, although sadly, I’ve never been part of any major fandom circles over the years.
Right now I’m focusing on Power Rangers fanworks. In the U.S., tokusatsu is quite popular, but in China it’s extremely niche—basically five or six people at most. I’ve written and drawn quite a bit, but the community is so small… it’s a little lonely 🥲.
But anyway, regarding the two works you mentioned, I’ve heard of both—they’re very famous. I think the biggest commonality among fanworks is that the characters are appealing, the characterizations are interesting, the works spark discussion, and there’s some popularity. A strong plot is a bonus. With these elements, fanfiction naturally thrives.
Regarding Chinese fandom, I think it spread mainly from Japan—through Japanese ACGN (anime, comics, games, novels). Many Chinese people who consumed these works felt, “I really like this character, this world, this setting—I want to create something myself.” And that’s how fanfiction started, often without the writers even realizing it was fanfiction, since the concept of fandom didn’t exist here, including for myself.
The earliest works were posted on Chinese forums, like Baidu Tieba, and later moved to LOFTER. Of course, some appeared on other social media platforms as well, but the distribution was scattered. LOFTER at one point promoted AI drawing/writing and drove many users away. I’m still using it—ugh, old grave (my nickname for LOFTER 😅).
Later, China developed many of its own notable works, and people started making fanworks for domestic titles, as well as Japanese, American, British, Russian, Indian, Korean works, etc.—really a “hundred flowers blooming” situation. But I’ve never been part of the mainstream circle; I always go for niche fandoms. I’ve focused on tokusatsu fanworks for a long time—Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, and even Transformers—but I never follow the popular trends. The characters I like are mostly unpopular, or if they are popular, I prefer not to read other people’s fanworks of them.
I can never get into popular ships; I’m naturally a “cold circle” person. Even my AO3 works get only 20–30 hits, far fewer than LOFTER’s stats. I’ll soon have to translate these works into English so that other fans who like these niche characters can read them. It’s a lot of pressure because my works are long and require a lot of time and effort. I don’t really have much confidence, but besides sharing them with people who like the same characters, who else would I share them with? In China, there’s almost no one who likes these characters like I do—even in a country of 1.4 billion people 😅. But I’ll find a chance to translate them eventually.
Regarding your mention of over one million Mandarin works on AO3, I’ve seen that news too. I’m curious which fandoms make up the bulk of this number, though I can guess—probably Genshin Impact, Mo Dao Zu Shi, Tian Guan Ci Fu, Honkai Impact 3rd, and so on. I’ll probably never touch those fandoms, but I still appreciate all the people writing Chinese fanworks, as well as those creating original works—it’s great.
I’ll also post some of my original works here in the future. I don’t aim to earn money; I stick to free works, which aligns well with AO3’s original purpose, and I think that’s great.
Thank you again—I’m grateful for your reply. AO3 is a wonderful place, and I’ll definitely continue to be part of it! ٩(•̤̀ᵕ•̤́๑)ᵒᵏᵎᵎᵎ
I'm a bit shy, too, though you might not realise it from my enthusiastic post about our fanzine scanning project! If it's any reassurance, your translator seems to be working well.
I love the “hundred flowers blooming” description of a multicultural fandom! That is beautiful. I have been a bit of a "fannish butterfly" over the years, flitting from one fandom to another. I've loved some big fandoms as well as some niche fandoms, some One True Pairings and some rare pairs. They all have their delights and their difficulties! Most of all, I just love fandom, and I love that it connects us all around the world.
I will keep this short, as I know they are closing comments on this post soon. Thank you for all the information you've shared about your experiences in fandom! It has been really great chatting with you.
I understand what you mean! I really love the “hundred flowers blooming” description too, and it makes me happy to imagine you as a little butterfly, flitting and dancing through every fandom and fanwork you enjoy. I’m also glad that, like me, you enjoy both niche and popular pairings. It’s because of fandom that we’ve met—what a joy and an honor!
Since the comments on this post are closing soon, let’s leave it here. Thank you so much again—it’s been really lovely chatting with you.
(By the way, I’m using ChatGPT as my translator)
(•ᴗ•)♡
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