(2015) Startling by Each Click: \"Word-of-Mouse\" Publicity and Critically Manufacturing Time-Travel Romance Online

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Startling by Each Click“Word-of-Mouse” Publicity and Critically Manufacturing Time-Travel Romance Online Shaohua Guo

China’s Internet readers have catapulted serialized Internet literature, like novels Startling by Each Step, to heretofore unimagined heights of success. New systems of Internet peer review have generated critical communities within China’s technologically mediated cultural spaces that have redefined even the basic methods of writing for China’s literary Internet authors.

China in the new millennium has witnessed a digital literary renaissance that epitomizes one of the most vigorous dimensions of contemporary cultural production. Internet literature has not only drawn together an unprecedented number of aspiring writers and enthusiastic peer critics, but it also has fostered the formation of “synergistic alliances” between new media and the visual

industry to largely capitalize on user-generated content.1 For instance, Shanda Literature, the Web portal that controls over 90 percent of China’s online-reading market, has attracted more than 1.6 million writers, and its users were contributing an average of 80 million Chinese characters to the site each day by March 2012.2 Works first published on Shanda have been adapted at a high percentage rate to films, TV series, stage plays, and games. Within a decade, online writing has been transformed from an individual artistic pursuit for liter-ary enthusiasts into a streamlined industry that aims to exploit the popular appeal of Internet literature to the greatest extent possible.

Despite the big buzz that Internet literature has generated in popular media, little critical attention has been paid to the underlying mechanisms conducive to this ascending trend of popular cultural production, or to the lack of empirical studies on the making of canonical works online. One way to address this gap in scholarship is to approach China’s digital literary renaissance through the lens of critical communities and

SPECIAL SECTION: INTERNET LITERATURE

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online norms. The online dynamics surrounding the 2006 publication of Tong Hua’s 桐华 Startling by Each Step (Bubu jingxin 步步惊心) on the Jinjiang Literature City website illustrate how the creative writing process of Internet-based writers has been constantly reshaped by the affective intervention of peer critics. Acclaimed as “the canon of Qing-travel fiction,” Startling by Each Step first developed a cult following on Jinjiang that quickly captured a more mainstream market through adapta-tions in print, audio books, a stage play, games, and a television series. Of these new formats, it was the 2011 TV adaptation that further boosted the novel’s popular-ity. The frenetic reception of the television series inspired another round of critical discussion of the fiction as well as the production of sequels and prequels of the work across multiple media platforms. All of this success can

be traced back to Jinjiang. The vibrancy and productivity of critical communities on Jinjiang laid the groundwork for the canonization of Startling by Each Step. The forg-ing of these critical communities and the ascendance of online norms not only fostered Tong Hua’s transition into a professional writer, thereby enhancing her cultural capital, but also bear significant implications for further-ing the understanding of the particularities of Internet literature in postmillennial China.

“Word-of-Mouse” Publicity, Critical Communities, and Cultural Public Sphere The Internet literary field in China has witnessed quite a few legendary stories of how the “word-of-mouse” pub-licity of netizen communities has popularized initially

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anonymous Internet writers since the late 1990s, includ-ing Anni Baobei 安妮宝贝, Jin Hezai 今何在, Murong Xuecun 慕容雪村, and Tong Hua.3 Most of these writers initially made “noninstrumental claims” about publish-ing online—they wrote simply because they loved litera-ture4—but they have since transitioned into professional writers and remain active in the mainstream cultural realm. Despite media hype about netizens’ seemingly mysterious power to canonize literary works, inadequate

scholarly attention has been devoted to the particular-ity of literary communities in technologically mediated cultural space. Aside from a few studies on the interac-tive dimension of literary websites,5 the ways in which Internet users function as both peer critics and “agents of consecration,” who proactively promote and canonize Internet literature, have yet to be investigated.6

By examining the “micropractices” of audiences on the Jinjiang Literature City website,7 it becomes clear how Jinjiang users’ affective engagement with texts and their authors has significantly reconfigured the nature of writing, reviewing, and publishing popular literature in China’s digital age. The vibrancy of the comment sec-tion on Jinjiang resonates with Hills’s proposition that online audience engagement embodies the forging of a “community of imagination,” defined as “a community

which, rather than merely imagining itself as coexistent in clocked time, constitutes itself precisely through a common affective engagement, and thereby through a common respect for a popular cultural representa-tional space.”8 Moreover, multifarious forms of audience responses—ranging from hatred, dislike, and antago-nism, to different degrees of attachment—emerge during the process of affective engagement, which “can be just as powerful as can a strong and admiring . . . relationship with a text, and they can produce just as much activ-ity, identification, meaning, and ‘effects’ or serve just as powerfully to unite and sustain a community or subcul-ture.”

