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Jan. 15 (NBD) – China's booming Internet literature is gaining wider popularity overseas, and some passionate readers started creating their own novels.

Fantasy, martial arts and Xianxia are among the favorite genres of foreign readers. The term Xianxia refers to novels about protagonists' adventures when cultivating for immortality, an idea heavily influenced by Taoism and Buddhism.

China Literature, a leading digital publishing platform in China, hosted a literature awards ceremony on Sunday. Among the prized new authors, Wiz from the U.S. was particularly noticeable. A white young male as he is, his novel Reborn: Evolving From Nothing integrated many elements of classic Chinese web novels.

Founder and co-CEO of China Literature Wu Wenhui revealed to news outlet Yicai that over 300 original novels from sites including Qidian.com, an Internet literature hub owned by China Literature famous for fantasy, martial arts and military novels, have been authorized for digital publishing and printed books in many Asian and western countries.

China Literature also established its international portal Webnovel.com in May 2017, and has since attracted 20 million visitors.

ChineseAll Digital, another digital publishing platform, launched graphic novel site Chapters in the U.S. in September 2017, with 10 million registered users. 

Before these platforms started providing authorized and quality translations, foreign readers had to make do with scattered and dubious translations they could find online.

Moloxiv, a doctor and web novel creator in Singapore, said to Yicai that previously he had to search translations on different sites since each of them offered only part of the whole story, which to him was a troublesome and tiring experience.

These beloved stories are usually inspired by the myths and legends that have existed for thousands of years in China. They are set in imaginary universes that are deeply rooted in traditional Chinese culture, distinct from the cultural backgrounds of western fantasy classics like The Lord of the Rings or the Harry Porter series, thus offering foreign readers brand new experiences.

Wu Wenhui commented that web novels display the charm of Chinese culture, and can easily reach foreign readers, especially the younger generation, via Internet, thus the novels become an important channel for China's cultural export.

These platforms also make efforts to promote localization in foreign markets by cooperating with local web novel sites to produce quality contents and foster local writers. Spanish web novel writer Alemillach, who worked as a programmer previously, is one of the local writers who publish on Webnovel.com.

Moreover, films and TV series adapted from hit fictions are entering foreign markets. The Rise of the Phoenixes, a romantic drama set in ancient China, has become the first of its kind purchased by Netflix as Netflix Original Series. The platform is translating it into a dozen languages.

Martial Universe, a martial arts saga, is updated synchronically on Fox Networks Group and Youtube, reaching over 3 billion viewers in areas including North America and Southeast Asia.

Email: limenglin@nbd.com.cn