Cold Window Guide to Chinese Internet Literature Part 2 and 3 are up + Some recs

[geraineon]

Previously, douqi shared a newsletter here. It's a series of webnovel recommendations by various groups of people: Part 1 compiles recommendations from students and fan translators; part 2 from webnovel authors and researchers; part 3 from professional literary translators and workers in the Chinese webnovel industry. When it was posted earlier, only part 1 was up. This is heads up that part 2 and 3 are now up.

Link: The Cold Window Guide to Chinese Internet Literature

I've picked two short reads from the series of recommendations, and I really enjoyed them so this doubles as a rec post.

《桥头楼上》 End of the Bridge, Top of the Tower, by priest

Length: 31 chapters + Epilogue
Links: Original on JJWXC/Complete translation on Twitter - Link to a series of google documents
Summary (translated by miaoyea):

You stand on the bridge taking in the view,
and upstairs, the one taking in the view watches you;
The tower under the moonlight becomes a painting,
The painting hangs at the end of the bridge and becomes the view.

- Adapted from Bian Zhilin's short poem, "Fragment 斷章"

Thoughts: I've been wanting to read this novel since hearing about it last year on this comm during the weekly read-in-progress posts. Going in unspoiled was a great idea (the only thing I knew about it was it's unique story telling format). This summary doesn't quite say anything about the story itself, but I think it's best to read without knowing more than the basics, which is 1) it's a story in a story [it starts off as a fanfic for a in-story popular show, with a comment section and all, but it's a rather unsettling fanfic which, according to the commenters, has no connection to the show at all except for the name of the main character], 2) it's also a story about the readers as they try to figure out who is the author of the story. It's not a lighthearted story at all though (see the list of CWs below), and this is a no-CP story. There's no romance.

Content warnings: Child sexual abuse, domestic abuse, suicide, self-harm, school bullying, eating disorders.

《人间流放者》An Exile Among Humanity by 星河蛋挞

Length: 19 chapters
Links: Official CN version is no longer available online/Complete translation on AO3
Summary (translated by selstarry):

Exile No. 239: thirty-something, male omega, first degree felon. One day, he comes home to find the alpha girl Yasha sleeping in his bed.

The unwholesome love story of a bashful tyrant girl and a listless man.

Thoughts:This is an omegaverse F/M novel, with an alpha female x omega male. It also has age gap, with the alpha female being 15 years old at the start of this story and the omega is much older. And extreme power imbalance, with the alpha girl being an elite among the elites and the omega male as the exiled felon who doesn't even have a name anymore. The translation is very good. The muted horror of Exile No. 239's day-to-day life is conveyed well, the world building is good (blends into the story, layered into their sex) and I was invested in this story from the get-go. There are many parts I want to quote but I want interested readers to go in blind as well. In the end, I managed to pick one out that in isolation, is not a spoiler at all:

To be cherished was so easy and uncomplicated, but alas, you could only wait for others’ handouts. You could only have what they chose to give you.

Content warnings: Rape, gangrape, torture, power imbalance, dehumanization

Bonus rec: The Sadfic Manifesto

Note: This is unrelated to the Cold Window series of recommendations but I found it through selstarry's (translator mentioned above) other works. It's a short one!
Links: Official CN version is no longer available online/Complete translation on AO3
Summary (translated by selstarry): Originally a blogpost written in Chinese in response to a rather uncharitable Fluff Fic Manifesto. As the author warns, don't like, don't read.
Thoughts: I read this whole thing and was going "yes, YES, YES" to it all so I thought fellow enjoyers of tragedies might appreciate reading this too!

Comments

[geraineon]

Thinking about it a bit more, actually it's not that there's no romance in End of the Bridge, Top of the Tower. It's just that what I find romantic is probably not what most people do... e.g., I'd love to read fics about Highlight for spoilers!*Shuixian and Chen Xi*