9 For Jinjiang users, their affective engagement with

Startling by Each Step and the forging of critical commu-nities during the fiction’s serialization process demon-strates a juxtaposition of the cognitive and the affective modes of communication.10 Consequently, the comments section for Startling by Each Step functions as the “training ground for a critical public reflection” through netizens’ (sometimes intensive) sharing of sentiments, experiences, and criticisms.11 The conflation of divergent voices on Jin-jiang not only illuminates how peer-produced criticism is of vital significance to the contemporaneous production of texts, but also highlights users’ inclination to abide by particular norms and behavioral codes. In a broad sense, critical communities play an indispensible role in rein-vigorating literary creativity in China, and they also serve as important barometers for audience tastes and trends in publishing and adaptation in China’s digital age.

Time-Travel Romance at Jinjiang Literature CityLaunched in 2003, Jinjiang Literature City’s special posi-tion in the online literary sphere is precisely summa-rized by Feng Jin 冯进: “Compared with other Chinese literature websites, Jinjiang not only almost exclusively answers to contemporary Chinese women’s interests and concerns, it also boasts interactive features conducive to candid, sophisticated, and in-depth discussions among its users.”12 Jinjiang has dominated the Chinese-language market for romance production and consumption by copyrighting more than eighty percent of romance pub-lications in the book market. With twelve thousand con-tracted writers, Jinjiang has attracted more than seven million registered users, and twenty-five percent of its Internet traffic comes from overseas. The productivity of the Jinjiang community is manifest in the following statis-tics: On average, each day more than ten million Chinese characters are uploaded to the website, each month two

On average, each day more than ten

million Chinese characters are uploaded

to the website, each month two thousand

new works are added to Jinjiang’s

collection, a new chapter is posted every

six seconds, and a new comment is

generated every half-second.

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thousand new works are added to Jinjiang’s collection, a new chapter is posted every six seconds, and a new com-ment is generated every half-second.13

The overarching architecture of the Jinjiang website denotes the wide range of corporate strategies the site adopts to sustain Internet users’ interest in publishing original content. Jinjiang’s homepage mainly consists of the following categories: romance (yanqing xiaoshuo言情小说), non-romance fiction (feiyanqing xiaoshuo 非言情小说), spin-off fiction (yansheng xiaoshuo 衍生小说), visual adaptation (chuban yingshi 出版影视), games and entertainment (youxi yule 游戏娱乐), and forums (jinjiang luntan 晋江论坛). Web space on Jinjiang is hierarchically structured based on the popularity ranking of works and Internet users’ financial investments. Like most online content providers, Jinjiang implements a sophisticated recommendation and ranking system to promote read-ers as primary evaluators of content. The ranking list consists of various categories, including monthly ranks, quarterly ranks, and bi-annual ranks that are all based on the number of points a work accumulates; ranking lists based on the quantity of votes a writer receives; and rankings based on writer productivity. Also, edi-tors regularly screen the materials published online to discover talented authors, and they also adopt various recommendation methods to publicize these works.14 The accessibility of original online content reflects the dominant logic of capital for commercial websites. Origi-nal content on Jinjiang is categorized into three types: free, monthly subscription, and VIP chapters.15 Readers need to pay a small fee to access works that fall into the last two categories. They also are encouraged to deposit Jinjiang points, a virtual currency that is convertible to real currency, into their favorite authors’ account to show support. Therefore, the structuring of online content on Jinjiang reflects an unwavering adherence to the logic of attention economy that best monetizes user attention. What distinguishes Jinjiang from other content providers is the sophisticated review system Jinjiang employs to reify user attention and promote quality comments. Spe-cifically, the review system on Jinjiang is organized into three categories: (1) The overall popularity ranking (renqi 人气) of a work relies on the accumulative points an author receives from readers. For each updated post an author makes, readers may rate the content from -2 to 2, but the score won’t be posted until the reader also posts concrete comments. Although readers can post as many comments as they want, the score will only count once. (2) Commentary that is over one thousand characters

