‘Farming Writing’: An Innovative Subgenre of Internet Literature

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24843/JH.20 21.v25.i04.p01 As an innovative subgenre of Internet literature, ‘farming writing’ has attained popularity in contemporary China’s cyberspace, which, in a narrow sense, denotes narratives pertaining to agronomic theories and agrarian practices. Disparate from cliché-ridden web romances that deploy authorial ‘golden finger’ to equip protagonists with impeccable demeanour and prowess, ‘farming’ fiction is characterised by reality-oriented, detail-enriched depictions, notwithstanding its essence as ‘feel-good writing’. Furthermore, ‘farming’ works are marked by a slow pace, peaceful setting and plain theme, enabling readers to identify with characters and escape from reality. In this article, I scrutinise a ‘farming’ novel under the genre of danmei (aka Boys Love), and further posit that the popularity of ‘farming writing’ is also attributed to the Chinese ethnicity’s devotion to agriculture since time immemorial.


INTRODUCTION
1990s China witnessed the proliferated production and consumption of Internet literature in cyberspace while marginalisation of serious literature, and it was due to the permeation of networked and programmable media (Cayley 2002, Zhang 2003: 230-255, Ouyang 2011, Tian and Adorjan 2016 that enabled web-based popular literature works as supplements to official, mainstream cultural offerings (Li 2007, Ren andMontgomery 2012). The advent of the digital age has inspired a cornucopia of non-professional creation composed by legions of obscure amateur authors as well as their prodigious readership (Rifkin 1998: 177, Zhang 2011, Bai 2013. Latest data released by the China Internet Network Information Centre shows that by December 2020, there have been approximately 460 million Internet literature readers, accounting for 46.5% of the 989 million netizen cohort (China Internet Network Information Centre 2021).
Chinese virtual literature can be categorised into male-oriented writing and its female-oriented equivalent, viz. "male fantasy" and "female fantasy" (Hockx 2011, Guan 2017. Both subcategories are hosted by literary websites of various user sizes as well as profitable and non-profitable virtual communities (Hockx 2005, Yin 2005, Chen et al 2008, Tse and Gong 2012. Following the world"s first Chinese electronic magazine 华夏文摘 [Huaxia Wenzhai] "China News Digest" hosting early Chinese web literature attempts in 1991 (Hockx 2015: 30), there was an epoch-making publication on a local Bulletin Board System by an amateur writer pseudonymed 痞 子蔡 Pizicai in 1998 (Liu 2004: 154, Chao 2012. There also emerged a list of leading literary websites, exemplified by the first dedicated literary website 榕树下 [Rongshu Xia] "Under the Banyan Tree" founded in 1997 (Hockx 2004, Kong 2005: 178-180, Ouyang 2018. In stark contrast to "Under the Banyan Tree" that accommodates a mixed-gender readership, another pioneering and famed literary website 晋 江 文 学 城 [Jinjiang wenxue cheng] "Jinjiang Literature City" (henceforward Jinjiang) is femaleoriented (Feng 2013a, Guan 2017). According to latest statistics released in April 2021, among more than 46,370,000 Jinjiang"s registered users, 91% of them are female (Jinjiang Literature City 2021), and this percentage used to reach 93% (Feng 2009, Xu and Yang 2013, Wei 2014. Since its launch in 2003, Jinjiang has attained an iconic status and impressive commercial success (Linder 2005, Feng 2009, Wang 2019). It has hosted over 4.09 million narratives with approximately 100.8 billion Chinese characters (Jinjiang Literature City 2021), and there is an upsurge in its contracted writers: the number was 300,000 in 2012 (Xu and Yang 2013), yet it has exceeded 1.76 million by 2021 (Jinjiang Literature City 2021).
