I’m excited to see a video about _Jie Yao_ in 2024!! I know the web-novel and even the manhua are way more explicit as _actual_ danmei, but I’ll always have a soft spot for the donghua because it’s quite sweet. And we even got a hug, which some people would say is rare nowadays haha. Seeing this, of course I have to join the conversation because if someone’s out there talking about danmei and/or donghua, I’ll always pop up lol. I’ll always have an appreciation for how danmei and baihe authors keep sneaking in romance even despite censorship. You can find “gay” stuff everywhere in Chinese media-it doesn’t even have to be danmei sometimes. I’ve seen ships hinted at in het romances like _No Doubt in Us_ or even just stories about war and justice like in _Dalisi Rizhi,_ which points to how creators engage with censorship. Which does make it frustrating when a lot of people hate on danmei for not being explicit enough. And hearing the “bromance” mention has me wanting to add something: It kind of drives me crazy when BL drama fans insist BL cdramas aren’t BL and call them “bromances” instead. This makes absolutely no sense to me because BL just means “boys’ love,” so if boys are in love, then it’s BL. And yes cdramas are censored, but if the authorial intent is BL, it should still count-especially when these creators are literally fighting the government and putting themselves and their work at risk to even insert clues to the BL relationship. Which means calling it a mere “bromance” really disrespects the crew’s work, especially when so many BL drama fans refuse to watch things labelled as bromance. And like, if you watch _S.C.I._ or _The Spirealm_ or _Winter Begonia,_ none of that is a “bromance.” That isn’t how bros interact! A cdrama that actually counts as a bromance would be something like the adaptation of _Hikaru no Go,_ which is subtle enough to be read as a bromance because it’s _not_ (generally) originally intended to be a BL. The same logic applies for donghua. _Jie Yao_ is 100% BL, even without being explicit. A bromance donghua would be something more like _Please Take My Brother Away,_ which features close male friendships (even though it’s not the main theme). Like I can understand calling the censored BL media from China “dangai” instead of “danmei” because “danmei” almost comes from the term “yaoi” (actually comes from “tanbi” iirc), which _does_ help clarify if something is explicit or not (because danmei and yaoi are associated with being more explicit). But “boys’ love” is just boys in love, and that’s what those BL cdramas are, no matter how censored they are. Another bad example of this is _Heartstopper_ fans. They condemned danmei for being explicit and not pure _and_ even criticized danmei authors for not being at Pride, saying that no danmei author has done as much for the LGBTQ+ community as Alice Oseman, the author of _Heartstopper…_ A sentiment that completely ignores the fact danmei authors _can’t_ go to Pride. 🙄 And the author of _Heartstopper_ didn’t exactly help this by insinuating in a comment online and an interview that their work, even in drawing inspiration from yaoi, isn’t going to be explicit like yaoi because “yaoi fetishizes gay men in a really bad way.” In many ways, danmei _is_ yaoi-just with some more Chinese cultural flair and sometimes larger plots or more genres (a trend that occurred partly due to censorship, as more yaoi can be about just sex while danmei will mix genres and provide a grand story-as seen in something like _Little Mushroom_ or _Kiss the Abyss_ etc-because they can’t _just_ be sex). But yeah, that’s a lot of what I wanted to say haha. Anyway, handshaking you on liking _Jie Yao_ by the way. Good taste! 😆 Finally, this does make me think about whether there’s an audio drama adaptation of _Jie Yao_ on MaoEr FM, which even if there’s no fan subs, can have its subs machine-translated through Google, and I know the novel is translated too… 👀 A lot of danmei audio dramas get overlooked because obviously there’s a bigger language barrier and a slight accessibility issue (although now MaoEr FM actually accepts pay from both Apple and Google devices so it’s not that inaccessible). But the audio drama adaptations are still really really good, and they’re the second least censored after novels (it’s novels, then audio dramas, then manhua, then donghua, then cdramas, with games somewhere in the middle). One example of a really good audio drama is _Bing Xing Xia Deng_ aka _The Selfish Gene_ on MaoEr FM (although it’s actually known by fans as _Inferior by Nature,_ because confusingly enough, _The Selfish Gene_ is the fan-chosen translation for another of the same author’s works). Adaptations like _Bing Xing Xia Deng, Mo Dao Zu Shi, Tian Guan Ci Fu, Additional Inheritance, Mo Du,_ are all genuinely really good. Even the simpler playful ones like _I Ship My Rival x Me_ are cute! And I definitely recommend checking out danmei audio dramas alongside danmei novels you read, if you can! 😉 In truth, I’m an advocate for all of these different forms of Chinese media haha. Novel, donghua, manhua, audio drama, cdrama… There’s a lot of gems out there. 🥰
I’m excited to see a video about _Jie Yao_ in 2024!!
