{{Italic title}} {{short description|Chinese fantasy about crossing into another era}} '''''Chuānyuè''''' ({{lang-zh|穿越}}, {{Literal translation|crossing}}{{Sfn|Li|2021|p=80}}), also '''''chuānkōng''''' ({{lang-zh|穿空}}; shortened from '''''chuānyuè shíkōng''''' ({{zh|c=穿越時空|l=interdimensional travel}})), is a Chinese genre of speculative fiction where the protagonist normally travels back in time to historical periods or travels to parallel universes and different worlds. Time travel in these stories is most often in the direction of the past and may include fantasy or magical motifs.

== Genre characteristics == In ''chuanyue'', the protagonist either travels back in time to historical periods,<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/supplement/culture/art/20080331/10927460 |title=北水南調 閱讀美少女 |trans-title=Influences from Mainland China: What are those light novels the Hong Kong teenage girls like to read?|newspaper=Apple Daily Hong Kong |date=2008-03-31 |accessdate=2015-06-11 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304215919/http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/supplement/culture/art/20080331/10927460 |url-status=dead |language=zh-yue }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cordasco |first=Rachel S. |date=2019-03-22 |title=Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation. |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=01963570&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA580473983&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs |journal=World Literature Today |language=English |volume=93 |issue=2 |pages=96–98 |doi=10.1353/wlt.2019.0302 |url-access=subscription |via=Gale}}</ref> or travels to a different world.{{Sfn|Wang|2021|p=46}} In both interpretations, the traveler comes to the new reality either in their physical body or they transmigrate into a local resident's body.{{Sfn|Tang|2010|p=15}} It can also incorporate alternative histories and parallel universes.{{Sfn|Mo Welin|2022|p=85}} Magical or fantasy motifs are also frequently encountered in these stories.{{Sfn|Li|2021|p=72}} In addition, many of the speculative ideas that are key to the genre are impossible in the real world.{{Sfn|Inwood|2024|p=202}}

''Chuanyue'' can be considered a "reinvention" of time travel writing that includes facets of fantasy fiction.{{Sfn|Xu|2016|p=113}} Most time travel in ''chuanyue'' is backwards in time, rather than forwards in time.{{Sfn|Tang|2010|p=13-14}} Overall, stories describing hypothetical futures are "relatively underrepresented" because of various political and cultural reasons in China.{{Sfn|Mo Welin|2022|p=83}} One political reason for a lack of future time-travel narratives is that the Chinese government already has an official narrative of modern Chinese history and an official direction for the future.{{Sfn|Mo Welin|2022|p=83-84}}

A Korean version of this genre is known as ''hoegwi'' ({{Korean|hangul=회귀}}) or ''bing-ui'' ({{Korean|hangul=빙의}}).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Balogun |first=Taiwo |date=2024-02-20 |title=How Chinese and South Korean dramas invented a new time-travel approach |url=https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/transmigration-dramas-chinese-korean-time-travel |access-date=2026-01-07 |website=Inverse |language=en}}</ref>

=== Representative works === One of the first popular time-travel stories in this genre is ''Tales of Seeking Qin'' ({{Lang-zh|p=Xun Qin Ji}}) by Huang Yi, published in 1991 and adapted into a television series in 2001.{{Sfn|Tang|2010|p=14}}

Other works include ''Go Princess Go'' (2015), ''The Myth'' (2010), ''Palace'' (2011), ''Romance of Tiger and Rose'' (2020) and ''Startling by Every Step (2011).{{Sfn|Tan|2022|p=68}}''{{Sfn|Tan|2022|p=64}}{{Sfn|Tan|2022|p=69}}