There is a subgenre of relatively marginal interest, dubbed as 种田文 [zhongtian wen] that literally means "farming writing". The terminology "farming writing" was initially coined to define narratives depicting protagonists" gradual construction of political, economic, military and technological systems. In line with the maturity of virtual literature, this terminology currently refers to texts concerning agricultural practices exclusively, or it is employed metaphorically to denote those recounting and expatiating trivialities, and hence its alias 家长里短文 [jiachangliduan wen] "household trifle writing" (Tran. Mine) given by fan readers (Zhang 2013, Wei 2017, Sun 2019. "Farming writing" has been attaining ever-growing popularity and visibility. Among 200 most-read novels on Jinjiang, 79 of them are "farming writing" (Wu and Zhang 2018), instantiated by novels 天启悠闲生活 [Tianqi Youxian Shenghuo] "Leisurely Life in the Tianqi Period" 1 (Li 2013 In this article, I investigate "farming writing" in a narrow sense, namely, fiction appertaining to agricultural practices and agrarian ideologies, and I unravel the rationale behind its popularity as a web literary genre.

LITERATURE REVIEW
"Farming" fiction can be categorised into four subtypes: 穿越 [chuanyue] "time travel", 架空 [jiakong] "alternative reality", 古代 [gudai] "ancient" and 现代 [xiandai] "modern", with the last one being trivial in quantity (Li 2013). From a feminist perspective, the evolution of femaleoriented "farming writing" has undergone three stages. At the first stage starting from the 2007 prototypical work 明 朝 五 好 家 庭 [Mingchao Wuhao Jiating] "A Model Family in the Ming Dynasty" (Trans. Mine), "farming writing" adopted a time travel storyline featuring complaisant women who complied with traditional gender norms and zeitgeist. At the second stage starting from the phenomenal work 庶女攻略 [Shunü Gonglüe] "Striving of a Concubine"s Daughter" (Trans. Mine), "farming" novels highlighted non-compliant women with a degree of feminist awareness against patriarchy. In the current, third phrase, "farming writing" bears similitude to 女尊文 [nüzun wen] "matriarchal writing" that recounts women"s ascent to power in the public arena or describes female supremacy in heterosexual relationships in patriarchal societies (Feng 2013a(Feng : 93-94, 2013b. However, such ostensible, bewildered feminist thinking fundamentally fails to address or annihilate gender inequality and stigmatisation (Liu et al 2018, Wu andZhang 2018).
In terms of the widespread consumption of "farming writing", it is inextricably intertwined with its properties.
First, "farming writing" is marked by a slow pace and peaceful setting, enabling readers to mentally retreat into a fantasy world of self-indulgent pleasure-seeking, which is in stark contrast to the fast-paced, fiercely-competitive reality (Zhang 2013, Liu et al 2018, Zhou 2019. Second, "farming" texts allow readers to easily identify with characters, in that the narratives are characterised by a plain theme regarding monotonous daily life (Wei 2017, Zhang 2017) as well as logical plots and detailed depictions (Zhang 2013, Wu andZhang 2018).
Third, "farming writing" is in essence 爽文 [shuangwen] "feel-good writing" that enables readers to form reverie triggered by their incompetence in enhancing the status quo, and to contemporarily adopt an escapist mindset from stringent social ethos and precepts (Zhang 2017, Liu et al 2018. Notwithstanding this prominent attribute, "farming writing" tends to abnegate clichéd 金手指 [jin shouzhi] "golden finger" (Feng 2013a: 39, Zhou 2019). This conception originates in the field of online gaming, while in literature it is deployed to denote an irrational authorial design that equips protagonists with unremitting auspiciousness, invincible artistry, supreme intelligence, extraordinary demeanor, etc (Zhou 2018). For instance, in a male-authored and male-oriented subgenre of virtual literature, "golden finger" enables male protagonists to display stud-like virility to attain numerous beautiful women easily and simultaneously, so there is an uncomplimentary name for fiction under this subcategory, viz. 种马文 zhongma wen "stud fiction" (Feng 2013a: 10, 38). By virtue of such a surrealistic trait, fiction featured by "golden finger" is satirised as YY 小说 [YY xiaoshuo] "YY fiction": YY represents 意淫 [yiyin] "lust of the mind", i.e. explicit exploration of mental lascivious fulfilment (Chao 2012: 225, Hockx 2015. "Farming" works, on the contrary, predominantly refrain from over-emphasising reading enjoyment by means of "golden finger" plot lines, so they are more realistic and accommodate readers" emotional requirements in a more leisurely, nondramatic fashion (Zhang 2013, Feng 2013a. Fourth, being both a pivotal subcategory of "farming writing" as well as an independent genre, "time travel writing" is inextricably intertwined with while disparate from "farming writing". In a vast majority of female-oriented time travel novels, modern heroines of humble birth and mediocre ability become imperial aristocracy with a cornucopia of aptitudes and encyclopaedic knowledge as well as effortless charm and hence an army of suitors (Li 2013, Liu et al 2018. Analogously, in their cliché-ridden maleoriented counterparts, male protagonists manifest prowess to conquer the past with modern technologies and thus reverse history thoroughly (Feng 2013a: 38, 93). Although a substantial amount of "farming" works entail protagonists" time travel to the past, their life and sense of satisfaction in ancient times are not facilitated by "golden finger". The reason lies in that these protagonists are still the grassroots, who are featured by diligence and low profile and endeavour to suit the new environment and obtain selfrealisation via domesticity (Feng 2013a: 173, Zhang 2013, Sun 2019).

