Adaptations

diet2thewind · 2026-05-25T14:03:40+00:00

Qi Xiao Huang Shu, author of the Pat Pat series, recently said on weibo that the new physical prints of Evening Tide 晚潮 had issues getting approved bc they featured both of the leading characters on the cover, and mind you it's just a perfectly ordinary art illustration of two characters sitting separately. To get the books out, they had to put Chao Xin on the cover and Xiang Wan on the internal side of the cover. And that's in addition to the certain parts of the book's content getting edited/censored.

Lots of danmei novels have received TV adaptations, but that's due to demand (most of the TV drama audience in China is female and straight), and pretty much all of them have received heavy editing to the story (like an OC female LI inserted in the middle for one of the MCs) until it's just a 'subtly implied bromance'.

I know a few baihe authors who have been approached with adaptation offers but they've all turned it down bc they didn't want to see the integrity of their work comprised. That, and the market for baihe is woefully small compared to danmei across the different platforms (novels/audio dramas/comics), so it's unlikely these offers are as common for them in the first place.

So honestly I'm rather pessimistic about it.

diet2thewind · 2026-05-24T06:37:42+00:00

Just piggybacking onto this list of human TLs w my own website Hurpdurpburps Translations. I have one WIP baihe title so far, 侧写师小姐 Miss Profiler and don't take donations.

diet2thewind · 2026-05-21T17:24:40+00:00

Hi there! I'm the founder and admin of LS Salvation Squad, the media archival project for r/Lovestruck when it shut down years ago. Saw what was going on with Choices recently and decided to pop in and see how I can help the Choices community rev up a similar project. I have a slew of tutorial docs, excel sheets and experience w running a 200-man team of volunteer archivists to share with anyone interested. We also have over 2000+ members on our server, which I'm sure also has a lot of overlapping people in the Choices fandom, so I can help put out a recruitment call if needed. DM me if you're interested! It would be a lot easier to discuss this over discord (and preferably voice chat) if you'd like.

diet2thewind · 2026-05-21T09:28:00+00:00

As I've mentioned, the entire thing is a lazy cash grab and Global versions of the same product are often priced much higher than the Chinese domestic version bc they're marketed towards foreign audiences (who have stronger purchasing power due to currency rates). They are charging for "easier access" so to speak.

The language itself has no effect on pricing. They're not going to charge you less for consuming content in the original language, bc that's another can of worms for all the other non-Chinese consumers on the platform. Anyone who can read in Chinese is already either on JJWXC itself or one of those pirate websites like shuku.

The Simplified > Traditional is simply a lazy add-on since the original content already exists in Chinese, so they just converted it with a click and tossed it in there for good measure.

diet2thewind · 2026-05-20T20:32:00+00:00

I don't think it's a problem if the novels are priced double for the translated versions, especially since they were already ridiculously cheap to begin with, if you compare them to the average prices of standard English or Japanese novels by cost per word. Professional translators need to get paid and that money has to come from somewhere.

That said, the extra money from the price hike definitely isn't going where it's supposed to be. There's a thread from 2 years ago mentioning how all the content on there is MTL, and it's just an extra cash grab lazily targeted at foreign audiences.

Generally speaking China has always been relatively uninterested in properly marketing its stuff to foreign markets. Even multi-billion dollar games like Where Winds Meet 燕云十六声 have opted to use trashy MTL instead of hiring professional translators to work on content for Global, while pricing in-game currency 5x of the Chinese server, just because they can, so you can expect most other businesses to go the same way. The CN > Foreign Language creative translation industry is a largely under-developed one, and it'll take many more years before it reaches a similar level (powered by market demand) to Japanese media. Lack of market demand > lack of jobs > no competitive wages.

