A Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

China’s network literature has witnessed rapid development in recent years, reaching 333 million readers by 2016, according to the 39th Statistical Survey Report on the Development of Internet in China, China News reported on Nov. 30.

Some of China’s network novels have attracted a large number of fans at home and abroad after some of them were translated into different foreign languages.

“A Mortal’s Journey to Immortality,” written by renowned network literature author Wanyu, has been viewed 100 million times since it was released in 2008.

The works attract a large number of readers, because they reflect people’s anxieties and desires in real life, said Shao Yanjun, an associate professor at Peking University.

Shao added that people can usually find some level of comfort by reading works about rebirth, in which the protagonists in the novel are given a second chance to make up for their regrets in life. The charm in Chinese literature not only deeply attracts Chinese readers, but also readers overseas.

In order to make Chinese network literary works more appealing to foreign readers on mainstream reading platforms, Chinese websites have been actively developing the overseas market in recent years.

In April of this year, China Reading Limited, a one-stop quality literature online reading platform in China, has established a cooperative relationship with Amazon, which agreed to launch a network novels section in its Kindle Store.

The websites are now making every effort to reveal China’s Xianxia (immortal heroes) novels, which are distinct from Western fantasy novels and the light novels of South Korea and Japan, to more people overseas.