== Common subgenres == Various subgenres are popular in ''chuanyue'' stories. These can include alternate worlds ({{Lang-zh|p=yi shijie}}), ancient armored machine fiction ({{Lang-zh|p=gu jijia xiaoshuo}}), Eastern-style fantasy ({{Lang-zh|p=xuanhuan}}), Eastern-style suspense ({{Lang-zh|p=xuanyi}}), evolution and metamorphosis ({{Lang-zh|p=jinhua bianyi}}), gaming ({{Lang-zh|p=youxi}}), interstellar civilizations ({{Lang-zh|p=xingji wenming}}), post-apocalyptic worlds ({{Lang-zh|p=moshi weiji}}), spacetime travel ({{Lang-zh|p=shikong chuanyue}}), super technologies ({{Lang-zh|p=chaoji keji}}), and urban ({{Lang-zh|p=dushi}}).{{Sfn|Inwood|2024|p=194}} ''Xuanhuan'' novels, like ''A Step Into the Past'' (1994) by Huang Yi, are very popular online.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wang |first=Yuxi |date=2017 |title=Globalization of Chinese Online Literature: Understanding Transnational Reading of Chinese Xuanhuan Novels Among English Readers |url=http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1716/globalization-of-chinese-online-literature-understanding-transnational-reading-of-chinese-xuanhuan-novels-among-english-readers |journal=Inquiries Journal |language=en |volume=9 |issue=12}}</ref>

''Chuanyue'' may also contain romantic elements.{{Sfn|Mo Welin|2023|p=68}} Time travel romance is known as ''chuanyue yanqing'' ({{Lang-zh|c=穿越言情}}).{{Sfn|Inwood|2017|p=195}} These romantic stories are most often written by and for women.{{Sfn|Liu|2016|p=886}} Many of these stories include female protagonists traveling through time to Ancient China, where they may experience culture shock and later romance among the royal family.{{Sfn|Fan|2020|p=337}}

Some sub-genres of time travel fiction address political issues, engaging with themes of an ideal China, China's developmental path, and contemporary ideas like the Chinese Dream.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Han |first=Rongbin |title=Make China Great Again: Online Alt-History Fiction and Popular Authoritarianism |date=2026 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-22054-5 |location=New York}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=2}} One such sub-genre is "aiding-communist" texts, in which time traveling protagonists journey back in time to help the Communist Party and the country.<ref name=":1" />{{Reference page|page=113}}

=== ''Kuaichuan'' === Another popular subgenre is ''Kuaichuan'' ({{lang-zh|快穿}}) which literally means “speedy ''chuanyue'',” usually translated as "quick transmigration."{{Sfn|Wang|2021|p=40}} Quick transmigration stories are made up of several short stories which can be made up of different subgenres or different settings which link together into one larger, contained story.{{Sfn|Wang|2021|p=41}} Subgenres that can appear in these stories is varied, with some stories including apocalyptic settings or alternate universes.{{Sfn|Wang|2021|p=42}} Quick transmigration stories can also feature themes of revenge and retribution which are meant to be enjoyed by the reader.{{Sfn|Wang|2021|p=43}} It might also include themes often seen in ''danmei''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wang |first=Aiqing |date=2022 |title=Cliché-ridden Online Danmei Fiction? A Case Study of Tianguan ci fu |url=http://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/30040547.pdf |journal=ACTA Asiatica Varsoviensia |volume=35 |pages=286 |doi=10.60018/AcAsVa.iray5065 }}</ref>

==== Representative works ==== One of the first representations of this genre are ''Journey in Search of Previous Incarnations'' ({{Lang-zh|c=寻找前世之旅|p=Xuzhao Qianshi Zhi Lü}}), and ''Endless Dread'' ({{Lang-zh|c=无限恐怖|p=Wuxian Kongbu}}) both published online in 2007.{{Sfn|Wang|2021|p=41}}

Some notable examples include: ''Cheating Men Must Die'' ({{zh|c=万渣朝凰|p=Wàn zhā cháo huáng}}) (manhua), ''Cannon Fodder's Record of Counterattacks'' ({{zh|炮灰女配逆袭记}}) (web novel, with manhua adaptations).