KING OF TURBULENT TIMES: AN EXAMPLE
In this section, I deploy a full-length, 626828-character novel entitled 乱世为 王 [Luanshi Weiwang] "King of Turbulent Times" (Trans. Mine) as an example to illustrate "farming" fiction.
Chinese Internet literature contains a renowned transgressive genre, viz. danmei (Zheng 2014, Hockx 2015: 114) that features male-male romance and eroticism between beautiful pubescent boys and youthful men (Yang and Xu 2016, 2017a, 2017b, Zhang 2016. Derived from a Japanese cultural export dubbed as "Boys Love" (aka BL) targeting specifically at female audiences (McLelland 2000, Fujimoto 2015, McLelland and Welker 2015, Nagaike and Aoyama 2015, Chinese danmei literature has been evolving from a marginalised niche market since 1990s (Liu 2009, Yang and Bao 2012, Zhu and Zhang 2015 into a thriving and increasingly visible subculture with legions of fan producers/consumers of audio-visual and textual works (Chao 2016, Zhang 2016. Since the underlying essence of danmei is femaleoriented, gender-inflected fantasy, its fanbase is predominantly constituted of adolescent girls and adult women, who account for 91% to 93% of the fandom and are generally conjectured to be heterosexual (Louie 2012, Xu and Yang 2014, Zhou andLi 2016, Zeng 2017). In the current danmei subculture, fiction, rather than ACG (Anime, Comic and Games), is the most-consumed subcategory (Wei 2014).
"King of Turbulent Times" (henceforward King) is a danmei novel published on Jinjiang in 2016 under a feminine pen name 顾雪柔 Gu Xuerou, whereas it is almost unanimously surmised to be a nom de plume of an illustrious male danmei writer pseudonymed 非天夜翔 Feitianyexiang (henceforward Feitian) (NetEase 2018, 2020). Feitian"s literary accomplishments can be epitomised by: 1) a wide range of innovative themes and ideologies (Shao 2020); 2) a fecundity of imagination and richness of imagery-evoking representation (Shao 2019, Xiao 2019; 3) profound historical and literary allusions; and 4) elaborateness and meticulousness (see Wang (2021) for detailed discussion). Feitian, therefore, is acclaimed as "the well-established "nanshen" of female-oriented Internet writing" (女频网文界公认的男神 [nüpin wangwenjie gongrende nanshen[), in which "nanshen" (Lit. "male divinity") is a readership-based neologism metaphorically lauding top-ranked online writers (Shao 2019, Xiao 2019. Nonetheless, in contemporary China, danmei producers have to write and publish pseudonymously for selfprotection (Xu and Yang 2013, Zeng 2017), owing to danmei"s homosexual nature and interconnection with obscenity (McLelland 2005, Zhang 2017) and hence stringent official censorship and crackdown imposed by the party-state (Yi 2013, Ng 2015, Zhang 2017, Wang 2019. King is a period romance with an intentionally unspecified dynasty and a variety of settings ranging from royal palaces to nomadic battlefields. Although King is not tagged under the category of "farming writing", the entire second fascicle is preponderantly comprised of various agrarian customs and deeds. For instance, there are depictions concerning husbandry and sericulture, cookery and refinement, irrigation and drainage, sowing and harvesting, refurbishment and carpentry, etc. Apart from the groundbreaking agronomic treatise 齐民 要术 [Qimin Yaoshu] "Essential Techniques for the People; Important Arts for the People"s Welfare" (see below for more detailed discussion), the narrative also alludes to works such as a monograph 梦溪笔谈 [Meng Xi Bi Tan] on natural and social sciences composed by 沈括 Shen Kuo (1031-1095), a 1637 encyclopedia 天 工 开 物 [Tiangong Kaiwu] "Exploitation of the Works of Nature", as well as a Warring States (circa 475-221 BC) classic 墨经 [Mo Jing] "Mohist Canons" encompassing engineering, mechanics, physics, optics, geometry, etc (Chapters 11-12).
