#danmei beauties

[aworldforastage]

great beauties of danmei

In most danmei novels, at least one partner from the main couple is one of the greatest beauties, or good-looking enough to be an actor or celebrity. I thought it would be fun to write about a few great beauties whose reputation for beauty have really left an impression on me.

(All artwork in this post are from the audiodramas.)

from historical danmei: Shen Zechuan from Qiang Jin Jiu

古风大美人：沈泽川 《将进酒》

李建恒魂不守舍地念着：“你可没跟我说过，他长这个模样……” Li Jianheng mutters as if entranced, "You never told me, that he looks like this ..."

No one left an impression on me quite like Shen Zechuan, who has a smile worth more than thousand teals of gold, according to his boyfriend. Everyone who has ever met him can't help but praise his appearance, from seasoned playboy Li Jianheng to serious general Qi Zhuyin; even semi-reluctant future father-in-law Xiao Fangxu has to agree that he is stunning.

Shen Zechuan gets his looks from his late mother, who is also famed for her beauty. Even decades after her death, people remember her and can recognize her son based on the similarity. Their resemblance draws out old acquaintances to unveil her backstory, which becomes an important clue to the current plight facing our heroes. Literally advancing the plot with his beauty has seared Lanzhou's reputation into my mind.

from fantasy danmei: Pheonix aka Chu He from Lantern: Reflection of the Peach Blossoms

玄幻大美人：凤凰 aka 楚河 《提灯映桃花》

“你不录吗？”李湖一边咳血一边道，“你哥的法相被称作天道十大美景之一，很难得呢。”说着艰难的打开微信开始发朋友圈。 "Aren't you recording?" Li Hu says while coughing up blood. "Your brother's canonical form is known as one of the Ten Most Beautiful Sights in Heaven, it's a very rare treat." With great difficulty, she opens WeChat while she talks, and starts posting to her shared Moments.

Pheonix's admirers range from a Wisdom King in Heaven to the Demon Venerable in Hell. He is so beautiful that there is an entire affair every time he shows his true form in the human world, and he doesn't hesitate to use it to his advantage. One time he shows up in his true form to rile up an entire bar so he can slip a drugged drink to his (ex?) husband. Another time he shows his true form to humans hoping to win a bet, but the human is too stunned by his beauty and fainted.

Even his friends and coworkers rush to get photos of him. In one of those instances he is a literal baby phoenix, which is a incredible sight in of itself as well.

from modern danmei: Yan Mingxiu from Professional Body Double

现代大美人：晏明修 《职业替身》

陈英看周翔和蔡威都在看对面的广告，她也看了看，然后赞叹道：“怎么一个男孩子能长得这么好看呢，太好看了。” Chen Ying sees that Zhou Xiang and Cai Wei are both looking at the ad across from them. She also takes a look, and exclaims, "How can a boy be this good-looking, far too beautiful."

Even after years of working alongside beautiful celebrities, Zhou Xiang is immediately drawn to Yan Mingxiu's good looks during their first meeting. Anytime anyone comments on his appearance, it's definitely an amazed compliment. In-universe, Yan Mingxiu becomes a famous actor who isn't very expressive or good at (or even enjoy) acting, which has led the fandom to conclude that he must have earned his fame by coasting on his extremely good looks.

The author herself has crowned Yan Mingxiu as the best-looking out of her 188 Club. If he can beat out Chinese-German mixed-race superstar pop singer Song Juhan (from Years of Intoxication), then his face must be something truly special.

bonus: most contested couple in danmei : Chu Mingyun vs Su Shiyu from Jun You Ji Fou

各有千秋：楚明允 vs 苏世誉 《君有疾否》

“楚爱卿虽也漂亮，但眉眼太妖冶艳丽，不是朕喜欢的那种。” “Chu-aiqing is also beautiful, but his features are too provocative and glamorous, which is not the type I like."

Chu Mingyun's reputation for beauty is well-known in the Capital, inspiring even men to lust after him. People meeting him are often shocked that the famed general is beautiful like a woman. A visiting princess nicknames him "Beautiful Gege" right off the bat, and even Su Shiyu himself calls Chu Mingyun an extraordinary beauty.

However, when compared to Su Shiyu, there is definitely room for debate. The Emperor thinks Su Shiyu has the most beautiful face conceivable, but concedes that Chu Mingyun is also beautiful though his features are too flamboyant for his taste. (I will never not laugh at the conversation above in which he says this to CMY's face.) Noblewoman Lu Qinghe prefers Chu Mingyun, feeling that Su Shiyu's kind of beauty feels too distant and untouchable. I can only conclude they are both breathtaking but in very different ways.

[hualianschild]

love how instead of accepting he liked kissing hua cheng he blames his teacher for not teaching him how to not be tempted by men 💀

[wynnnxy]

shen-laoshi!!!