I know the web-novel and even the manhua are way more explicit as _actual_ danmei, but I’ll always have a soft spot for the donghua because it’s quite sweet. And we even got a hug, which some people would say is rare nowadays haha.
Seeing this, of course I have to join the conversation because if someone’s out there talking about danmei and/or donghua, I’ll always pop up lol.
I’ll always have an appreciation for how danmei and baihe authors keep sneaking in romance even despite censorship.
You can find “gay” stuff everywhere in Chinese media-it doesn’t even have to be danmei sometimes. I’ve seen ships hinted at in het romances like _No Doubt in Us_ or even just stories about war and justice like in _Dalisi Rizhi,_ which points to how creators engage with censorship.
Which does make it frustrating when a lot of people hate on danmei for not being explicit enough.
And hearing the “bromance” mention has me wanting to add something:
It kind of drives me crazy when BL drama fans insist BL cdramas aren’t BL and call them “bromances” instead. This makes absolutely no sense to me because BL just means “boys’ love,” so if boys are in love, then it’s BL. And yes cdramas are censored, but if the authorial intent is BL, it should still count-especially when these creators are literally fighting the government and putting themselves and their work at risk to even insert clues to the BL relationship. Which means calling it a mere “bromance” really disrespects the crew’s work, especially when so many BL drama fans refuse to watch things labelled as bromance.
And like, if you watch _S.C.I._ or _The Spirealm_ or _Winter Begonia,_ none of that is a “bromance.” That isn’t how bros interact!
A cdrama that actually counts as a bromance would be something like the adaptation of _Hikaru no Go,_ which is subtle enough to be read as a bromance because it’s _not_ (generally) originally intended to be a BL.
The same logic applies for donghua. _Jie Yao_ is 100% BL, even without being explicit. A bromance donghua would be something more like _Please Take My Brother Away,_ which features close male friendships (even though it’s not the main theme).
Like I can understand calling the censored BL media from China “dangai” instead of “danmei” because “danmei” almost comes from the term “yaoi” (actually comes from “tanbi” iirc), which _does_ help clarify if something is explicit or not (because danmei and yaoi are associated with being more explicit). But “boys’ love” is just boys in love, and that’s what those BL cdramas are, no matter how censored they are.
Another bad example of this is _Heartstopper_ fans. They condemned danmei for being explicit and not pure _and_ even criticized danmei authors for not being at Pride, saying that no danmei author has done as much for the LGBTQ+ community as Alice Oseman, the author of _Heartstopper…_
A sentiment that completely ignores the fact danmei authors _can’t_ go to Pride. 🙄
And the author of _Heartstopper_ didn’t exactly help this by insinuating in a comment online and an interview that their work, even in drawing inspiration from yaoi, isn’t going to be explicit like yaoi because “yaoi fetishizes gay men in a really bad way.”
In many ways, danmei _is_ yaoi-just with some more Chinese cultural flair and sometimes larger plots or more genres (a trend that occurred partly due to censorship, as more yaoi can be about just sex while danmei will mix genres and provide a grand story-as seen in something like _Little Mushroom_ or _Kiss the Abyss_ etc-because they can’t _just_ be sex).
But yeah, that’s a lot of what I wanted to say haha.
Anyway, handshaking you on liking _Jie Yao_ by the way. Good taste! 😆
Finally, this does make me think about whether there’s an audio drama adaptation of _Jie Yao_ on MaoEr FM, which even if there’s no fan subs, can have its subs machine-translated through Google, and I know the novel is translated too… 👀
A lot of danmei audio dramas get overlooked because obviously there’s a bigger language barrier and a slight accessibility issue (although now MaoEr FM actually accepts pay from both Apple and Google devices so it’s not that inaccessible). But the audio drama adaptations are still really really good, and they’re the second least censored after novels (it’s novels, then audio dramas, then manhua, then donghua, then cdramas, with games somewhere in the middle).
One example of a really good audio drama is _Bing Xing Xia Deng_ aka _The Selfish Gene_ on MaoEr FM (although it’s actually known by fans as _Inferior by Nature,_ because confusingly enough, _The Selfish Gene_ is the fan-chosen translation for another of the same author’s works). Adaptations like _Bing Xing Xia Deng, Mo Dao Zu Shi, Tian Guan Ci Fu, Additional Inheritance, Mo Du,_ are all genuinely really good. Even the simpler playful ones like _I Ship My Rival x Me_ are cute! And I definitely recommend checking out danmei audio dramas alongside danmei novels you read, if you can! 😉
In truth, I’m an advocate for all of these different forms of Chinese media haha. Novel, donghua, manhua, audio drama, cdrama… There’s a lot of gems out there. 🥰