is categorized as “long commentary” (changping 长评), and may be selected as “excellent commentary” (jinghua changping 精华长评) by editors and Web-based writers, a symbolic recognition awarded to engaged readers. (3) Jinjiang also invites readers to contribute “special commentary” (teyao pinglun 特邀评论) on designated topics, such as the reinvention of time-travel romance.16 Lastly, in addition to providing exhaustive stipulations about all ranking, recommendation, and reviewing cri-teria, Jinjiang strongly advocates an open exchange of opinions and revises these stipulations based on user feedback.17

Jinjiang’s institutional setting paves the way for shaping the idiosyncrasies of online literary communities that foreground constructive criticism, open competition, and instantaneous interaction among online readers. Given the proliferation of original literary content online, the strategy of publishing works in installments imme-diately transforms into a fierce battle among writers for the attention of users. Accordingly, writers’ capability to compose enticing plotlines and to stay responsive to readers have proven essential in building rapport with readers. In the technologically mediated space of the Jin-giang webiste, the time lag between a recently published post and an author’s next update grants ample opportu-nities for readers to contemplate and post responses. For writers, this time lag allows them to respond to reader inquiries and adjust plotlines in follow-up posts. More often than not, Internet users’ most active engagement with literary works takes place during the writing pro-cess, which entails the ever-changing stances of Jinjiang readers based on the development of the story and the author’s reaction to reader responses. Under these con-ditions, literary communities on Jinjiang are subject to constant reconfiguration, since followers of works range from devoted readers, critics, and mock fans, to fellow writers and Web editors. Consequently, the diverging emotional investment of Jinjiang readers, enhanced by the anonymous nature and interactive feature of Web publishing and commenting, constitutes the broad spec-trum of the audience’s affective engagement with the text, its author, and the reconfiguration of their relation-ship with the text.

The process during which Startling by Each Step first made its name testifies to a “literary economy based on intense collaborative efforts” among Web editors, com-mercial websites, and Internet users.18 Taken together, these agents consecrate Startling by Each Step as a canoni-cal work of time-travel romance at the very moment of

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its formation. In 2005, Tong Hua quit her job as a finance analyst in China and relocated to the United States with her husband. Feeling somewhat at a loss in her host coun-try, Tong began writing as a hobby, focusing on convo-luted power struggles of the Qing Imperial Court, which she set within the framework of a time-travel romance.19 Time-travel romances usually tell the story of a modern protagonist who is accidentally sent back to an impe-rial Chinese dynasty, and who then develops romantic relationships with well-known historical figures, such as emperors and princes. Travelling back to the Qing dynasty has been one of the most popular themes, partly due to a greater degree of public familiarity with this last imperial dynasty. Although the first five chapters Tong published were rather plain, Jinjiang users were gradu-ally attracted to the story as she continued to update. By the time Tong posted chapter thirty, she had attracted followers who engaged in a series of ideal routine activi-ties, such as requesting updates (cuiwen 催文), checking for updates (zhuiwen 追文), rating the content (dafen 打分), rewarding the author (dashang 打赏), and posting comments. Soon, Startling by Each Step made it to the ranking list on Jinjiang’s home page, and Tong Hua was invited to sign a VIP contract with the website. The com-ments section for each updated chapter of Startling by Each Step demonstrates an unprecedented level of user involvement, even in proportion to the text’s elevated popularity ranking, in terms of refashioning the serializa-tion process and critically manufacturing the production of time-travel romance.

