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You’ve been learning Mandarin Chinese for a while, may have had many lessons or may have completed a course, but you still feel you’re far away.
When you open a danmei webnovel, you don’t recognise most of the words and are not able to comprehend the sentence.
So, how do you go from being a learner to actually reading danmei webnovels? And how do you know it’s going to work?
The good news is that plenty of learners have gone on this journey already, and they’ve made it to the end, so you can too. With the right resources, methods and consistency, you will make steady progress and be reading your first danmei webnovel in Chinese in no time!
Setting Expectation Before You Start
How many Chinese characters are required to read webnovels?
Let’s look at some analysis of a few popular titles.
| Titles | Unique Character Count |
| 一不小心和醋精结婚了 (Accidentally Married a Man Full of Vinegar) | 2,300 |
| 放学等我 (Wait For Me After School) | 2,970 |
| 撒野 (Run Wild) | 3,000 |
| 死亡万花筒 (Kaleidoscope of Death) | 3,200 |
| 天官赐福 (Heaven Official’s Blessing) | 3,650 |
| 默读 (Silent Reading) | 3,800 |
| 将进酒 (Ballad of Sword and Wine) | 4,100 |
You can see that the unique Chinese character count varies greatly from novel to novel.
Generally speaking, light-hearted, slice-of-life, modern-setting novels tend to have fewer characters, while historical, high fantasy, plot-heavy, complex-themed novels tend to have many more.
This is due to elements such as world-building, fight scenes, a large number of characters and locations, and overall complex plots that add a whole bunch of unique words, leading to a higher unique Chinese character count.
With the help of tools such as a pop-up dictionary, some simple danmei webnovels will be manageable with around 1,500-2,000 characters of knowledge; with consistency, it doesn’t take that long to achieve. We will discuss how to quickly achieve this in the sections below.
You should expect that many of the famous historical, plot-heavy novels will take much longer; we’re looking at 2-3 years of consistent reading with additional learning for the cultural and historical elements. We will discuss this further later.
Don’t Learn Chinese Characters in Isolation
Grinding through 3,000 or 4,000 Chinese characters from a list is not an effective way to get yourself to the stage of actually reading danmei.
- Recognising characters in isolation is different from understanding them in real sentences and stories.
- It’s boring! Say you learn 20 characters a day, it’ll take 5 months to get through 3,000 characters. You also need to remember to revise the characters you’ve learned constantly. It’ll be a very boring 5 months.
- Retention will be hard without context and interaction with the language. We remember words better when we see them in different contexts and situations.
- Many Chinese words consist of two or more characters, and it’s not always easy and straightforward to decipher the meaning from the characters. E.g. 开 = open, 水 = water, combined, 开水 = hot water.
- Learning characters does not build reading fluency. Reading requires you to process vocabulary, grammar, and meaning together, not just identify individual characters.
Path to reading danmei webnovel in Chinese
Stage 1: Set Up Necessary Study Tools and Apps
Came here from my previous guide on “How to Start Learning Chinese for Danmei Webnovels” and already followed the advice and set up the tools? You can skip this stage.
Otherwise, before you begin your reading journey, you will need to set up and become familiar with the following four essential tools and services.
Pleco
Pleco is the best free Chinese dictionary app. If you don’t already have it, pick up your phone and install it right now!
Besides being a dictionary app, they also offer additional features, both free and paid, including a document reader, human audio, OCR, and word review (basic or using a spaced repetition system).
An SRS tool
SRS stands for spaced repetition system, an effective method of memorising information through repetition with increasing intervals.
There are two popular apps for reviewing words:
- Pleco’s paid flashcard system – it’s perfect if you want an out-of-the-box solution for reviewing words in Chinese. Adding a word to your review deck only takes one button click. The downside is that there aren’t many customisation options; for example, you can’t create cards with images or videos.
- Anki – the most popular general SRS tool, with a huge amount of customisation options and many tools that integrate directly with it. It’s free on desktop, web and Android, and costs $25 on iOS. You will need to spend some time setting it up to enable quick, easy card creation for Chinese with plugins.
Browser pop-up dictionary
There are two popular browser pop-up dictionary extensions that allow you to view the definition of a Chinese word upon hovering over it.
- Zhongwen – a quick, simple and easy-to-use Chinese to English pop-up dictionary
- Yomitan – A pop-up dictionary built for language learning, with the ability to install multiple dictionaries (including a Chinese to English one), export words to Anki, and more.
Chinese Grammar Wiki
You don’t need to set anything up; have the Chinese Grammar Wiki bookmarked so that you can easily reference it when you need help with grammar.
Stage 2: Broaden Your Vocabulary
In my “How to Start Learning Chinese for Danmei Webnovels” guide, I mentioned Little Fox Chinese. If you’ve used it and learned all it has to offer, then skip straight to the next stage to learn about the tools you need to start reading your first danmei.
Below are some recommended resources to help you bridge the gap between being a learner and reading your first danmei.
- Little Fox Chinese (FREE) is the best free resource for building vocabulary and reading stamina.
