Discussion Is there any influence from the international audience

I'm mostly talking about CN. Cause JP for how much I know is already multinational with atleast a little influence from foreign viewers.

I've seen authors posting small vid about how they are happy about their story reaching far shores ( authors of CD, DE), but I get the the feeling this is more of a secondary fanbase ( like a unexpected extra )

Is it taken into a part of the target audience, or is it just in the miscellaneous group?

 

Def. NOT part of the target audience. While we can be considered a secondary fan-base, don't harbor any hopes that CN authors r keeping us in mind when they write; not even in the edges of their mind, I'd wager.

 

I agree

 

CN reader are not even the main target audience, they are the second priority, with the international community being third and until 5 or 6 years ago almost non existent.
the number one target must always be the chinese censors and the communist party

 

Some of them probably don’t know we exist tbh

 

Well, CD did feel a bit influenced by western culture to me rather than the heavy Chinese feeling cultivation novels usually give off.

The names and the simplified power system, some other things probably too (it's a long time since I've read it) but I probably would not have been able to tell it's actually a Chinese novel from the translations if I went in blind. That was the only one, every other Chinese novel I've read feels like it's blatantly obvious it's Chinese.

So who knows? We'll never know what the authors are thinking unless they tell us. Also, are these translations official translations? Cause most of them are fan translated...so they definitely didn't expect an international audience, right?

 

Even a fan translated needs author's permission rt? So it must be official

Or Is it just THAT overlooked they don't care where their work get translated outside China?

 

Unless we as a secondary audience impact their business, I see no reason why they should change for us. More fans usually means more demands and some authors dont like that. Its a simple question of supply and demand and impact. Some of the authors might also resent it since they dont gain or havent gained from free or third party translation. Thats revenue that they could have or they might not like to share.

 

Maybe they dont care. And its their right. An international audience does have different tastes apart from a Chinese audience and maybe they dont want the effort, hassle and anything to do with expansion

 

There is no influence. Writers have a difficult enough time trying to figure out what their regular readers like. They will have little understanding of non-Chinese readers (if there is any consensus to begin with) so there would be little point in trying to cater to this audience.

That said, I've read a lot of Chinese books and I do see ideas from non-Chinese sources all the time. The most common of these is anime references, but I also see things from Hollywood films, Russian novels, and so on. (It's a bit weird but cool to see a Chinese author write a Japanese high school story). These books are still very much intended for Chinese audiences and just represent the fact that Chinese writers tend to have expansive interests.

 

If there is a web/light novel series written a Chinese/Japanese/Korean person and the series is set in NYC, the author might have had New Yorkers in mind. Of course, given the many ethnicities in NYC, maybe that writer was going for a specific audience. For example, maybe the Asian community of NYC! Obviously, this is not the norm!

Now, what you might see more often is elements taken from a non-Asian setting! For example, you might have a story set in modern-day Beijing but a lot of philosophical or artistic themes might be from Hungary! The reason I choose Hungary is because that is the birth country of the my avatar: film producer William Fox, hence Fox News.

BTW, what series are "CD" and "DE"?

 

It's simply Xuanhuan.
It has nothing to do with Western Audiences.

It is the same as all those dumb Hollywood Chinese Martial Arts movies of the 80s and 90s eg Beverley Hills Ninja.
They called it Ninja but it was all Chinese Martial Arts to further show their ignorance I believe.

The same way Japanese author write stories set in Europe but have Japanese honorifics in them.
It is just a way to make the stories exotic and to stand out

 

Ahh, so that's how it is. Well, I guess it does make sense. When you think fantasy, the medieval tolkein like stuff is what comes to mind first. I don't know, it just works. Dragons, elves, goblins, with swords and magic, with kings and nobles and churches, in an European setting with castles and medieval buildings just paints the perfect scene of a fantasy adventure no matter from which country you come from.

 

The Chinese government banned lots of books. I doubt novels like Tolkien are popular.
Even their most popular author who is from Hong Kong : Louis Cha had most of his books banned for decades for being too political even though it is all ancient Chinese historical fiction.
@ToastedRossi and @Wu Jizun would know more about it.
Cheers!

 

I've seen entire historical novels set in Europe, and it's still obvious that they're designed for Chinese readers.

His books got banned in Taiwan as well! Also, one of Jin Yong's biggest fans was the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and he'd tell stories of secretly reading his books during the period they were banned.

 

I read a bit about Taiwan and how the island natives were banned from speaking their native language : Holkien.
It certainly put this song into perspective:

It also explains why growing up I felt confused by the different "Chinese" I was hearing.
It was actually Cantonese movies with some with Chinese dubs

 

I never read Tolkein stuff either. I'm talking about the type of stuff Tolkein writes. That was just an example. I understood western fantasy from movies and fairytales and videogames and such even before I watched Lord of the Rings.

 

Cd- Coiling dragon

DE- desolate era

 

Nah, very unlikely. Even if Chinese write a story based in New York, it will be in Chinatown and feel very un-New York

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumble_in_the_Bronx

I should know, I went to college with them in New York.
Chinese can live a decade in America and not speak a word of English since they interact with only Chinese

 

I don't think the authors care at all what happens as long as the translators aren't making money off it. If I was writing something but somebody else was getting paid I'd be pissed.