Why do people complain so much about harems in Chinese novels?

This is just my personal opinion:
It makes no sense for people to complain about the harem in novels.
The fact that the MC may seem hypocritical also doesn't matter.
First of all, the Xianxia / Xuanhuan novels shouldn't focus on love and romance. And the Harem destroys the romantic element: it should be harem or mc that has no romantic relationship like in "LOTM".
The Chinese novels are about cultivation, fighting, struggles and murder, and not a love story. In my opinion, a faithful story ruins the novel.
What do you think of the harem?

 

I do complain about harem a lot.

 

Why do people do ... anything.

Why are you complaining about people complaing...

Jokes aside, whether a novel has a harem or not has very little to do with how much I will enjoy a novel. If i like it then i like it, if I don't than I don't. A faithful story doesn't ruin a novel for me, and I like harem in my Chinese novels. So i don't really have anything to say other than for me it doesn't really matter.

 

Ah, I see, you understand the great "Dao Of Indifference"

 

Eh, depends on the reason

Of course it matters. Why would I want to read a story about someone that I don't have any interest in following,

That's on the authors, not readers. If they don't want to focus on love/romance then stop introducing a new love interest in every steps and using them as plot starters.

Few people complain about harem because it's harem, it's because few harems are done right.

 

When Chinese novel harem make Japanese harem with a dense MC look good. You know it is a problem. I've only read a few chinese novels that have actually built any semblance of intriguing romance/relationship building in comparison to japanese or heck Korean.. Otherwise, it has mostly been "Dao cultivation partner forgotten in side plot... surfacing again later on to forward plot/create a new enemy"

I haven't really complained about harems. If anything, I am more against Chinese manga. Because it has stupid attempts at drawn, goofy comedy.

At that point, it is better for the Author to either make any encounter with a sexual attraction into a mere business venture/stress relieve without any ties to plot. I do read a few that have useless harems. But generally they have other elements that are intriguing that overshadows the deadbeat harem writing.

 

I am not sure what you are trying to say as your statement contradict each other. First you mention that it makes no sense about people complaining about harem, then go on to state your complaint about harem. Which is it?

Overall, I am in the camp of harem wasting time. I am not against the concept of romance, just against the concept of poorly done romance and poorly done romance * X harem members is even worse. So yes, I'd rather they don't have it in the first place.

PS hypocrites are the worst

 

Yes, but we must admit that a hypocritical protagonist is a little more realistic than the perfect, kind, selfless and holy protagonists who do not have a minimum of hypocrisy.
Remember: hypocrisy is a natural part of a human being.

 

I used to love Harems in those types of stories, and if they are done well it is still a huge enjoyment for me to read them.

The problem arises if they are nothing more than baggage to the Main Character. Even if they are nothing but a piece of stone, it is better than baggage.

If you read as much as I do, you will sooner or later come across some stories that exclusively focus on the problem creation caused by the harem that leads to some sort of problem for the main character. Basically, the protagonist is nothing more than a glorified problem solver with no will on his own except for following the wishes of his harem.

Though I oftentimes have also encountered people who simply dismiss a story because it is a harem novel. My theories of those people are as followed:

They don't like harems because they prefer the struggle of choosing a partner. Which is more in line with the real world. Though they also swoon over stories where the choice is made hard because the options are both so good.

Another theory is the comparison to novels that feature no harem. While there are some out there, that suck balls, there are masterpieces that completely immerse you in the power-hungry protagonist who seeks immortality and the truth of the world.

Personally, I like them. While there are moments and arcs I don't particular enjoy, the overall world-building and the Journey are magnificent.

Novels such as LOTM, Reverend Insanity, WOTMR, AOA, and many more.

A side note, most of the Chinese novels catered to males on Novelupdates are rated below 4 or 3 because of various reasons. Mainly trashing the face slapping and the Harem aspects.

On the opposite, most of the Chinese novels catered to females on Novelupdates are often times rated above 4.

Back to the hatred of Harem novels.

The theory I have on that is that in most cases the Harem ain't earned. Magically the beauty/heaven-shattering beauty/jade faces/long-legged/curvy beauty is falling in love with the protagonist. Which might happen. Once.

But if it happens more than once, it becomes unlogical. Especially amongst the face slapping and supposed stronger foes. Everything falls simply into the bosom of the main character which shows the most obvious wish-fulfillment one can have.

If one is new at reading novels or a hot-headed teenager, the flaws are easily overlooked for the amazement of the wish-fulfillment. But when reading countless such novels it sucks balls.

For example, quick obvious plot armor is "Protagonist looks dashing and promising and so the female falls in love with the protagonist". While it seems these days every protagonist is handsome (as no one likes to immerse yourself into an ugly fuck which is hated, except if the ugly fuck somehow becomes better then it is another story), in most cases plot holes the size of the ocean appear.

Nevertheless, it is indeed true that the Harem hate is going strong right now for some unknown reason. As if no one was a horny teenager and wished for a Harem or in other words: Be so desirable that multiple people love you.

 

I'm not complaining about the Harem, I'm just giving my opinion.
I wrote that the harem is good precisely because it ruins all the romance.
It's just my personal opinion and preference.
Anyway, I created this thread because I want to know what people think about my point of view.
PS Hypocrisy is a human trait.

 

Although, I am not a fan of romance nor harem but I don't see a problem with them, I like action the most in the story and a well thought story develoment, perhaps some tactics and psychological stuff, inserting some romance here and there or some harem isn't an issue as long as the story doesn't become cringey or silly

 

TLDR:
People hate harems because they expect badly done ones, where the story does not improve at all with the inclusion of the Harem, rather the opposite.

Then there is the numbskulls complaining simply because they want faithful romance no matter what the author or anyone else wants, everywhere.
The reason why people expect a bad harem is, imo simply because they read too much trash or have a too monotone reading-list

 

Isn't xianxia chiefly about cultivation and the quest for immortality? They are the only things xianxia need to contain. Some of the other elements like the endless fights or tournaments, arrogant young masters, harems et al that can be usually found in novels of this genre are not necessary constituents of the genre itself; rather, readers expect them only because they have come across too many formulaic novels that rehash them. As long as the chief elements are present, it's on the author to include or forgo any other elements of their liking, be it monogamous romance or harem.

And I'd add that harem is disliked because it adds a lot of underdeveloped characters to advance and extend a potentially dead end plot.

 

Having a minimum of hypocrisy does not equal a hypocritical protagonist

 

Some may hate romance or the romance might be forced/bad.

 

Exactly because harems are used in stories where romance isn't the focus. Romance is always something that's nice to see and, as long as it's there, there's no reason for it to suck.

 

You're right, however (again from my point of view), theirs is more infidelity than hypocrisy. Since they always claim that they are not good people, so they are not completely hypocritical.

 

Straight evil protagonist is a totally different case from hypocritical protagonist. Plenty of people enjoy stories with evil protagonists.

 

It's like a game, some people like to do the main story first, some wanna do all the side quests before progressing. The harem are like the side quests, but here you don't have a choice to avoid them.