A Good Chinese Story
This website was created as a final project for CHI-195: A (Good) Chinese Story instructed by Professor Jin Feng in Grinnell College in Spring 2025. The course explores the ecosystem and content around webnovels in China and how they’ve been received both domestically and abroad. Through it, we explore the way in which webfiction is created and common genres. Some of the topics covered were Danmei, Nvzun, and Fan Fiction.
Through our study, we achieved the following goals:
This website is the culmination of the class, where we thoroughly explore a topic of our choosing. As the works of MXTX have been explored throughout the course, we use this website to discuss the major works and provide critical analysis of her novels.
Main characters from all MXTX’s works from Duitang, https://m-2.duitang.com/blog/?id=1559396389
Who we are
shabab m. kabir
Hello everyone, I am a fourth-year college student pursuing an independent major in Mathematical Physics and Sonic Materiality with a concentration in Digital Studies. I have a deep interest in Danmei web-literature and culture, which began with my friend introducing me to Mo Dao Zu Shi. My research here began with a class project on “good Chinese literature,” and I am excited to learn with digital onto-epistemologies and the ways it becomes a tool for neuro-queer-trans* worldmaking.
Zoe Fulu Kirn
Hi everyone! I am a fourth-year college student majoring in Chinese and Anthropology, with an interest in cross-cultural interaction. I have been an avid fandom and web-fiction reader for years. I took this class because I thought it would be fun to learn more about one of my hobbies. I am interested in learning more about how media shapes cross-cultural interaction and the growing influence of Chinese media iin the West.
Amy Xinmeng Mi
Hi! I’m currently a second-year student majoring in Political Science and Japanese with a concentration in Statistics. I started to read web fiction because of my high school best friend, who’s a super fan of Danmei novels. Through this class, I learned a lot from the readings and my peers on digital research methods, and had the chance to reflect on intercultural exchange by mapping different experiences across the region.
Special Thanks to Our Previous Groupmates
Anna Arriola
I first became interested in Chinese webfiction in high school and have been completely hooked ever since. I’ve really appreciated the opportunity to discuss some of my favorite stories in class and meet others with similar interests in webfiction.
unnamed others
Additional Acknowledgments
Jin Feng
Jin Feng is Professor of Chinese and Japanese, and Orville and Mary Patterson Routt Professor of Literature at Grinnell College. She teaches all levels of Chinese language courses and on Chinese literature and culture. Specific classes include “Chinese Women: Past and Present,” “Modern China through Film and Fiction,” and “Chinese Food for Thought.”
Grinnell College
We would like to thank the Dean’s Office and the Digital Liberal Arts Collaborative (DLAC) for their ongoing support for the research work presented here!
Shoutout
To our previous work that this website is built on top of! A link to an old version of this work can be found at: https://mxtx.chi195.sites.grinnell.edu/