83
Danmei Andrew Neil Danmei is a genre of Chinese fiction that is centred around romantic and sexual relationships between male characters. Danmei is closely related to and inspired by the genre of Japanese erotic fiction called yaoi, or Boy’s Love (BL). Most danmei works originate as web novels, before being adapted to other media, such as live-action TV series or animated series. Though danmei is produced for a Chinese audience, it has gained a following in anglophone countries first through fan translations, and later through official translations. As an example, the danmei work “Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation” was first published on an online Chinese platform in 2015 before being adapted into a live-action series called “The Untamed”, released in 2019 and currently available to international audiences on Netflix. The novel was then picked up by a North American publisher and released to an English-speaking audience in 2021, reaching the New York Time’s Bestseller list for paperback fiction. The danmei fan community also has a large presence on online platforms, like the fanfiction hub Archive of Our Own. Danmei provides an avenue for youth to explore their sexuality in a safe and private manner. According to a survey of danmei fans, the average age when fans first started consuming danmei media was around 15. At this age, many adolescents feel unable to openly discuss topics surrounding sexuality or gender at home or at school. The primary audience for danmei, young cisgendered heterosexual women, appreciate how danmei fantasy flattens the power dynamic in the relationship, and upends heteronormative ideas about gender roles. While danmei has a reputation for being produced by straight women for straight women, online surveys suggest a much broader range of readership along sexual and gender identity lines. For many youth, danmei or related genres are their first exposure to queer media, which can lead them to explore their sexuality in a self-directed manner. Participating in activities such as fanart and fanfiction allows adolescents to find a sense of belonging to a community, express their creativity, and develop self-identity.
Figure 1: The official English release of the first volume of "Heaven Official's Blessing", a Danmei allows youth to explore not only gender and sexual danmei novel. identity, but racial identity as well. With geopolitical tensions between Western countries and China escalating in recent years, Western media coverage of China, and by extension Chinese society and culture, has become overwhelmingly negative. The past few years have also seen a sharp rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in the US and Canada. Danmei gives Chinese-Canadian youth an opportunity to positively connect with their identity and heritage. Danmei heavily borrows from other Chinese genres, such as wuxia and xianxia fantasy, and continues the tradition of same-sex eroticism found in classical Chinese novels such as “Dream of the Red Chamber”. Engaging with this genre can also kindle (or rekindle) a passion for learning the Chinese language, in order to read the original works in their source language. Many readers of danmei express an inability to
