@lian. I’m curious about your reasons for wanting to learn about East Asian cultures. As a woman, what draws you to explore the cultures of gay men in East Asia, like me, a cisgender Chinese gay man? (Before I get accused of being sexist, note my educational background and research-backed work focus)

Though my formal education ingrained me with North American and Northern European perspectives, my exploration of Chinese culture stems from wanting to understand my parents, aunts, and uncles. Their ideas often feel foreign to me, almost like something out of science fiction. On top of that, I now live and work alongside many East Asian people whose behavior is vastly different from that of those I encountered in the US. Much like the character Xiao Fan, I study East Asian culture as a means of survival, just as he serves Lu Qing in the fictional BL novel we’ve been discussing. Our objectives for delving into East Asian culture are not likely to be the same unless you have to move to work in Macau, Taiwan, or Hong Kong; then we'll have the same goals for learning East Asian culture.

Large online bookstores offer nonfiction books that focus on specific cultures and their subcultures. These can be excellent starting points for beginners who want to understand “real” culture without needing prior knowledge of sociological theories or ethnographic research methods. This assumes you are interested in learning about the culture and its people. Additionally, there are many Danmei books available, as well as their South Korean and Japanese counterparts, which feature fictional male relationships that may appeal to those seeking entertainment.

We connected primarily through our shared interest in this specific Boys' Love (BL) content, which also incorporates factual aspects of Chinese culture. I also enjoy reading the audience's reactions to this carefully crafted creative content, as I most obviously do not react similarly to it.

lian:

Anyone who's interested in reading the English translation of this novel, here's the link!

https://mochistar.org/story/the-man-who-married-into-a-high-ranking-family/v1-35865-c1/

Is the translation of the novel complete at this site?

To those viewers from mainland China,

Why do you think the author had Xiaofan, a character from the Northeast, interested in Southern Chinese cooking? It doesn't make sense to me. I grew up with Cantonese Chinese food, yet I won't eat Sichuan food of my own volition, which is from Western China.

Just want to say.. this site is mtl so not a translation and you have to pay to have access to chapters which is not OK. Please, don't give this site your money. If you come across a website that is "tling" a danmei novel and ask money to unlock chapters : know that this is not a proper translation and you are surely not giving money to the author but to some people who are taking advantage of the fact that you want to read a novel that is not yet translated.

This kind of people making this kind of website are the reasons why real fantranslators gave up on tling stories... we get more and more people doing this type of shit now.