New chapter

The market for Chinese online novels has been growing rapidly over the past decade.[Photo by Fu Yexing/China Daily]

Chinese web novels make greater push for the global market with translations. Mei Jia reports.

A web novel that was simultaneously published in Chinese and English will be updated in the coming months with new chapters.

I Am Supreme was published by China Reading Limited on webnovel.com on June 1, and has 55 chapters in English, which are free to read. The novel is expected to have 300 chapters.

"The website is our effort to cater to the needs of global readers, and of developing the market," Wu Wenhui, CEO, China Reading Limited, said at the China Reading Eco Summit held in Beijing in June.

The book's author, Fengling Tianxia, is popular in the online genre of xuanhuan, a mix of fantasy and martial arts, and has created five web novels since 2009, of which three are in English on the website, including Otherworldly Evil Monarch (175 chapters) and Realms in Firmament (338 chapters).

His books have been viewed millions of times, and he is known for his depiction of brotherhood, inspired by his early days in the army.

"It will not be a typical plot where the weak slowly grow in strength," says Fengling Tianxia.

"I prefer to write out my ideal image of man.

"Love, friendship, battle and revenge ... these are some elements that attract readers from any culture."

A reader, who goes by the name DaolordMohan online, comments on the book: "It's one of the best I have ever read. Comparable to Coiling Dragon (the first Chinese web novel translated into English). Wish the quality would remain the same without fillers in the future."

CEO Wu says that in recent years his company gradually realized there's a big market for Chinese web novels in the United States and Europe other than its traditional overseas market in Southeast Asia.

And, some translators have emerged online in recent times.

"We know good stories transcend languages and cultures," Wu says.

The Beijing summit discussed the development of web novels in China with regard to content, sales and their international potential.

Wu says webnovel.com will provide up to 300 works in English by the end of the year, with a total of 70,000 chapters, for an estimated readership of more than 1 million.