In King, depictions pertaining to agricultural acts are detail-enriched and punctilious. As can be seen from Example (1), the author explicitly and elaborately portrays the entire process of one of the numerous farming tasks, i.e. waterwheel construction, in a meticulous manner. The author not only illuminates the complication and cost of the mission, but also the protagonist"s agitation when striving to resolve those insurmountable difficulties, which enables readers to identify with the character.
( And not just any carpenters, because they must be able to pull up supporting columns on the rock cliff, which meant he also had to prepare tubes and gunpowder. In order to last for a few decades, the waterwheel must be made of high-quality wood and protected by a thick layer of paint and asphalt. After the ditches were dug, they must be strengthened by bricks and made waterproof. All quotes would be costly. (King of Turbulent Times. Vol 2. Chapter 13. Trans. Mine) Furthermore, as a danmei romance enriched by "farming" elements, King is featured by reality-oriented storylines and depictions. Example (2) indicates agrarian and mercantile economy, feudal employment relations, implements and means of production, as well as an array of agricultural produce and byproducts. All depictions entail details and instantiate social reality. Although chapters concerning warfare and political confrontation between the central empire and ethnic tribes are embedded with magnificent ideologies of heroism, patriotism and humanism, in the fascicle featuring farming, the author also manifests literary prowess to chronicle and embroider trivialities and kaleidoscopic daily life. It is noteworthy that in Example (2), the author signposts the characters" potential deficient harvest at their first attempt, instead of harnessing authorial "golden finger" to create a bumper harvest in an unrealistic manner.
(2) "头一年, "In the first year, I ask for 70% of your harvest as the rent, but the next year it"ll be 60%." You Miao sat in the middle of the hall and told twelve householders, "As your landlord, I expect everybody to grow what I want. Here in the South is different from your hometown, so let"s grow rice twice a year for the time being, and you can make it three times in the future when the food is enough. Does that sound good?" When You Miao was saying this, he was a bit worried: requiring 70% or even 50% was rather high, and if seeds were bad or there were droughts, farmers might not survive. However, in the following three months he had to feed over one thousand people, and besides, he owned the waterwheel and the land, so if these refugees did not agree, they would have to go…You Miao was speechless-his Shen Garden had only just been refurbished, but now it became messy again, with six oxen cramped in the front garden and ploughs piled in the back yard…Qiao Jue said: "I found some beekeepers for you, and they"ll come in early February. Rapeseed seeds are in the granary. I saw the grains you bought, and I"ll tell farmers to start ploughing in ten days. But this is the first year and the land is not fertilised well, so don"t have too much hope." (King of Turbulent Times. Vol 2. Chapter 18. Trans. Mine) The reality-oriented feature of King can be further epitomised by the protagonist"s attitude towards money. Apart from the protagonist"s financial prudence with waterwheel construction and land rent (Examples (1-2)), as can be seen from Examples (3-4), his living expenses and ways of saving and negotiating have been punctiliously calculated as well.
