Chuanyue

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title: "Chuanyue" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["chinese-novels", "literary-genres", "fiction-about-time-travel", "chinese-literary-genres", "chinese-speculative-fiction"] description: "Chinese fantasy about crossing into another era" topic_path: "geography/china" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuanyue" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Chinese fantasy about crossing into another era ::

Chuānyuè (穿越, ), also chuānkōng (穿空), shortened from chuānyuè shíkōng (), is a Chinese genre of speculative fiction where the protagonist normally travels back in time to historical periods or travels to parallel universes and different worlds. Time travel in these stories is most often in the direction of the past and may include fantasy or magical motifs.

Genre characteristics

In chuanyue, the protagonist either travels back in time to historical periods, or travels to a different world. In both interpretations, the traveler comes to the new reality either in their physical body or they transmigrate into a local resident's body. It can also incorporate alternative histories and parallel universes. Magical or fantasy motifs are also frequently encountered in these stories. In addition, many of the speculative ideas that are key to the genre are impossible in the real world.

Chuanyue can be considered a "reinvention" of time travel writing that includes facets of fantasy fiction. Most time travel in chuanyue is backwards in time, rather than forwards in time. Overall, stories describing hypothetical futures are "relatively underrepresented" because of various political and cultural reasons in China. One political reason for a lack of future time-travel narratives is that the Chinese government already has an official narrative of modern Chinese history and an official direction for the future.

A Korean version of this genre is known as hoegwi () or bing-ui ().

Representative works

One of the first popular time-travel stories in this genre is Tales of Seeking Qin () by Huang Yi, published in 1991 and adapted into a television series in 2001.

Other works include Go Princess Go (2015), The Myth (2010), Palace (2011), Romance of Tiger and Rose (2020) and Startling by Every Step (2011).

Common subgenres

Various subgenres are popular in chuanyue stories. These can include alternate worlds (), ancient armored machine fiction (), Eastern-style fantasy (), Eastern-style suspense (), evolution and metamorphosis (), gaming (), interstellar civilizations (), post-apocalyptic words (), spacetime travel (), super technologies (), and urban (). Xuanhuan novels, like A Step Into the Past (1994) by Huang Yi, are very popular online.

Chuanyue may also contain romantic elements. Time travel romance is known as chuanyue yanqing (). These romantic stories are most often written by and for women. Many of these stories include female protagonists traveling through time to ancient china, where they may experience culture shock and later romance among the royal family.

''Kuaichuan''

Another popular subgenre is Kuaichuan (快穿) which literally means “speedy chuanyue,” usually translated as "quick transmigration." Quick transmigration stories are made up of several short stories which can be made up of different subgenres or different settings which link together into one larger, contained story. Subgenres that can appear in these stories is varied, with some stories including apocalyptic settings or alternate universes. Quick transmigration stories can also feature themes of revenge and retribution which are meant to be enjoyed by the reader. It might also include themes often seen in danmei.

Representative works

One of the first representations of this genre are Journey in Search of Previous Incarnations (), and Endless Dread () both published online in 2007.

Some notable examples include: Cheating Men Must Die () (manhua), Cannon Fodder's Record of Counterattacks () (web novel, with manhua adaptations).

''Qingchuan''

A popular subgenre is Qingchuan (清穿), where the often female protagonist travels back to the Qing dynasty and engages in romance with the sons of Qing Emperors. The three novels Bubu Jingxin, Meng Hui Da Qing, and Yao Hua are the first three Qingchuan novels. They are also called "the three hills of Qingchuan novel". Qingchuan novels are of great popularity among Chinese people, especially the young women. Some of the novels like Bu Bu Jingxin are so popular that they have already been adapted into TV series. These TV series have won great audience ratings since broadcast.

Reception

In the 2000s, chuanyue became one of the most popular literary genres on the Chinese Internet, with more than tens of thousands of different titles available on different platforms. By 2016, it was one of the "dominant genres."

Chuanyue can be seen as "potentially chronopolitically subversive." By 2009, several popular chuanyue stores were adapted for Chinese television. But by April 2011, the Chinese government through the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) put an official ban on time-travel television shows. The web series*, Go Princess Go!* () was heavily censored before its re-release in 2015. Despite the ban on time travel television, streaming platforms and online novels in this genre remain popular.

Critics of the genre claim that wish-fulfillment in time travel fantasies can have a negative psychological impact on young readers. This concept is often called "YY fiction" where the YY is short for yiyin or 'lust of the mind' (). YY fiction can be considered in Chinese culture to be an "explicit exploration of libidinous mental fulfillment."

Chuanyue with BL(boy's love) or danmei themes has also faced censorship in China, despite their growing popularity internationally.

Others, like author Ken Liu, have described chuanyue as part of a diverse and "vibrant" Chinese science fiction community. Shuangyi Li sees chuanyue as an artistic way to enrich our lives through exploring the past culture and history of China.

References

Sources

References

1. (2008-03-31). "北水南調 閱讀美少女". Apple Daily Hong Kong.
2. Cordasco, Rachel S.. (2019-03-22). "Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation.". World Literature Today.
3. Balogun, Taiwo. (2024-02-20). "How Chinese and South Korean dramas invented a new time-travel approach".
4. Wang, Yuxi. (2017). "Globalization of Chinese Online Literature: Understanding Transnational Reading of Chinese Xuanhuan Novels Among English Readers". Inquiries Journal.
5. Wang, Aiqing. (2022). "Cliché-ridden Online Danmei Fiction? A Case Study of Tianguan ci fu". ACTA Asiatica Varsoviensia.
6. (2011-09-13). "步步惊心_桐华_言情小说_文化读书频道_新浪网". Vip.book.sina.com.cn.
7. Alter, Alexandra. (8 December 2019). "World Collider". The New York Times Magazine.

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