#unfortunately I think we peaked with feng lan's essay on zhang yimou's hero and have yet to match that with studies on internet literature

[hunxi-after-hours]

"Nevertheless, to maintain popularity and financial success, xuanhuan writers often walk a fine line between creative storytelling/dreaming and market demands. This tension between creative exploration, subversion and commodification underscores the complex nature of xuanhuan fantasy fiction as both a product shaped by commercial considerations and a catalyst for unsettling dominant narratives through the creation of alternative worlds...Underneath xuanhuan's beautified oriental spectacles, these grassroots reimaginations of tianxia reflect a crisis in contemporary society, one that cannot be satisfied by official nationalism and patriotism."

—Cui Qian, "Reinventing Tianxia Coming-of-Age in Xuanhuan Fantasy Fiction," Digital China: Creativity and Community in the Sinocybersphere