Description:
The Danmei Culture in Chinese Media and Society offers groundbreaking comprehensive mapping of the Chinese danmei (boys love) cultural ecology, tracing its evolution from Japanese origins into a distinct, female-driven transmedia phenomenon.
Review Quotes:
"This meticulously researched book accomplishes the exciting task of taking us beyond the internet texts of China's male-male danmei fiction to understand the far less visible media ecology behind them, analysing the complex dynamics of booming popularity and tactical responses to growing censorship that have made danmei a resilient counterpublic." - Chris Berry, King's College London
"By zeroing in on danmei, or male-male romantic and erotic content, Tingting Hu and Liang Ge open up the discussion of commercial compromise and government censorship in contemporary China and beyond. The heterogeneity of danmei, its ambivalence and the interpretive labor that it takes to carve out spaces of expression against a repressive regime are not flaws, but rather features of how this content continues to function as a counterpublic with profound cultural significance. In a "fractured transmedia system," the reparative work of queer interpretation falls on fans playing a "cat-and-mouse game." As danmei spreads around the world, visibility brings new challenges and opportunities." - Patrick W. Galbraith, Senshu University