In recent years, online literature has developed into a popular cultural phenomenon followed by hundreds of millions of netizens. According to the Report on the Development of Chinese Online Literature 2024, online literature boasted 575 million readers, 31.198 million writers, and approximately 41.651 million works. By reflecting China’s social landscape and the transformation of everyday life through vivid storytelling, online literature strengthens the connection between literature and society in both cultural and industrial dimensions. It has emerged as a vital force in the literary and artistic landscape of the new era, while also contributing Chinese perspectives to exchange and mutual learning among civilizations and advancing Chinese literature’s “going global.”

Disseminating Chinese culture overseas

Online literature promotes the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture through Guochao (China-Chic) writing, enabling Chinese stories to move from simply “going global” toward deeper global integration. Many works have developed international audiences through online serialization, IP adaptation, cultural exchange programs, and even tourism cooperation.

Works such as Joy of Life, My Heroic Husband, and Good Spring Time—all collected by the British Library—illustrate several pathways through which Chinese online literature has gained popularity overseas.

First, they incorporate elements such as classical Chinese poetry, traditional Chinese medicine, and intangible cultural heritage into genre narratives, drawing on the rich resources of traditional culture.

Second, they respond to universal human aspirations by placing the spirit of Chinese culture at the center of their narratives, illuminating the brilliance of human nature in moments of choice between life and death, personal gain and moral righteousness, and strengthening emotional identification among readers.

Third, adaptations into audio-visual media interpret Guochao aesthetics through visual storytelling, further expanding the scope of cultural communication. Through such works, overseas audiences gain a deeper understanding of Chinese culture, demonstrating the growing international influence of Chinese storytelling.

Building empathy mechanisms

Online literature constructs story worlds across a wide range of genres, offering readers emotional engagement and psychological comfort. A comparison of popular genres—such as so-called “face-slapping” stories in which protagonists triumph over their opponents and “underdog reversal” tales—shows how online literature intensifies readers’ sensory experience and emotional tension through excitement and inspiration. Plot structures involving revenge, redemption, and healing enable emotional release and compensation, gradually forming an empathy mechanism characterized by “identification—resonance—interaction.”

Such mechanisms can quickly relieve the pressures of real life, allowing readers to achieve temporary emotional release and psychological balance within the imaginative space of narrative worlds.

Promoting value co-creation

The integration of digital and intelligent technologies is currently accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the online literature industry. Artificial intelligence technologies have already been applied to many stages of the creative process, including search, content generation, editing and proofreading, translation, and audiovisual adaptation, significantly enhancing production efficiency.

The online literature “IP+” model also breaks through traditional industry boundaries to create a whole-chain value co-creation ecosystem. By extending the industrial chain through cross-media storytelling—including film, TV drama, animation, games, and short-form video dramas—online literature forms a value co-creation ecosystem centered on content creativity. Successful adaptations of online literary works illustrate the powerful “long-tail” effect generated by influential IPs.

More importantly, the “IP+” business model has begun to restructure production relations within the industry. Literary platforms have evolved from simple content providers into IP operators and collaborative partners integrated throughout the downstream industrial chain. The original “production–consumption” relationship among online writers, literary platforms, and readers has gradually transformed into a diverse ecosystem of co-creation, sharing, co-production, and co-consumption among participants involved in cross-media storytelling. This transformation effectively promotes the integration and optimization of the factors that shape online literary production.

He Yufei is an associate professor from the School of Humanities at Central South University.