- The lessons are presented as a series of short narrative-driven videos, with a vocabulary list and a transcript.
- There are 5 levels, starting with lessons containing a few words (Level 1) to full-length short chapters (Level 5). Level 5 content contains approximately 2.5k unique characters.
- Little Fox Chinese is my favourite free resource, and I recommend working through to level 5 and learning as many words as possible.
- DuChinese (PAID) offers hundreds of stories and articles across 7 levels.
- There are a few narrative style short stories in each level. The difficulty of the highest level, Master, is comparable to that of some easy-to-follow danmei.
- If you have the budget, it’s worth subscribing to DuChinese for a few months and working through as much of the content as possible. ****
- Graded Readers (PAID) are books specifically written for second-language learners to improve their literacy.
- Mandarin Companion offers the best books for beginners, with levels of 150, 300, and 450 unique characters. They can be purchased on Amazon, Kobo, or through the Pleco app. The audiobooks are sold separately.
- Imagin8 Press offers something a little unique. Their most popular series, “The Journey to the West”, comprises 10+ books, with each one more difficult than the last.
- Sinolingua offers many series of graded readers. Their most popular series is Rainbow Bridge Graded Chinese Readers and Collection of Abridged Chinese Classics.
- Chinese Breeze offers graded readers up to 1,100 unique words (900 unique characters).
- Short Stories (FREE) are perfect for a short burst of reading practice across a broad range of subjects.
- Chinese Reading Practice – Many short articles that are regularly updated, with its own built-in pop-up dictionary.
- Mandarin Bean – All their articles are free to read. It has native audio and a built-in pop-up dictionary.
- HSK Reading – Many short articles with native audio. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been updated since 2023.
When to move to the next stage
You can start reading once you know 800-1,000 Chinese characters, but for a much smoother experience, I recommend 1,500-2,000 characters.
You can test yourself with Hanzishan to get a very rough estimate of how many Chinese characters you know.
If you are using DuChinese or Little Fox Chinese, you’ll ideally want to complete all available content at the highest stages.
Stage 3: Tackle Your First Danmei Webnovel
Tools you need
By this stage, you should already have Pleco and a browser pop-up dictionary tool set up. In addition to that, you need a way to read on the go.
You want to have access to your danmei webnovel all the time so that you can make the most of waiting times, like at the bus stop, on your commute, at the doctor’s, etc.
Here are two apps you can try:
- Readibu is a Chinese reader app specifically designed for webnovels. It extracts text from a web page into a reader mode with a Chinese-to-English dictionary, text-to-speech, and the ability to save words. This is my recommendation, as it’s free, works out of the box with danmei webnovels, and is integrated with JJWXC and Gongzi. Readibu also makes it easy to discover webnovels and view JJWXC and Gongzi rankings.
- Pleco’s paid document reader enables you to read .epub .txt .pdf files with access to all of Pleco’s features, including all your dictionaries and the ability to add cards to your deck quickly. This reader is a brilliant solution for easy access to all your Pleco dictionaries. However, you will need to download a copy of any danmei you want to read.
Your first danmei webnovels (FREE)
The following recommendations are all free! You don’t need an account to start reading.
- 做树真的好难 (It’s Really Hard to be a Tree) – Cute story about a tree spirit looking for the love of his life.
- 我与情敌互换了灵魂 (I Swapped Soul with My Love Rival) – Two high school students swap bodies every Wednesday.
- 影帝的脑子坏了 (The Film Emperor Has Brain Damage) – A famous movie star seeks help from a psychologist.
- 找得着北 (Find My Bearings) – The sweet relationship of a blind young man and the creator of the app he uses.
Things you need to know
- Find a workflow that works for you – this is the perfect stage for you to experiment with different workflows and find one that works for you. You may want to simply export words from Readibu and upload them to Anki/Pleco, or you may want to experiment with more automated solutions, such as Yomitan to Anki or Pleco to Anki or solutions that let you extract whole sentences.
- Avoid adding every unknown word – It may be tempting to add every unknown word to your review deck, but don’t do it. You will quickly become overwhelmed by the amount of daily reviews. I recommend setting yourself a daily limit between 5 and 20.
- Words are learnt naturally through regular reading – You will learn words naturally through reading regularly, so you don’t need to study every word purposely. Reading regularly is far more important than reviewing words using SRS. Some learners dislike reviewing words, so they skip this entirely.
- Put aside time every day – You want to read regularly, ideally once a day, if not at least 4-5 times a week. A daily average of 30-40 minutes of reading is a good target. If you can manage more, go for it! Make the most of waiting times; a few short 10-15-minute sessions will quickly add up to 40 minutes.
Stage 4: Build Your Reading Stamina
By this stage, you would have read a few short danmei webnovels, found a flow that works for you and gotten into the habit of reading regularly.
Now you are ready to dive into some longer webnovels, which could take you a few weeks to a few months to complete.