Critically Manufacturing Time-Travel RomanceIn accordance with popular themes of time-travel romance, Startling by Each Step ties romantic elements with well-known historical events, in this case the leg-endary court struggles of the nine princes competing for the throne (jiulong duodi 九龙夺嫡) under the Kangxi Emperor’s reign. On the one hand, Tong Hua’s reinter-pretation of the story follows the conventional narrative formula of heterosexual romance that is known to attract female readers and is described as “the particular man-ner in which the hero pursues and wins the affections of the heroine.”20 On the other hand, Startling by Each Step incorporates new elements into the formula and empha-sizes how a modern woman living in an imperial dynasty learns to not only resist against, but also compromise and cope with a patriarchal feudal society. Tong’s story begins

with the protagonist, Zhang Xiaowen, a 25-year-old pro-fessional in Shenzhen, being accidentally sent back to the Qing Dynasty after falling off a ladder. Zhang wakes up as Maertai Ruoxi, the teenage daughter of a Manchu gen-eral. Ruoxi is temporarily living with her sister, Ruolan, a concubine of the Kangxi Emperor’s eighth son, Yinsi, who is immediately attracted to Ruoxi for her rebel-lious personality. Ruoxi also befriends and attracts other princes, including both Yinsi’s rivals and supporters. Half a year later, Ruoxi becomes a court maid in charge of serving tea for the Kangxi Emperor in the Forbidden City. Yinsi’s long-term affection for Ruoxi finally moves her and the two develop a romantic relationship. Well-aware of Yinsi’s doomed fate, Ruoxi agrees to marry Yinsi only if he gives up competing for the throne. Yinsi rejects Ruoxi’s proposal and the two break up. Subsequently, Ruoxi cultivates a relationship with the fourth prince Yinzhen, the successor to the Kangxi Emperor. At first she seeks only to survive in the imperial court, but eventually the two unwittingly fall in love. Fierce political struggles unfold along with Ruoxi’s emotional life: Yinsi, Yinzhen, and Yinreng, who was originally designated as successor to Kangxi, constantly plot against one another. Although Ruoxi lives a happy life with Yinzhen shortly after he secures the throne, she cannot stand Yinzhen’s cruel prosecution of his siblings—most of whom are her child-hood friends—in order to consolidate his power. After several tragedies, including having a miscarriage, Ruoxi marries Yinti (the fourteenth prince) so that she can leave the Forbidden City. When Ruoxi’s health deteriorates, she requests to see Yinzhen. However, Yinzhen does not read Ruoxi’s letter due to a misunderstanding between him and Yinti. After hearing about Ruoxi’s death, Yinzhen rushes to Yinti’s home and learns that Ruoxi still loved him, which makes Yinzhen deeply regret his past actions.

Over the sixth-month span of publishing Startling by Each Step, the commentary on each chapter of the fiction not only significantly reshaped Tong Hua’s writ-ing process, but also foregrounded the ascendance of nascent norms in online communities. To begin with, the portrayal of Ruoxi’s struggles in the imperial court offers multiple subject positions with which contemporary readers can identify. The authentic sense of being within the story is the major force that encourages romance readers to passionately engage with the text. Further, the opportunity for Jinjiang readers to bear witness to the growth of rookie writers and to the completion of works from scratch emphasizes “an ideology of spontaneity and

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the here and now, of fleeting moments rather than big schemes and grand narratives, and of the increasingly permeable boundaries between participant and observer, performer and audience, author and reader.”21 In this sense, followers of Startling by Each Step capitalized on collective intelligence to thoroughly analyze each chapter, speculate about follow-ups, provide leads for Tong Hua, proofread, and suggest ways to polish her writing. These followers noted any progress Tong made, remarked on logical and factual flaws, and mobilized to improve the ranking status of her work. For instance, as Tong pub-lished chapter 39, Jinjiang users pointed out a remarkable breakthrough she made in terms of creating suspense: “Your Honor (daren 大人, a popular online slang readers use to address authors), you can compete well with tradi-tional storytellers. Every time I reach the end of a chapter, it’s as if I’m reading a traditional novel that states, ‘If you want to know what happens, check out the next chapter.’ Awesome! You keep us wondering what comes next.”22 Readers’ moods were constantly affected by the rank-ing status of the novel: they expressed excitement when Startling by Each Step made it to the top of the ranking list, and they immediately mobilized fellow readers to give made-up ratings (bufen 补分) when the story dipped in the rankings. As political struggles among the characters unfolded with the ups and downs of Ruoxi’s private life, invested readers formed factions to support their favor-ite princes. Jinjiang users debated which prince should be Ruoxi’s Mr. Right, and asked Tong Hua to arrange a happy ending for the figures they rooted for. In this highly performative space, netizens speculate on follow-up storylines. Their justification of their preferences, their intertextual references to other time-travel romances, and their playful indulgence in factional struggles reconfig-ured their relationship with the text, its author, and the history of the Qing dynasty. The affective engagement of readers with each of Tong Hua’s posts often emphasized logical reasoning, particularly on various occasions of dissonance, such as disagreements about character devel-opment, quality of writing, and plotlines. A case in point is the heated exchange of viewpoints among Jinjiang readers regarding the new plot development in chapter 42, in which Ruoxi finally decides to date the eighth prince, six years after he first falls in love with her. Read-ers who disapproved of this move criticized Ruoxi’s deci-sion, complained about Tong’s writing style, and gave negative ratings. Meanwhile, Tong’s supporters justified Ruoxi’s decision, and condemned those who criticized