=== ''Qingchuan'' === A popular subgenre is ''Qingchuan'' ({{lang-zh|清穿}}), where the often female protagonist travels back to the Qing dynasty and engages in romance with the sons of Qing Emperors.{{Sfn|Mo Welin|2023|p=161}} The three novels ''Bubu Jingxin'',<ref>{{cite web |date=2011-09-13 |title=步步惊心_桐华_言情小说_文化读书频道_新浪网 |url=http://vip.book.sina.com.cn/book/index_80155.html |accessdate=2011-09-21 |publisher=Vip.book.sina.com.cn}}</ref> ''Meng Hui Da Qing'', and ''Yao Hua'' are the first three Qingchuan novels. They are also called "the three hills of Qingchuan novel".{{citation needed|date=January 2019}} Qingchuan novels are of great popularity among Chinese people, especially the young women. Some of the novels like ''Bu Bu Jingxin'' are so popular that they have already been adapted into TV series. These TV series have won great audience ratings since broadcast.

== Reception == In the 2000s, ''chuanyue'' became one of the most popular literary genres on the Chinese Internet, with more than tens of thousands of different titles available on different platforms.{{Sfn|Rojas|2016|p=1}} By 2016, it was one of the "dominant genres."{{Sfn|Xu|2016|p=113}}

''Chuanyue'' can be seen as "potentially chronopolitically subversive."{{Sfn|Mo Welin|2022|p=84}} The state has enacted some targeted policies to curb certain entries in the genre.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Imbach|first=Jessica|title=Digital China: Creativity and Community in the Sinocybersphere|date=2025|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781041178088|chapter=Network Fantasies: Liu Cixin's China 2185, Digital Futurism, and History as Computer Code}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=186}} By 2009, several popular ''chuanyue'' stores were adapted for Chinese television.{{Sfn|Rojas|2016|p=1}} But by April 2011, the Chinese government through the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) put an official ban on time-travel television shows.{{Sfn|Tan|2022|p=68}}{{Sfn|Mo Welin|2022|p=83-84}} The web series'', Go Princess Go!'' ({{Lang-zh|c=太子妃升职记}}) was heavily censored before its re-release in 2015.<ref name=":0" /> Despite the ban on time travel television, streaming platforms and online novels in this genre remain popular.{{Sfn|Tan|2022|p=69-70}}

Critics of the genre claim that wish-fulfillment in time travel fantasies can have a negative psychological impact on young readers.{{Sfn|Yang|2016|p=700-701}} This concept is often called "YY fiction" where the YY is short for ''yiyin'' or 'lust of the mind' ({{Lang-zh|c=意淫}}).{{Sfn|Wang|2021|p=43-44}} YY fiction can be considered in Chinese culture to be an "explicit exploration of libidinous mental fulfillment."{{Sfn|Wang|2021|p=43-44}}

''Chuanyue'' with BL (boy's love) or ''danmei'' themes has also faced censorship in China, despite their growing popularity internationally.{{Sfn|Ren|2023|p=14}}

Others, like author Ken Liu, have described ''chuanyue'' as part of a diverse and "vibrant" Chinese science fiction community.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alter |first=Alexandra |date=8 December 2019 |title=World Collider |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A607827401/ITOF?u=txshrpub100124&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ce574b84 |journal=The New York Times Magazine |volume=33 |url-access=subscription |via=Gale}}</ref> Shuangyi Li sees ''chuanyue'' as an artistic way to enrich our lives through exploring the past culture and history of China.{{Sfn|Li|2021|p=80}}

==See also== * {{annotated link|Accidental travel}} * {{annotated link|Dream world (plot device)}} * {{annotated link|Isekai}} * {{annotated link|Portal fantasy}} * {{annotated link|Suspended animation in fiction}} * {{annotated link|Time travel in fiction}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===

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Category:Chinese novels Category:Literary genres Category:Fiction about time travel Category:Chinese literary genres Category:Chinese speculative fiction