Why are Chinese authors so often trash?

[immortalartisan]

Alright so anyone who has even spent a couple minutes looking at the new uploads knows that so often Chinese Manhua are both poorly drawn and poorly written if not out right homophobic or sexist. Now before anyone here tries to even think I’m being racist I’m Chinese myself and rather cultural educated and I read a couple okay Chinese Manhua. So why is every Chinese story just shitty Taoist stories or iskeai is it just trope blindness? Even then it just doesn’t explain how it’s this bad. So anyone wanna guess?

 

[gomichandesu]

My guess is different folks different strokes. I've read and enjoyed quite a few manhua. You didn't.
Read and enjoyed a lot of objectively awful manga too.

it aint some conspiracy man, people are allowed to enjoy things you don't. Just don't read Chinese shit then and move on.

 

[bigtiddyoneesan]

if not out right homophobic or sexist.

Lmao. Terms like these really don't help your case unless you're posting on Twitter.

before anyone here tries to even think I’m being racist I’m Chinese myself

Nowadays it's usually a mistake for either side of a discussion to receive more credence based on how someone was born. Diverse opinions do exist and are useful to take into account, but the oversaturation of people using identity politics in whichever case it may aid them takes away from the struggles of people who actually suffer due to the how they were born.

 

[justforthelulz]

No wonder I had the strangest sense of déjà vu.

 

[immortalartisan]

I’m just trying to figure out HOW are they this bad

 

[bigtiddyoneesan]

I’m just trying to figure out HOW are they this bad

Cultural divide I guess. If that kind of Manhua is what sells/is popular in China (and to anyone under 15 inside or outside of China), then that's what the majority of authors try to emulate.

Shit taste imo, but my taste is shit to others too.

 

[Exington]

The vast majority of manhua I've read are trash. The only GOOD one I've ever come across is Feng Shen Ji, mostly because it doesn't subscribe to the common tropes that most manhua nowadays seem to be gunning for. Characters are likeable and aren't just straight self-inserts for the reader and one-dimensional villains to hate or waifus to love. Don't even get me started on the character development. It has its flaws, but it easily ranks up with some of the better action-oriented battle manga I've read. My Wife Is a Demon Queen isn't the worst manhua I've read, but it's obviously not the best. I find myself enjoying it from time to time without having to turn my brain off, which is pleasant, and the past 5 or so chapters have actually been surprisingly good. Apart from these two though, I haven't come across a single manhua that's at least "good."

 

[Trodsen]

The way I see it it is mostly a budget issue. There are a lot of good chinese artists, but authors and companies hiring them cant afford/dont want to afford their services. You get what you pay for. As for the general quality of the stories honestly it kinda feels like the writers are literally doing fanfiction, they are usually extremely shallow stories and I honestly couldnt tell you the reason, could be a lack of more experienced manhua authors, could be the companies publishing these having a high turnover rate or it could be that the publishers actually push for these kinds of stories since they perceive them as safe bets. it would need actual research on the subject to determine that one.

 

[Richman]

Of the couple of chinese things i've read, one was cancelled (sad because i actually enjoyed reading it), and the other is Cheating Men Must Die, which imo, is pretty good. The rest are are relatively good (7-8). _{btw, why can't i filter by language in my MDList? I am not going through each entry.}

 

[goarachnidlaser]

Chinese manhuas I've read are

a) Outright bad.
b) Start interesting but for some reason go bad quickly.
c) Seem interesting but are poorly translated.
d) Soulmate

 

[Tamerlane]

If I were to guess:

CCP limits creative freedom --> Less good writers being in the country --> Less good works being produced --> Less exposure to good works --> Less good writers in the country --> etc.


China historically has had some really good novels and works of literature, the most famous probably being Journey to the West, but Totalitarianism tends to lead to poorer quality art if it is not directly commissioned by the state

 

[thedegenerate04]

limited freedom because of that they have to use same plot over and over again also using Chinese nationalism propaganda even though its a fucking cultivation manhua that take place mid century china

 

[eineteegurke]

they get paid for word count, so they write a lot of needless stuff

 

[meijune]

I think it's a matter of how much they get paid. Less budget + no passion + short deadline = crappy result. I find the same to occur with Chinese novels, they're usually very bad if they're translated. The good ones are the ones that have original artists and original writers. Like, a native Chinese author who is familiar with both Chinese and western culture, but create their work in English. Of course, there are always exceptions, but these tend to be better since the authors actually have passion and a connection to their work since it is their own.

 

[vinsegas]

The answer is easy. When you want to buy cheap products you go to the chinese store. The same with the mangas, if you want some useless shit, you go to the chinese ones.

 

[Mar19]

One good manhua in my opinion is demons and strangers! but yes, let aside some few titles I have the same impression: there are a lot of very poorly drawn and poorly written manhuas... Maybe one reason could be because they (the producers?) aim at 'mass-production' more than quality? so they prefer offer a great variety of titles with a lot of chapters? If it so, probably the reason behind is economical. Actually the real question, in my opinion, is: if they truly sell this means that there are people who enjoy this kind of manhuas... I tried to read some kind-of chinese shojo but seriously, it's not just full of cliché (japanese and korean mangas/manhwas are the same) but women are almost always seriously mistreated by their relatives (who drug them, sell them and so on) so they seek revenge with the help of super rich and powerful mls who are usually arrogant and sexist (the chinese version of macho-men). I can't really get how this could be popular but I've to assume it is... If you're chinese and you're living in China you can probably tell us better if nowadays chinese people have this 'view of life'...

(btw sorry for my poor english)

 

[alifanfaron]

think of the entire Japanese manga industry - editors, publishers, even doujinshi circles & Comiket - and get rid of all that and replace it with people uploading shit. Like if you compared manhua not to manga but to the median American web comic funding itself on advertisements it doesn't look so bad.

my question is why anyone is translating it lol. I believe folks in the thread that say that good Manhua exists (just like there are some good American web comics), but how do you find it among all the trash being translated.

 

[fluffays]

@alifanfaron

my question is why anyone is translating it lol.

Your answer is right there. There isn't enough good manhua for all the chinese translators on this site to translate... or, they're just as hard to find even on chinese raw sites (since the bad ones are the ones that sell / are popular / are put on the front page). This is probably why there are a lot of manga being retranslated from the chinese version as well.

 

[ashardalon]

A lot of chinese titles suffer from cliches bc they just copy from a few successful titles. It becomes formulated templates and cookie cutter products. Mary Sue self-inserts are particularly popular. But it's not like they're limited to chinese titles. Mary Sue is a universal plague.

Japanese titles suffer from similar problems. Look at jap isekai titles. How many of them seem like a ripoff of each other? Sometimes i read a new chapter, i can't even tell which story the chapter belongs to, bc they're all so similar.

How many villainesses are there that try to avoid their bad ends in a game or novel? Why is miso soup and soy sauce always like some sort miracle drug?

Sword Art Online...and boom, you get a crap load of "stuck in game world" clones.
Irregular At Magic High School...and you get a ton of titles whose MCs who are OP but underrated by the society/system.

Jap titles are just as formulated and cookie-cutter as chinese ones. Korean titles seem to suffer less from this problem though...for now.

I don't recall any chinese titles that's particularly homophobic. As for sexist, you can make the same argument for jap titles about isekai harem/slaves.

 

[KreamPunk]

@ashardalon Sword Art Online is trash anyways, mangakas that copy that are copying a trash manga to create an even trashier manga

Spoiler

Was going to write more but I accidentally reloaded