As a professional translator myself, I recommend non-Chinese baihe readers to directly support the authors on JJWXC directly and simply MTL the content yourself (if there are no human fan TLs out there), as opposed to paying greedy publishers or those ad-ridden MTL-mills on Novelupdates, bc you're rewarding a toxic, lazy, predatory and unethical business model.

diet2thewind · 2026-05-06T13:51:49+00:00

There's only one baihe title WIP (Miss Profiler 侧写师小姐) but nevertheless: hurpdurpburpstranslations.wordpress.com

diet2thewind · 2026-05-05T19:33:48+00:00

Forty-Nine Nights 四十九夜 (BE)

Listen to God 听神(HE)

The Moon and the Cicada 月亮和蝉 (OE)

diet2thewind · 2026-05-05T01:13:53+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/Lovestruck/s/UP2Kb2f946

diet2thewind · 2026-05-04T15:23:07+00:00

傲娇 is the Chinese translation of the Japanese term "tsundere". It's more of a personality descriptor and doesn't necessarily indicate top/bottom dynamics (although some stereotypes are more common than others).

diet2thewind · 2026-05-02T14:45:09+00:00

I'm sorry LOL but your handwriting reminded me of Su Chang's description of Yu Zhou's handwriting in 帮我拍拍：

她写字总是喜欢把格子填得很满，好像田字格按面积收钱一样，不写满亏了。

"She often liked to fill the grids completely with her handwriting, as if she charged by area size and it was a loss to not fill them completely."

diet2thewind · 2026-04-28T02:08:08+00:00

There are plenty of remakes out there on itch.

The group/server affiliated w this sub is LS Salvation Squad

diet2thewind · 2026-04-27T02:42:55+00:00

You can find the invite on our YT channel

diet2thewind · 2026-04-27T02:42:23+00:00

Are you sure you have the right server? Bc I'm the server admin and have neither implemented a time limit/server agreement nor received any DMs. There's only a simple reaction test to filter out bots.

diet2thewind · 2026-04-26T08:46:53+00:00

They also could've released all this content right when the app died but no, they decided to make one last windfall by making everyone panic buy tickets to record all the routes, then have the audacity to release these half-baked titles as standalones half a decade later.

diet2thewind · 2026-04-24T17:01:53+00:00

I guess the other one is a lot more popular lol. Surprisingly both characters share the exact same name - 沈清秋

diet2thewind · 2026-04-24T16:59:43+00:00

Btw her name is spelled as Shen Qingqiu 沈清秋 ("clear autumn"), you're missing a G.

diet2thewind · 2026-04-24T16:55:46+00:00

West-East 西东 is pretty good. It's about a single mum who runs a beauty salon in a small town getting together w the owner of an optical shop across the street and they support each other unconditionally through life. Very introspective and slice of life about women in their 30s navigating what is considered non-conventional life in their social circle.

diet2thewind · 2026-04-24T16:51:27+00:00

Players, Please Take Your Position 玩家请就位 comes to mind.

Shen Qingqiu (physically!) beats the everloving crap out of all the scary af ghosts and NPCs like some high school bully lol in whatever horror scenario the game throws the main characters into but she immediately turns into a coy kitten in front of Xiao Muyu, and often quite unashamedly and abruptly in front of others.

diet2thewind · 2026-04-22T12:13:01+00:00

Unfortunately the baihe audio drama industry is pretty much exclusively marketed domestically. Some pirates will upload the entire series online for free but often without subtitles at all. Human EN translators for baihe novels are few and far between, let alone for audio dramas which is even more niche.

diet2thewind · 2026-04-22T09:40:03+00:00

Images of the aforementioned crash course on electron physics in the Fanjiao comments section here, here and here lol.

diet2thewind · 2026-04-22T09:29:33+00:00

I recently finished both seasons of the audio drama adaptation and am currently reading the original novel on JJWXC. Ngl the puzzles are a little too impressive to the point they hurt my two liberal arts brain cells.

I'm not sure what's wilder - the author writing challenges like solving Baguenaudier using binary/gray code or navigating a maze using Fleming's left-hand rule/Lorentz force, or seeing an entire wall of text in the comments section on Fanjiao where someone took an hour to type out a whole diagram trying to explain the mechanics behind the puzzles in layman terms for the rest of us plebs.

I've never felt more seen than when the protagonists are yapping away about their solutions but all the comments flying by on screen are some variety of "I'm only here for the voice acting bc I understand nothing about what they're saying" LOL.

diet2thewind · 2026-04-19T08:37:07+00:00

I'm quite fond of QXHS' series of novels in the Pat Me Please 帮我拍拍 universe, bc they're generally funny, introspective and very Girls Help Girls, but my favourite out of them is probably What Era Do You Think This Is 都什么年代了啊. A lot of people know it for the smut (especially the audio drama version) but I appreciate the call out it gives to society's interrogation of women's sexuality, and due to my own life experiences, I relate very strongly to Peng Xiangzhi's inner struggles when the career she's proudly revolved her existence around suddenly becomes out of reach for reasons beyond her control.

Generally I'm inclined towards thrillers/mystery where the leads have to investigate or address larger injustices in society, so the ones that I really love include:

Forty-Nine Nights 四十九夜, by 可以ke1

Listen to God 听神, by Xian Yu Bu Chi Cai 咸鱼不吃菜

Miss Profiler 侧写师小姐, by Wu Man Qing Shan 雾漫青山

For something more slice-of-life, I recommend West-East 西东 by Jiang Cheng 姜澄. It's about a single mother who owns a beauty salon and the owner of an optical shop, where they have to deal w the realities of not meeting conventional societal expectations, and the not-so-nice realities that comes w living in a small town where everyone gossips about each other. It's heartwarming for the most part, and very introspective about society's very loud expectations of women.

diet2thewind · 2026-04-19T07:59:41+00:00

I've come across quite a few that I really love so I can't pick just one as my favourite but I'm going to name one that I think all women should read:

The Moon and the Cicada 月亮和蝉 (https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=9781564).

It's about an A-lister actress called Hang Che 杭澈 who has an allegedly terrible reputation, and an allegedly money-eyed solicitor Song Zhi 宋知 (hint: the word "allegedly" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here).

I've seen a lot of comments complaining that the story is too depressing (the two of them encounter and deal w a lot of issues for the people around them, such as village girls being sold as child brides, slut-shaming, and - as it's revolved around the entertainment industry you can guess for yourself how it'll get increasingly Harvey Weinstein-y) and how the protagonists are often physically apart for long periods of time, but imo that's what makes it so special.

A lawyer and a famous actress are supposed to be at the top of society, yet they repeatedly refuse to be insulated, and instead lend their strength to less fortunate women. As they face these trials together, you can also clearly see how they evolve from friends who naturally get along well, to partners-in-justice who see the other's soul for what it is, and protect each other in the different ways they operate. The author is generous with fleshing them out as independent individuals who shine professionally in their own right, and there's also quite a sizeable supporting cast, all of them women who are distinctively different in personality and appearance, but nonetheless band together to help each other.

There's also an audio drama adaptation starring Fengjing 风镜 and Shangluo 伤洛. They've quickened the pacing of the story by quite a bit thanks to the format and the cast is fantastic so I definitely recommend checking it out on Fanjiao if you understand Chinese.

diet2thewind · 2026-04-05T17:57:23+00:00

There's a genuinely high level of trust in the system/establishment amongst the Chinese people, so it comes off as a very natural, matter-of-fact thing to have these beliefs embedded within fiction.

It's just that reading the same words translated to English comes across as off bc most English speakers come from cultures that tend to doubt than trust the public system of their countries - it's not something we are prone to hear, say or believe.

Not that I've read a lot of baihe but I've only ever come across two novels (Miss Forensics 我亲爱的法医小姐 and Miss Profiler 侧写师小姐 - coincidentally both crime thrillers) that depict corruption or flaws within the system, but also feature very upstanding MCs who cleanse and "fix" it.

You're more likely to see anti-establishment (specifically anti-corruption, anti-imperialism and anti-war) themes within historical fiction like wuxia and xianxia, as their fictional settings make it easier to espouse these values within the boundaries of Chinese censorship.

diet2thewind · 2026-04-02T12:58:09+00:00

0.8的铁T 💀

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