Slash Fiction : A Love and Sexual Fantasy in China

Slash fiction emerged in China in the 1990s with the rising polarity of Japanese animation and manga culture, and it has rapidly developed into a cultural icon of the whole nation, especially among female fans. The major objective of this thesis is to investigate female slash writers in China as well as how they see slash fiction in their daily lives in terms of gender equality, friendship ties and identity. In order to do so, semi-structured interviewing method is used to outline the national features of slash fandom in China. This thesis starts from demonstrating that both influences from Japanese culture and leading media narratives speed up the proliferations of slash boom, and highlighting that slash fiction has already became a mature business in China. Moreover, findings of this research also indicate that Chinese female slash fans reflect their wishes of equal love and sexual fantasies by creating homoerotic stories, by applying various feminism theories. The crossover between the fans and the producers, and the motional identifications between the slashers and the characters are also presented through different angles. Ultimately, the last part of the analysis proves that slash fandom offers a new way of socialization