the text for not reading it carefully. A noteworthy phe-nomenon is the value that all readers of diverse factions placed on rational reasoning and sensible handling of dis-agreements. For instance, those opposed to the storyline with the eighth prince stated:

Post 1to Anran mm You may disagree with what I said, but you should respect my right to speak up. Cursing your “net friend” [wangyou 网友] to be hospitalized? Your words are the same as personal attacks. Also, objectively speaking, my comments help increase the click-through rate and the number of comments for this chapter. This is not necessarily bad for the author. I sincerely suggest Xiaosan [Tong’s online name] reflect on the several chapters she recently published. One-sided compliments hinder an author’s improvement. Lastly, I hate to see other commenters write things like “getting out of here” whenever they see negative comments. If I did not care about this work, why would I even bother to spend so much time typing lengthy comments!

Post 2I don’t really care whether Ruoxi picks the eighth prince or the fourth prince, or any other prince for that matter. However, the relationship between her and the eighth prince is not as enticing as the one between her and the fourth prince. It is not even as exciting as her platonic relationship with the thirteenth prince. This is perhaps because Ruoxi’s personality has gradually changed. In the beginning, she had too strong of a personality, so now the work is not as intriguing as before!

Post 3Hmmm . . . Let me quietly state this: the two chapters Xiaosan just updated are indeed not as good as before. I think the love triangle Jinzi [another time-travel romance writer] portrays is more interesting.

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In response to post #3, Tong’s supporters argued:

Post 4Why can’t the female protagonist live happily ever after with the eighth prince? Why should all female protagonists marry the fourth prince? I really like Xiaosan’s work. You shouldn’t attack her simply because her plot development does not meet your expectations . . . Ruoxi follows her heart and dates the eighth prince. What is wrong with that? I was irritated by all the comments that blamed her for this decision. Some readers simply criticize and don’t even carefully read the chapter. Even I, a long-term lurker, feel the urge to speak up for the writer.

Post 5You don’t have to read if the storyline fails to meet your expectations. I think Xiaosan reserves her own right to compose as she wishes. What gives you the right to give a negative rating?

Post 6

It’s irrational to blame Ruoxi simply because she doesn’t choose the guy you favor. It’s overly narrow-minded if all our debates are based on this one-sided standard. That’s how verbal abuse [duima 对骂] arises. Of course, truth does not fear contention. But truth is based on facts, and Tong Hua has been rather cautious in terms of wording. So aside from errors, I hope there will be no more arguments with Tong Hua simply because of your personal inclinations. Moreover, I think a real fan should focus on picking our own Mr. Right, instead of arguing about who is the most suitable candidate for Ruoxi. We need to consider to what extent the male candidate’s moral characters, goals, and attitude toward love in the novel matches our own disposition and future plans.23

The debate in these posts revolving around the plot development of chapter 42 showcases how the communicative realm of the affective and the cognitive is often intermingled. Throughout the debate, Jinjiang readers, regardless of their stances, demonstrate a strong

sense of empathy and project their own desires and experiences onto the story. Both supporters and criticizers stress the importance of maintaining a critical distance from the work and respecting everyone’s right to speak up, which includes the author’s right to determine the arrangement of the plotline and character development. They caution each other that it is unproductive to attack authors simply because they do not accommodate reader preferences. Thus, the intertwining of the rational and the affective modes of discussion demonstrates the forging of critical communities on Jinjiang. Correspondingly, reasoning competence is a common ground on which most readers are expected to agree, and the most despicable activity is to articulate nonsensical attacks without substantiating the argument. This principle largely applies to other types of debates among fans in support of different works on Jinjiang.

