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Catching Chén Qíng Lìng: The Untamed and Adaptation, Production, and Reception in Transcultural Contexts
The 2019 Chinese drama Chén Qíng Lìng (CQL; translated The Untamed) quickly became a massive phenomenon, drawing millions of viewers in China and beyond. Its resonant story, rich cast of characters, and striking production captured audience attention globally; its paratexts and fandoms helped keep that attention sustained. What made this particular mix so compelling, and what can The Untamed show us about increasingly transcultural media flows?
Catching Chén Qíng Lìng explores how The Untamed has been translated, produced, distributed, watched, and remixed. Contributors offer multifaceted insights into the path from subcultural writing tradition to highly profitable entertainment media, as well as some of the challenges such change engenders.
From fan translations and digital labor to the 227 Incident and issues of censorship, this collection explores some of the questions raised by The Untamed’s enduring resonance and considers what this might mean for the future of transcultural media.
Catching Chén Qíng Lìng explores how The Untamed has been translated, produced, distributed, watched, and remixed. Contributors offer multifaceted insights into the path from subcultural writing tradition to highly profitable entertainment media, as well as some of the challenges such change engenders.
From fan translations and digital labor to the 227 Incident and issues of censorship, this collection explores some of the questions raised by The Untamed’s enduring resonance and considers what this might mean for the future of transcultural media.
- GenresNonfictionQueer
428 pages, Paperback
Published May 30, 2024
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19 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 2, 2025
This collection of works is a fantastic sociological look at the culture surrounding fandom for The Untamed, and as a westerner who got into the show and its source material around the time the book was written, I found this incredibly insightful regarding Chinese cultural representation and LGBTQ+ perspective on a global scale. I particularly enjoyed the historical contexts regarding the 227 incident and the plethora of fanwork studies. This is an excellent read for any CQL fan who wants to dive deeper into the cultural context of fan reception!
June 4, 2025
Oh, damn. Okay.
Like so many people, c-drama and danmei have pushed me to read more about China and Chinese (not saying I’m a very diligent student but anyway). So, when I got the chance to read this, I grabbed.
I really liked the chapters that delved into the murky waters of what it means to be a danmei writer in China, how hard it is to translate Chinese into English (confession: I opened Viki and checked the mentioned YT translation choices because I wanted to see if VIki had made them correctly). The article about allegations of chinoiserie was interesting and the one about purity culture made me want to climb on to the roof and yell ”THIS! THIS! FOR FUCK’S SAKE THIS IS THE PROBLEM!” (no wonder I liked them, considering the first two are by pumpkinpaix and hunxi-guilai…)
The more academic text was a bit of a slog to read and there were several occasions where I chanted under my breath “The curtains were just blue, ffs.”I’m in no way academically inclined so I don’t think I can judge the academic merits of this book other than it’s interesting and interesting things deserve to be studied. It’s glaringly obvious this is a labor of love. The people who have contributed to this book love danmei and love CQL/MDZS and it shines through almost* every article. Could they have done more research? I bet they could’ve but again, this is the first ever academic CQL/MDZS book.
Conclusion? Mostly this was a good read. I can’t say it was thoroughly enjoyable per se but as a danmei fan, I’d claim this essential reading. Yes, it’s wangxian heavy and yes, the blue curtains appear more often than not, but as a whole this was a learning experience.
(* there were times when I stared incredulously at my Kindle because the author/s of an article clearly had neither read the novel nor even bothered to read a summary of the drama. And honestly, I can’t with the (ship) names Bo/Xiao. 😬)
Perhaps the best thing about this is the extensive reading list and source material used. Now my TBR list has SO MUCH I should read. So. Much.
Like so many people, c-drama and danmei have pushed me to read more about China and Chinese (not saying I’m a very diligent student but anyway). So, when I got the chance to read this, I grabbed.
I really liked the chapters that delved into the murky waters of what it means to be a danmei writer in China, how hard it is to translate Chinese into English (confession: I opened Viki and checked the mentioned YT translation choices because I wanted to see if VIki had made them correctly). The article about allegations of chinoiserie was interesting and the one about purity culture made me want to climb on to the roof and yell ”THIS! THIS! FOR FUCK’S SAKE THIS IS THE PROBLEM!” (no wonder I liked them, considering the first two are by pumpkinpaix and hunxi-guilai…)
The more academic text was a bit of a slog to read and there were several occasions where I chanted under my breath “The curtains were just blue, ffs.”I’m in no way academically inclined so I don’t think I can judge the academic merits of this book other than it’s interesting and interesting things deserve to be studied. It’s glaringly obvious this is a labor of love. The people who have contributed to this book love danmei and love CQL/MDZS and it shines through almost* every article. Could they have done more research? I bet they could’ve but again, this is the first ever academic CQL/MDZS book.
Conclusion? Mostly this was a good read. I can’t say it was thoroughly enjoyable per se but as a danmei fan, I’d claim this essential reading. Yes, it’s wangxian heavy and yes, the blue curtains appear more often than not, but as a whole this was a learning experience.
(* there were times when I stared incredulously at my Kindle because the author/s of an article clearly had neither read the novel nor even bothered to read a summary of the drama. And honestly, I can’t with the (ship) names Bo/Xiao. 😬)
Perhaps the best thing about this is the extensive reading list and source material used. Now my TBR list has SO MUCH I should read. So. Much.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews