Hello everyone! This is Lucas. Today let’s talk about two relatively niche genres in Chinese male-oriented web fiction: Military and Sports.

Part One: Military (军事)

The Military genre refers to web novels whose central narrative element is the lives of soldiers, military operations, or stories of war. The setting may be contemporary armed forces, past wars (especially the War of Resistance Against Japan and the European theaters of WWI/WWII), or fully imaginary worlds.

The development of Chinese online military fiction is inseparable from one website: Tiexue Reading (铁血读书). Founded in 2001, Tiexue is the country’s earliest and most influential community for military enthusiasts and original military fiction. It is widely called "the cradle of Chinese original military fiction." A large number of its serialized novels were adapted into television dramas, fueling a wave of military-themed TV in the late 2000s and early 2010s. In recent years, however, tightening regulation has pushed military fiction into decline, and Tiexue Reading itself has announced it will shut down on March 8, 2026—marking the end of an era.

Within the Military genre we can identify the following main subgenres:

• Army Life (军旅生涯)

• Flames of the War of Resistance (抗战烽火)

• Espionage (谍战特工)

• War History (战争历史)

• War Fantasy (战争幻想)

• Mercenary Tales (佣兵传奇)

I’ll introduce each subgenre and its representative works below.

I. Army Life (军旅生涯)

Army Life depicts the lives and training of modern Chinese soldiers. Protagonists are typically special forces or elite-unit members. The story usually begins with the protagonist’s enlistment and follows him through brutal recruit training, selection for special forces, brotherhood forged in shared hardship, and missions such as international peacekeeping, counter-terrorism, and special operations in peacetime.

This subgenre keeps its lens firmly inside the barracks, with greater emphasis on tactical detail, equipment description, and the realistic texture of military life. Many of its authors have actual military service backgrounds, giving the works a high degree of professional authenticity.

The foundational work is Liu Meng (刘猛)’s Leave the Last Bullet to Me (最后一颗子弹留给我), later adapted into the TV drama My Chief and My Regiment (我是特种兵). The novel follows the college student "Xiao Zhuang" through his enlistment as a reconnaissance soldier and his eventual rise to top-tier special forces operative. It essentially defined every element of the network military novel: the arc from green recruit to hardened veteran, the harsh training scenes, the brotherhood, and the unwavering commitment to military honor.

Another peak is Fenwu Yaoji (纷舞妖姬)’s Bullet Marks (弹痕). The work centers on protagonist Zhan Xiage, narrating his transformation from a directionless youth into a soldier of the elite "Fifth Class Force," eventually becoming its commander. Fenwu Yaoji also wrote follow-ups such as The Fifth Force (第五部队), and remains one of the pillars of this genre.

More recent notable works include Yan Qiguan (严七官)’s Special Forces Years (特种岁月) and Buqiang (步枪)’s The Great Falcon (大国战隼).

II. Flames of the War of Resistance (抗战烽火)

Here, “War of Resistance” is short for “The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.”

These stories take place between 1937 and 1945, depicting Chinese soldiers, partisans, agents, or ordinary civilians resisting the Japanese aggression.

In 2000, Du Liang (都梁) wrote Drawing Sword (亮剑). The novel was later adapted into a hugely popular TV drama. Although not itself a web novel, it had a profound influence on War-of-Resistance web fiction.

Early works in this subgenre were closer in style to traditional literature. Because this period carries extraordinary significance for the Chinese nation, the tone is somber and tragic, ill-suited to "playful" treatment. These works tend to reflect the contribution of a collective—a group, a unit—rather than the individual heroism characteristic of mainstream web fiction. An early representative is Jiutu (酒徒)’s End of the Beacon Smoke (烽烟尽处).

Around 2020, with the rise of free-reading platforms, some works began combining the War of Resistance setting with rebirth and system tropes. But these did not become mainstream. The reasons: first, the Chinese ultimately won the War of Resistance—though at enormous cost in blood and sacrifice, there is nothing to regret, and no need for a time-traveler to come back and save the country. Second, the individual heroism implicit in system and rebirth elements runs counter to the somber tone of this historical period.

A bizarre subtopic also briefly appeared during this period—"cuckolding the invading Japanese army". The protagonist transmigrates, gains a system, and becomes stronger by cuckolding Japanese soldiers—you can imagine where it went from there. It appeared briefly and was swiftly stamped out by regulators.

Today, most War of Resistance content has shifted into the framework of TV/film fanfiction)—particularly stories set in the world of Drawing Sword. Strictly speaking, this is not real history but a parallel universe to the TV series, so system and rebirth elements face no restriction. Representative works include Wolf Warrior in the World of Drawing Sword (我在亮剑当战狼).

III. Espionage (谍战特工)

Espionage is an important offshoot of War of Resistance fiction. Stories focus on the underground struggle between Chinese Communist agents and the Nationalists, Japanese spies, or Wang Jingwei collaborationist agents in occupied or semi-occupied zones. The genre originated from traditional literature such as The Message (风声). Web novel representatives include Engagement (交锋) and Lost Trace of Spies (谍影迷踪).

IV. War History (战争历史)

War History depicts historical wars—primarily the European theaters of WWI and WWII. Protagonists are typically Chinese transmigrators who wake to find themselves in late-19th- or early-20th-century Germany, Russia, France, or Britain, and must find their place in the chaos preceding the two world wars. I’ve covered this in my introduction to the History genre.

Common plotlines: a transmigrator joins the German General Staff before WWI and tries to prevent (or accelerate) the catastrophe; a transmigrator is born into a Junker family and must decide how to respond to Nazism’s rise; a transmigrator enlists in the Red Army or Wehrmacht as a common soldier and climbs the ranks through extraordinary circumstances.

Representative works include Twilight of the Empire: Starting from Dunkirk (帝国余晖：从敦刻尔克开始) and Iron Cross (铁十字).

V. War Fantasy (战争幻想)

War Fantasy grafts the structures of military fiction—armies, campaigns, command, logistics, the camaraderie of soldiers—onto a fictional world. That world may include magic, dragons, gods, or other supernatural elements, but the narrative center stays on military matters: large-scale strategy and tactics, fleets and legions, military hierarchy, and the cost of war—rather than individual cultivation or magical adventure.

Representative works include Arc of Artillery Fire (炮火弧线), Stormy Waves, Setting Sun (惊涛落日), and My Third Reich (我的第三帝国).

VI. Mercenary Tales (佣兵故事)

Mercenary fiction follows modern-day Chinese protagonists working as international mercenaries—usually operating in Africa, the Middle East, South America, or Southeast Asian conflict zones. Protagonists are typically military prodigies who sell their combat skills on the international market. They may operate alone or lead a small team; missions range from convoy escort to coup support, from hostage rescue to warlord confrontation.

The foundational work of this subgenre is widely recognized as Cixue (刺血)’s Wolf Pack (狼群) (2003–2006, serialized on Qidian). It follows college student Xing Tian as he accidentally joins the mercenary organization "Wolf Pack," carries out missions across the globe, and ultimately uncovers a transnational conspiracy.

Another widely acknowledged classic is Rushuiyi (如水意)’s The Mercenary’s War (佣兵的战争). Rushuiyi is one of the few authors today who specializes exclusively in military fiction; his other works include The Spy’s War (间谍的战争) and Firepower Is King (火力为王), most of which focus on modern mercenary themes.

----------------

Part Two: Sports (体育)

Sports fiction centers on competitive sports, depicting a protagonist’s rise from obscure beginnings to becoming a top-tier athlete in a chosen sport.

This is also a niche genre. It must be acknowledged that China’s grassroots sports industry is not as mature as those of Europe, the United States, Japan, or Korea. There’s no shortage of people in China who don’t care for sports—myself included.

Sports fiction appeared in Chinese web fiction around 2003. The representative work of this period was Campus Basketball Storm (校园篮球风云), whose style was clearly influenced by Japanese sports manga such as Slam Dunk and Captain Tsubasa. Early sports fiction leaned toward grassroots narrative—closer in tone to early esports fiction.

Around 2014, the "system" element was introduced into sports fiction. Sports video games such as FIFA, NBA 2K, and Football Manager had built-in well-developed systems and statistical frameworks, which were widely borrowed by sports fiction authors. This became the classic attribute-panel system. Today the majority of sports fiction works incorporate system elements.

For sports fiction, systems offer several advantages:

— Traditional sports rely heavily on natural talent. Talent gaps cannot be closed by hard work alone. Systems smooth over this gap, even enabling underdogs to surpass the talented. While a system cannot let the Chinese national team win the World Cup, it can at least allow a Chinese athlete to shine in Europe’s top football leagues.

— Systems make the protagonist’s ability and growth more visually intuitive. Authors can write more easily, and readers can follow more clearly.

Chinese sports fiction is heavily skewed toward a few sports. Basketball is the most common, followed by football, with all other sports making up a small fraction. This is tied to China’s grassroots sports landscape. Sports like racing, baseball, and rugby—popular in other countries—have very few participants in China. And sports where China is dominant—table tennis, diving—are either too low in visual drama, or offer little narrative novelty given how many champions China has already produced.

I’ll introduce each by sport below.

I. Basketball (篮球)

Basketball is by far the largest sports-fiction subgenre, both in terms of number of works and size of readership. The reason is simple—almost every Chinese person plays some basketball during their school years, and the NBA’s following in China far exceeds that of any other professional sports league. Basketball fiction is essentially NBA fanfiction. Story settings are almost entirely in America: NCAA, draft night, rookie seasons, playoffs, finals. Protagonists are Chinese-American players, overseas Chinese students, or even Chinese souls transmigrating into the body of an active NBA player.

Representative works include Add Me In, I’m Not That Good at Playing (加一个，我不太会打) and All I Really Want Is To Play Basketball (我真的只是想打铁).

Worth noting is a not-uncommon variant within basketball fiction: the coach genre (教练流). The protagonist isn’t a player but a team-management figure or head coach, starting as a scout or assistant coach and ultimately becoming a renowned strategist. A representative work is The Pope of the Basketball Court (篮坛教皇). Coach-line fiction places higher demands on the author’s basketball theory background, because it tests tactical systems rather than individual heroism.

II. Football (足球)

Football in China has a smaller audience than basketball, but extremely high fan loyalty, making football fiction another important branch of the sports genre. No discussion of football fiction can skip one name: Lin Hai Ting Tao (林海听涛). A platinum author at China Literature Group, he is widely hailed as "the foremost author of original competitive fiction" and "the standard-bearer of football fiction." His representative works include The Winner Takes All (胜者为王), Heart of the Champion (冠军之心), and Fox in the Penalty Area (禁区之狐). He essentially defined the basic writing paradigm of Chinese football web fiction, and every subsequent football-fiction author has been directly influenced by his work. Two of his other works have English translations available on Novel Updates: Godfather of Champions (冠军教父) and Would You Mind If I Play? (我踢球你在意吗).

Early authors and readers dreamed of saving Chinese football. In 2007, Guo Nu (郭怒) wrote Rebirth 1994: Football Storm (重生1994之足坛风云), the story of a reborn protagonist who founds a domestic club, and tries to lift Chinese football to greatness. Later, everyone realized this path was too far removed from reality. So in subsequent works, the protagonist’s career path is almost always going to a European powerhouse—starting in the Manchester United academy, Bayern youth team, Real Madrid B team, etc., and gradually climbing onto the world stage.

III. Other (其他)

Beyond basketball and football, sports fiction includes several smaller subgenres, each with its own appeal and dedicated readership.

Racing (赛车). China’s auto industry started late, and its car culture is relatively underdeveloped. As a result, racing-themed web fiction is rare. The most famous work is Wuxian Xunhuan (无限循环)’s Spokesman of the God of Racing (车神代言人), which follows the protagonist’s gradual rise to become a professional rally driver.

This year’s WSBK season saw the Chinese motorcycle brand ZXmoto rise dramatically, winning five titles in the SSP class and creating buzz on the Chinese internet. I suspect we may see a wave of motorcycle-themed novels appear this year, although it is a notoriously difficult subgenre to write.

Go (围棋). Almost every Chinese person knows of Go, but few actually play it. The 2017 match between 9-dan Ke Jie and AlphaGo generated significant online attention. A representative work is Go: Me and AI 50-50 (围棋：我和AI五五开),and I Really Didn’t Mean to Play Go! (我真没想下围棋啊).

Track and Field (田径). Primarily sprinting, distance running, and marathon events. Throwing events such as shot put and javelin are virtually absent. A representative work is Run Out of My Life (跑出我人生).

Combat Sports (格斗). MMA, boxing, and similar disciplines. Representative works include Boxing Superstar (拳坛巨星) and Invincible Boxing (拳无敌).

All-Around (全能流). The protagonist isn’t confined to a single sport, but uses a system to simultaneously win championships across track and field, basketball, football, tennis, swimming, fencing, and more. The genre’s foundational work is Victory General (过关斩将)’s Almighty Athlete (全能运动员). It broke the sports-fiction convention of "one novel, one sport" and offered the ultimate fantasy of "farming gold medals at the Olympics."

Tennis, badminton, table tennis, and various other sports have scattered works as well, but none have produced an influential title to date.

---

Return to index