During the serialization process of Startling by Each Step, another recurring debate took place between supporters of Tong Hua and fans of Jinzi, Tong’s rival author who published A Dream Back to the Qing Dynasty (Menghui daqing 梦回大清) on Jinjiang from July 1, 2004, to October 28, 2007. Since both novels focus on the same historical period and figures, fans employed a wide range of criteria to fight over issues of excellence, including character development, consistency of plot, logical flaws, historical accuracy, writing styles, and so on. The following quotes exemplify major standards that Jinjiang readers abide by in generating peer critiques.

Post 7Incomparable to A Dream Back to the Qing Dynasty by Jinzi. So disappointed~.

Post 8Who said that? Poor taste! Please do not just look at the emotional entanglement and plot development. Don’t you feel that Startling by Each Step is incomparable to other works in terms of depth? Not a single work could compare with Xiaosan’s careful wording and serious attitude toward history.

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Post 9Excuse me, I’m here to post negative comments. Jinzi is indeed the canonical writer of time-travel romance. Startling by Each Step is the sequel of Jinzi’s work, at best. It originates from A Dream Back to the Qing Dynasty, and does not have a breakthrough no matter what aspects we are comparing, including the writing style, plot, and richness of texts. The female protagonist is so pretentious. Maybe Tong Hua did not copy Jinzi’s plot, but the design of characters is completely based on A Dream Back to the Qing Dynasty.

Post 10I have read both Startling by Each Step and A Dream Back to the Qing Dynasty. Both are excellent works. Indeed, in terms of language styles, Startling by Each Step takes the upper hand. But A Dream Back to the Qing Dynasty stands out for its dialogue and good sense of humor. I think both are good works, different strokes for different folks. So why argue to the point of almost getting into fights here?24

Although post 7 evokes numerous follow-up comments, it also receives the most criticism for the lack of rational reasoning expressed by the poster. Other comments, regardless of the poster’s stance, address the merits and flaws of both works, and substantiate these statements with supporting evidence as if these critics were writing a mini scholarly essay. Moreover, post 10 demonstrates a sense of self-governance prevalent among Jinjiang readers: the post reminds users that it is unproductive to take radical stances and be verbally abusive, since evaluative standards for good literary works are subject to a reader’s educational background, professional training, and personal disposition. Drawing on the popular saying that “beauty is in the eye of beholder,” netizens warn each other about the perils of articulating unreasonable criticism. After all, if the author quits writing because of frustration with unproductive commentary, it is ultimately the loss of those who have been following a story’s updates. The followers of Startling by Each Step were thus extremely responsive to Tong’s emotional status and never hesitated to extend moral support to

her. When Tong Hua expressed her frustration about negative comments and unreasonable requests for updates from readers, one netizen responded:

Your Honor really should not care about [negative] comments and ratings. It is common to “receive bricks” [aizhuantou 挨砖头, “to receive negative comments”] on Jinjiang. The higher your ranking is, the more likely you will receive ruthless criticism. Most of the criticism does not make any sense. So you will need to be prepared. Stay strong! I think you portray the princes’ emotional lives very vividly, and everyone has their own character. You are good at portraying details. Please follow your own train of thought, and do not easily cast doubt on yourself. I’m rooting for you!25

As this quote demonstrates, the overarching goal of Jinjiang readers is to construct a supportive and productive environment for authors so that readers may take pleasure in critically engaging with texts. The degrees of reader engagement are often in proportion to the symbolic recognition the reader receives. Those who consistently post thoughtful analysis often receive symbolic recognition from peer critics, literary websites, and authors, such as being invited to contribute special entries on various subject matters, whereas those who post unsubstantiated criticisms tend to be despised on Jinjiang. Tong Hua’s readers carefully police her designated commentary space, defend charges against her, celebrate recognition of the work (such as making it to the top of the ranking list and Tong joining the VIP club), and question any unreasonable criticism.

