China’s crackdown on same-sex love stories leaves Chinese women ‘less happy without it’
Despite the largest crackdown yet, danmei stories are still available in China – but they are far tamer and, some say, just not as good
For Cindy Zhong, like many young Chinese women, a relaxing night used to mean curling up with a steamy story about two men in love. Then her favourite authors, and their tales, started disappearing.
In the vast world of fantasy, danmei is relatively straightforward: two men stand in for idealised relationships, from chaste to erotic. Some scholars believe the stories appeal to Chinese women as a way to sidestep the country’s conservative gender values and imagine relationships on a more equal footing.
“Women turn to danmei for pure love, especially as they face pressure from families, peers and society to get married and have kids,” said Aiqing Wang, a senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool, in England, who studies Chinese popular culture and internet literature.
The once-niche Chinese literary subculture has seen a boom in recent years, with novels adapted into blockbuster television series and translated into Western languages.