What do tomb robbing, rebirth, Daoist cultivation, e-sports, the apocalypse, bossy CEOs, farming, queer romance, time travel, imperial concubines, alternate dimensions, and cute babies have in common? They are all genres of Chinese internet fiction, or netfic for short. Since the 2000s, serialized novels published online by aspiring writers in China and beyond have grabbed the attention of more than 750 million readers across the globe, making billions of dollars through paid subscriptions and media adaptations. Netfic is fast becoming a cultural juggernaut, but unlike its rivals, it is centered on the written word.

Heather Inwood brings netfic into conversation with premodern thought, twentieth-century politics, and literary and media studies to propose a fresh, accessible philosophy of popular fiction. She argues that netfic is supercharged by the same features that are often seen as its flaws, revealing an aesthetics based on worlding, repetition, affect, and participation. These qualities ensure that it spreads far and wide, offering respite from as well as answers to the challenges of everyday life. Despite censorship and the increasing use of AI, netfic tells a very human story of the quest for connection, pleasure, and worlds beyond. Featuring vivid readings of web novels and their fans and critics, Netfic illuminates one of today’s most popular cultural phenomena and shows how it opens a window onto another China.