The foregrounding of rational analysis through netizens’ affective interaction with one another in the comments section has a twofold implication. First, Jinjiang users function as the non-institutionalized “agents of consecration” who contribute to forming collective belief around the value of Internet literature.26 In the field of restricted cultural production, agents of consecration are those institutionalized critics who receive prestigious training and acquire credentials, but the online literary sphere is open to anyone. The unofficial agents of consecration on Jinjiang galvanize collective initiatives to support their favorite authors, and their negotiation and production of “the meaning and value of the work” foster the proliferation and ingenuity

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tional media production hierarchies and increases the reach and relevance of fan-produced texts,”31 then it is by no means an exaggeration to state that the Internet literary scene in China has revolutionized the traditional publishing and media industry. With the declining influ-ence of traditional players such as publishers, literary editors, and distributors, the convergence of production and consumption modes online has proven essential to the “re-institutionalisation of popular fiction” in China.32 Consequently, within a decade, Internet literature has evolved from a marginalized practice among few liter-ary aspirants into a streamlined industry that involves collaboration among diverse players, including commer-cial websites, Internet users, literary agents, publishing houses, and the visual industry.

An examination of these collaborations reveals to both readers and scholars the underlying mechanisms that drive China’s digital literary renaissance at a micro level. Of particular influence are the “micropractices” of romance readers and the online mechanisms on Jinjiang, as both have fostered the ascendance of critical commu-nities that advocate constructive criticism, self-reflection, and respectful disagreement.33 The affective engagement of Jinjiang users with Startling by Each Step illustrates how their visions and imaginations of the past are not only shaped by contemporary spirits, but that netizens themselves also reshape the diverse genres, online norms, and editorial practices of literary websites. Therefore, despite the perils of commercial exploitation and state surveillance, the unprecedented productivity of critical communities on Jinjiang not only serves as a microcosm of the digital literary boom in the contemporary era, but it also illuminates how literature has been re-appropriated and redefined in China’s digital age.

of peer-produced criticism in the comments section,27 which in turn often significantly shapes the course of writing for Jinjiang authors. Second, user productivity on Jinjiang foregrounds “the development of a new set of vocabulary, behavioral codes, and ethics on the Internet.”28 In addition to employing a playful discursive system to communicate online, the majority of Jinjiang users perceive of themselves as rational critics, and call for the respectful expression of disagreement. As a result, disputes on Jinjiang differ from most online debates, which have “devoted little attention to the collective maintenance of a friendly, and thus more democratic, milieu,”29 and embody the idiosyncrasies of a cultural public sphere that welcomes contestation and difference.

ConclusionInternet literature in China arose at a critical junc-ture when traditional publishing industries and literary journals were struggling with the market logic in the late 1990s, and serious literature lost its appeal among urban youngsters. At the same time, aspiring literary enthusiasts began to embrace a whole new experience of Internet writing amidst the first wave of the dot-com boom. Because of these simultaneous happenings in the late 1990s, Internet literature in China demonstrates some distinctive traits that differ from the literature of more advanced capitalist societies. In the West, the mergers and acquisitions of independent publishing houses began as early as the 1980s, and the commercial success of first-time authors became largely reliant on the endorsement of gigantic conglomerates.30 Moreover, if in the Western context digital technologies “provide a new distribution channel for amateur production” that “ruptures tradi-

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Notes1 Shuyu Kong, Consuming Literature: Best Sellers and the Com-

mercialization of Literary Production in Contemporary China (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 2005), 161.

2 “Shengda wenxue ronghuo ‘2012nian zhongguo wenhua chuangyi chanye shida lingjun qiye’” 盛大文学荣获 “2012年中国文化创意产业十大领军企业” (“Shanda Literature Won the Honorary Title of ‘The Top Ten Leading Enterprises of China’s Creative Industry in 2012’”), Shanda Literature Web-site, accessed Feb. 8, 2013, http://www.cloudary.com.cn/News/1021660.

3 Yan Feng 严锋, “Xinmeiti zhongde qingchun xiezuo” 新媒体中

的青春写作 (“Writings about the Youth on the Internet”), Wenyi zhengming 文艺争鸣 (Debates on Arts), no. 7 (2010): 16–19.

4 Guobin Yang, “Chinese Internet Literature and the Changing Field of Print Culture,” in From Woodblocks to the Internet: Chi-nese Publishing and Print Culture in Transition, Circa 1800 to 2008, eds. Cynthia Brokaw and Christopher A. Reed (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 333.