( You Miao spent a quarter of an hour to check the living room, eastern and western chambers, guest rooms as well as internal and main gates. He told the builders: "I"ll pay you a diao of money for the job. It"s a good deal. I know you"re paid ten coins a day, and this is ten days" job." The younger builder gave his mate a nudge. You Miao knew the market price for two builders was two hundred coins for ten days, so his offer was fair. The older builder asked: "Boss, do you cover meals?" Hearing the word "boss", You Miao knew he had a deal, so he agreed straight away: "Sure. You"ll have the same meals as us." "But we eat a lot." The younger builder said. You Miao replied: "You two have a kilogram of rice per day, plus two liang of wine every evening. That"s it." (King of Turbulent Times. Vol 2. Chapter 12. Trans.

Mine)
In terms of the protagonist, he is realistically depicted as an ordinary person without any blessing from "golden finger". The protagonist is void of prior knowledge of agronomy, so he resorts to previously-mentioned agricultural and scientific treatises, as well as the expertise of paid professionals, as in Example (1). Additionally, instead of being an exemplary and invincible hero, he occasionally exhibits negative moods (Example (1)) and lack of selfesteem (Example (2)). His same-sex partner, the deuteragonist, is not portrayed to be impeccable either, exemplified by his mediocre cooking skills (Example (5)). Nonetheless, the weaknesses of characters render them multi-faceted, so that readers can identify with them and attain a sense of satisfaction along with their maturation.

ETHNIC OBSESSION WITH FARMING
In this section, I expound a preponderant national trait that contributes to the popularity of "farming writing".
Chinese people, even city dwellers, are internationally famed for devotion to horticulture (People"s Daily 2019). The masses cultivate edible plants in yards and balconies both at home and during work and family visiting abroad (Yang 2010). Scientists and solders do so in deserts, islands, the Antarctic and the outer space (Li 2016, Wen 2016, Zhang et al 2020. Being both indispensable as well as convenient and easy to grow, vegetables act as the quintessential plants, as opposed to grain or fruit (People"s Daily 2018).
In terms of the motive behind the Chinese ethnicity"s fondness for horticulture, it lies in natural, historical and cultural factors.
First, being an enormous country, China is endowed with climatic and geographical diversity and complexity (Forster 2000). Therefore, there is a veritable cornucopia of indigenous and imported flora and fauna (Huang et al 2017), which functions as the prerequisite for Chinese nation"s strong attachment to agricultural practice (People"s Daily 2018Daily , 2020. Second, agriculture has been flourishing in Chinese civilisation for millennia (Cohen 2002(Cohen , 2003(Cohen , 2011, equipping the Chinese nation with a wealth of agronomic theories and comprehension regarding agro-ecological systems and techniques as well as commendable agricultural achievements and breakthroughs (Li 2001: 3). Ancient China has witnessed the composition of approximately 600 agronomic treatises (Du 1982: 323, Zhang 2008. The earliest extant and most well-preserved treatise is unanimously acknowledged to be 齐民要 术 [Qimin Yaoshu] "Essential Techniques for the People; Important Arts for the People"s Welfare" that was composed by a court official 贾思勰 Jia Sixie towards the end of the Northern Wei (386-534 AD) dynasty (Wang 2019). This encyclopedic, pioneering masterpiece cumulates a whole plethora of agricultural practices along middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in North China circa 1,500 years ago (Li 1969, Bray 2019, and it encompasses a profusion of fields such as agronomy, horticulture, sericulture, afforestation, husbandry, breeding, brewing, veterinary medicine and barren land improvement (Gong 2013, Gao 2014, Xiong 2017. This masterpiece has profoundly inspired and impinged upon agricultural research in the following periods (Shi 1958, Li 2017) and cultural exchanges of imperial China (Yang 2020). For vegetable planting only, it records 32 pieces of related techniques and 123 types of indigenous vegetables and those of extra-Chinese provenances (Li and Sun 2018).