Danmei webnovels you can read
- 一不小心和醋精结婚了 (Accidentally Married a Man Full of Vinegar) – Slice of life, business owners, contract marriage, heavy romance, very sweet
- 婚后热恋 (Falling In Love After Marriage) – Sweet romance, contract marriage, marriage first then love, a CEO with an aspiring actor
- 異變[哨嚮] (Mutation) – Fantasy, light-hearted, romance of two humans with superpowers, 18+ contains explicit sexual scenes
- 放学等我 (Wait For Me After School) – High school, the bottom student x the top student of the class, light-hearted with some family drama
- 撒野 (Run Wild) – High school, a transfer student from the city x a local student, some heavy topics with a lot of family drama and conflicts
For more recommendations, check out The Cosy Study Media Bank. Look for webnovels marked with Newcomer, Intermediate and Upper-Intermediate.
Try these manhua
Manhua are an amazing medium for learning Chinese, but unfortunately, most are only accessible via mobile apps. Currently, there are no tools that will make the experience quick and easy when reading manhua via mobile apps.
Luckily, in the browser, you can use Lexirise, a powerful extension that overlays a pop-up dictionary on the text in manhua.
Here are some free and browser accessible danmei manhua you can try (not all of these are danmei):
- 一个关于糖果的故事 – fantasy, childhood friendship
- 魔王想跟我交朋友 – western setting, fantasy, adventure
- 鬼王的饲养守则 – modern, fantasy, adventure
- 蓝溪镇 – historical China setting, fantasy
They are perfect for a little break from reading your long novels.
Things you need to know
- Avoid jumping ahead – This is still early in your journey, and your foundation in Chinese isn’t quite solid yet, so I would recommend that you avoid complex historical-setting danmei webnovels such as 天官赐福 (Heaven Official’s Blessing) and 将进酒 (Ballad of Sword and Wine). They are very difficult, so if you dive into them too early, you can become overwhelmed and demotivated.
- Work on your listening – I know this is a guide on reading, but don’t neglect your listening skills. Listening allows you to consume other types of media, including TV dramas, audio dramas and 动画 (donghua – Chinese animation)
Stage 5: Expand Your Knowledge
By this stage, you would have read a few webnovels, including a few long ones (over 300k characters), and your reading stamina has improved greatly.
If webnovels with complex themes such as historical, high-fantasy and sci-fi are your end goal, then this is the time to expand your knowledge and vocabulary so you can start reading more of those.
Danmei webnovels you can read
- 强行入侵 (Forced Invasion) – The sequel to 異變[哨嚮] (Mutation), fantasy, plot-driven, romance of two humans with superpowers, 18+ contains explicit sexual scenes
- 小九 (Xiao Jiu) – Sweet romance, prince x guard
- 他会不会去跳江？ (Will he go jump in the river?) – Funny and sweet romance, imperial censor x general
- 心上人来看我的坟头草 (My Love Comes to See the Grass on my Grave) – Funny, some misunderstanding, romance, guard x prince
- 当年万里觅封侯 (A Thousand Miles in Search of a Title) – Childhood friends to lovers, a nobleman and an imperial minister.
For more recommendations, check out The Cosy Study Media Bank. You can start exploring the webnovels marked as Upper-Intermediate and Experienced.
Enhance Your Historical Knowledge
You probably got into the Chinese danmei space through historical novels, and you eventually want to read them in Chinese.
Historical novels will include some historical vocabulary, and many are written in poetic, flowery prose. But vocabulary and writing style are not the only difficulties. Good knowledge of culture, customs and history is also required.
A great way to gain this knowledge is by watching TV dramas and informative YouTube content. My post “4 Essential Tips to Tackle Chinese Historical Novels” discusses this in detail.
At this stage, it’s perfectly fine to watch them with English subtitles; you want to gain familiarity with the culture, common themes and historical customs. You can learn the vocabulary through reading.
Learn the Chinese mythologies, religious and philosophical concepts
It’s extremely important to learn about and become very familiar with the famous Chinese mythologies, as well as religious and philosophical concepts.
These stories and concepts are so ingrained in the culture that they appear and are used as references in many books.
Some webnovels are heavily based on these concepts, for example, Copper Coins & Pan Guan by Mu Su Li and Zhen Hun by Priest. Actually, many of the Priest’s danmei webnovels have heavy references to them. If her novels are on your to-read list, you’d better learn those mythologies.
The Wiki page on Chinese mythology is a great place to start, as it provides high-level information on all the myths, important people/creatures and concepts you need to know.
Read from different genres and authors
There are millions of danmei webnovels published across many platforms, spanning genres and themes such as farming, business, fantasy, horror, and crime.
It’s important to read across different genres and authors, as it helps you expand your vocabulary and widen your experience with different writing styles. The more experience you have, the easier it becomes to pick up a brand new novel.
So try to vary your genre choices as much as possible and even try genres that you’ve never tried before, you never know, you might find that you enjoy something you never thought you would like.
Final Words
I hope all the best on your learning journey, and that someday you will reach your goal of reading all the danmei webnovels in Chinese that you want.
Leave a comment below and let me know how your journey is going.