5 Michel Hockx, “Links with the Past: Mainland China’s Online Literary Communities and Their Antecedents,” Journal of Con-temporary China 13, no. 38 (2004), 105–27; Michel Hockx, “Virtual Chinese Literature: A Comparative Case Study of Online Poetry Communities,” The China Quarterly 183 (2005): 670–91; Jin Feng, Romancing the Internet: Producing and Consuming Chinese Web Romance (Boston: Brill, 2013), 54.

6 Pierre Bourdieu, “The Market of Symbolic Goods,” in The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature, ed. Randal Johnson (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1993), 121.

7 Dan Hassoun, “Tracing Attentions: Toward an Analysis of Simultaneous Media Use,” Television & New Media 15, no. 4 (2014): 282.

8 Matthew Hills, “Virtually Out There: Strategies, Tactics and Affective Spaces in On-line Fandom,” in Technospaces: Inside the New Media, ed. Sally R. Munt (London: Continuum, 2001), 154.

9 Jonathan Gray, “New Audiences, New Textualities: Anti-fans and Non-fans,” International Journal of Cultural Studies 6, no. 1 (2003): 64-81; Jonathan Gray, “Antifandom and the Moral Text: Television without Pity and Textual Dislike,” American Behavioral Scientist 48, no. 7 (2005): 841.

10 Jim McGuigan, “The Cultural Public Sphere,” European Journal of Cultural Studies 8, no. 4 (2005): 427.

11 Jürgen Habermas, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, trans. Thomas Burger (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology Press, 1989), 29.

12 Jin Feng, Romancing the Internet, 54.13 Jinjiang Literature City Website, accessed July 9, 2014, http://

www.jjwxc.net/aboutus/.14 Promising writers are often invited to sign contracts with Jin-

jiang. Thus the site also functions as literary agents who are responsible for copyright protection, traditional publishing, and visual adaptations of literary works.

15 For more comprehensive discussions of Jinjiang’s business model, see Rui Liu, “The Business Models of Net Literature in China” (master’s thesis, Royal Institute of Technology, 2010).

16 Jinjiang Literature City Website, accessed Dec. 2, 2014, http://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=199233.

17 Jinjiang Literature City Website, accessed Dec. 2, 2014, http://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=622654.

18 Paola Iovene, Tales of Futures Past: Anticipation and the Ends of Literature in Contemporary China (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 2014), 104.

19 Tong Hua, “Preface to Startling by Each Step,” Jinjiang Litera-ture City Website, accessed Dec. 2, 2013, http://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=121912.

20 Janice Radway, Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1991), 77.

21 Heather Inwood, Verse Going Viral: China’s New Media Scenes (Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press, 2014), 15.

22 Comments section for chapter 39 of Startling by Each Step, Jinjiang Literature City Website, accessed Dec. 1, 2013, http://www.jjwxc.net/comment.php?novelid=38029&chapterid=39&page=14.

23 Comments section for chapter 42 of Startling by Each Step, Jinjiang Literature City Website, accessed Dec. 1, 2013, http://www.jjwxc.net/comment.php?novelid=38029&chapterid=42&page=2.

24 Comments section for chapter 15 of Startling by Each Step, Jinjiang Literature City Website, accessed Dec. 1, 2013, http://www.jjwxc.net/comment.php?novelid=38029&chapterid=15&page=7.

25 Comments section for chapter 32 of Startling by Each Step, Jinjiang Literature City Website, accessed Dec. 1, 2013, http://www.jjwxc.net/comment.php?novelid=38029&chapterid=32&page=15.

26 Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production, 121. 27 Ibid., 37. 28 Ning Zhang, “Web-based Backpacking Communities and

Online Activism in China: Movement without Marching,” China Information 28, no. 2 (2014): 6.

29 Angela Xiao Wu, “Hail the Independent Thinker: The Emer-gence of Public Debate Culture on the Chinese Internet,” International Journal of Communication 6 (2012): 2239.

30 Marianne Martens, “Transmedia Teens: Affect, Immaterial Labor, and User-generated Content,” Convergence: The Inter-national Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 17, no. 1 (2011): 54.

31 Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: New York Univ. Press, 2006), 131.

32 Shih-chen Chao, “The Re-institutionalisation of Popular Fiction—the Internet and a New Model of Popular Fiction Prosumption in China,” Journal of the British Association for Chinese Studies 3 (2013): 1–38.

33 Dan Hassoun, “Tracing Attentions,” 282.

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