Notwithstanding leading agronomic theories and practices, China is in a predicament of feeding 20% of the global population with only proximately 7% of the planet"s arable land . Pre-modern history was fraught with a quagmire of travails in the form of widespread famine caused by wars and natural disasters, rendering the Chinese nationality prudent and punctilious in terms of maintaining an abundant supply of food (Edgerton-Tarpley 2013, Gerritsen 2016, Platt 2016, Bickers 2016). Even in 1942-1943 prior to the foundation of the People"s Republic of China, a central province of Henan was plagued by a severe famine that caused the decease of two to three million citizens (Mitter 2016, Edgerton-Tarpley 2017. Therefore, even in the contemporary context, such a complex about food has not been completely eliminated. Third, China"s immemorial agricultural tradition nurtures a culture venerating farming and horticulture. Throughout history, the cultivation, cooking and consumption of foodstuffs were extolled as the fundamental transition away from barbarism. Therefore, the Han ethnic group regarded themselves as being superior to surrounding ethnicities with rudimentary knowledge of agronomy and gastronomy (Forster 2000). The preponderant status of food and culinary prowess was elaborated in 周礼 [Zhou Li] "Zhou Ritual" that was a compendium recounting the idealised administration of the Zhou (circa 1066-771 BC) dynasty during the 5 th century BC (Knechtges 1986: 49, Boileau 1998. Therefore, farming served to encapsulate Chinese people"s spiritual aspirations, exemplified by the educated elite and aristocracy in the imperial society, who deployed gardening as a leisurely way of self-cultivation (Xiang 2010, Li 2016, Ma 2017. Moreover, sovereigns and court officials were fully aware of the significance of agriculture, so they promulgated agrarian economy and ideology and enacted pro-agricultural policies, thereby consolidating governance and centralisation of authority (Zhao 2015 It is worth mentioning that the national passion for plant growing is not limited to more elderly generations. I propound that it can be embodied by a phenomenal game 开 心 农 场 [Kaixin Nongchang] "Happy Farm". This webbased game permits players to virtually cultivate land, plant and harvest crops and flowers, breed poultry and livestock, as well as build houses (Feng 2013a: 40). "Happy Farm" went viral among young netizens, with 23 million daily active users at the height of popularity in 2009 (Chen 2009, Willward 2012. Young online farmers have also transferred their zealousness in the cyberspace into real life (Yu and Ren 2010). Moreover, there is a prodigious amount of related discourses on Chinese social media, which is predominantly used by netizens aged under 35 (Lai 2020b). Take Weibo as an example, which is a micro-blogging platform with approximately 530 million monthly active users in March 2021 (Weibo 2021). With 78% of users aged below 39 (Lai 2021), Weibo abounds in posts and comments exchanging gardening experience and displaying harvests, and there is a list of dedicated "super topic" virtual communities that accommodate topics and discussions appertaining to vegetable growing in cramped metropolitan flats. This postulation accords with the popularity of "farming writing" on Weibo, where the "super topic" tagged as "farming writing" has attracted over 2.5 million visits. Although among China"s netizens, approximately 54.8% of the entire cohort are below the age of 39 (China Internet Network Information Centre 2021), farming serves as a popular theme for online fiction.
Additionally, I posit that the rationale behind the popularity of "farming writing" is also ascribed to its exoticism. By December 2020, Chinese netizens residing in cities have accounted for 68.7% of the entire cohort (China Internet Network Information Centre 2021), so the "farming" texts enhance their reading enjoyment by means of elaborating agricultural practices they are void of.

CONCLUSION
As a danmei romance enriched by "farming" traits, King is featured by detail-enriched and punctilious depictions pertaining to agronomic knowledge and agricultural practices. Furthermore, discrepant from clichéd "feel-good writing" with surrealistic storylines and a "golden finger" device, King is realityoriented, embodied by the protagonist"s predicaments and financial prudence, as well as his shortcomings that render him multi-faceted. In terms of the popularity of "farming writing", it lies in a preponderant national trait, viz. the Chinese nation"s adoration of agriculture, by virtue of natural, historical and cultural reasons. To be more specific, China"s immemorial agricultural tradition has nurtured a culture promulgating farming, which can be encapsulated by young Chinese people"s fondness for virtual and reallife horticulture and its representation on social media. Additionally, the popularity of "farming" works is also ascribed to its exoticism that enhances the reading enjoyment of web literature consumers residing in cities.