Drew this like a few months ago but am still very proud of it! The outfit was inspired by that gorgeous scum villain modern hanfu set by sanfen that I yearn for everyday

[snarkspawn]

I just think they're neat

[ruanbaijie]

无论你问我什么，我都能够很快地找到答案。但那只是冷冰冰的答案。卢艳雪以前问我爱情是什么。我可以回答，爱情是梁山伯与祝英台，但我永远体会不到化蝶前那一夜的等待。因为我是虚拟的。陈非问我友情是什么。搜索引擎告诉我，友情是桃花潭水深千尺，不及汪伦送我情，但我永远理解不了为什么友情会比潭水深。因为我是虚拟的。这不是同一维度的数据，我理解不了这些答案。难道，就因为我是虚拟的吗？

THE SPIREALM 致命游戏 (2024) 1.72 adapted from the danmei novel Kaleidoscope of Death 死亡万花筒 by Xi Zi Xu 西子绪

[just-here-for-romance-books]

I read tgcf in January and got these as my first tattoos in February 😇

[verycharismaticdragon]

Sleeping Beauty Binghe x Maleficent SQQ for Bingwife Week day 3: fairy tale ✌️🥰

Binghe: "♪I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream~♪" SQQ, screaming internally: "Princess!!! You got the wrong person!!!!!!1!!11"

referencing of course the true love's kiss scene from a lesbian masterpiece Maleficent (2014)... anyone else malora truther in 2014 bingqiu enjoyer now?

[thedreamerstoryteller]

"Wei Wuxian was calling to him with a smile on his lips. Just as he always had, Lan Wangji looked at him. And forever after, his eyes could never move away from him again."

- MO DAO ZU SHI Vol.5 Pag. 187

[dragonselkie]

just for fun !!

[d3klex]

the most beautiful man

[murasaki-cha]

Ahhh this reminded me of that scene where the kids keep asking An Zhe what the Arbiter looks like and he recalled Lu Feng's eyes so he said he looks like the aurora😭

An Zhe has always been drawn by Lu Feng's eyes. The first thing he noticed about Lu Feng when they first met was the icy green color of his eyes. And almost every time he thinks about Lu Feng he recalls his green eyes. It's such a tiny detail but it's just beautifully heartbreaking

[komaneko-kun]

important reason to read liu yao:

[ifjenn]

[web-novel-polls]

Five Love Languages of Danmei: Flirting Bracket

Yuling from Everywhere in Jianghu is Wonderful

Characters: Qin Shaoyu and Shen Qianling

Submission:

I'm guessing few people know this couple especially considering good TL was deleted(sob) so first a quick intro: Shen Qianling is an actor from the modern world who transmigrated into a wuxia world. Worst part? The person he transmigrated as is engaged to a man! And the man is a huge weirdo! So Shen Qianling resolves to do everything in his power to break the engagement. You Can Guess How Well That Works Out for the MC of a danmei novel lol So the annoying flirt in question is exactly SQL's husband-to-be, Qin Shaoyu. He's constantly going "wife~" and making dramatic declarations of love... especially in front of others. Shen Qianling is onto his insincere ass! (They're really kinda theater kid x theater kid tbh, both are acting and pretending a lot.) Later it's actually revealed that Qin Shaoyu had a reason to act like that and provoke SQL all the time, but by that time SQL's (lack of) swag has deeply captivated him, so he just goes from annoying flirting(insincere) to annoying flirting(affectionate).

Additional Propaganda: Qin Shaoyu did not annoyingly flirt to the point of giving his (male) fiancé a pregnancy scare to lose the annoying flirt competition (via @verycharismaticdragon)

Carrd Link 

Manhua Screenshots

Liushen from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

Characters: Liu Qingge and Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan)

Submission: 

SQQ loves to be Constantly Be Annoyingly Flirtatious to his poor, flustered shidi, though the jury is very still out on how much of that is intentional/he is aware he is doing. (Denial is not just a river in Egypt to Shen Yuan.)

["Anti-Propaganda" that attacks other characters is NOT allowed. Please only give reasons to vote FOR a character/ship.]

[wanderingteacup]

The art for this couple is beautiful and well done and I’m so happy this novel is getting noticed more and more, do not get me wrong. BUT, I just gotta let out some steam.

Look, I KNOW the BL/yaoi/danmei tropes. I know how it seems to be the unshakeable rule that there has to be a “top” and a “bottom” dynamic that never switches, and that the top always has to be more rugged and tall and wide at the shoulders, while the bottom is the pretty twink. It’s the most common dynamic and portrayal, worn as it is (though I am happy to say I’ve seen a couple good deviations from this rising to the top in manhwa and other media in recent years). The reason why I learned to love this novel so much is that it DIDN’T fall into these basic dynamics the same way while also using them in essence, so I guess the art is kinda making my brain fritz, along with a lot of ppl comparing Fu Shen to Wei Wuxian hahah.

In the book, Yan Xiaohan is honestly the bratty, cunning, scheming and utterly devoted vinegar jar beauty of a “wife” left at home when his man goes to get one drink and talk politics with another dude (yes this happens), who also happily tops his more traditionally “manly” and stoic husband on the regular (while not being a strict top at any point). They are both ok with this, as Fu Shen is never portrayed as “weaker” or less “manly” bc of this (like a lot of BL/yaoi etc. have a habit of doing). Yan Xiaohan also happily opens his arms and demands Fu Shen kiss him and push him down bc ya know he just loves his husband and always wants to get it on everywhere with him (this also happens lol), all the while being fine with carrying on their inside joke of him being “wifey”. He gets compared to a flower and a siren, he gets both a Xie Lian moment and a Jin Guangyao moment with being dressed up and passing as woman for his looks as well as described as being almost the spitting image of his mother respectively, all the while not feeling demeaned by any of it. And while we never see Fu Shen actually topping him, the “sex pollen” bit left more than enough hints that just about everything was tried and tested, so Fu Shen’s “manliness” has never been in doubt in my mind lolol. 

So, in my mind, they’ve always been among the strongest switch/vers energy couple I’ve seen in danmei since the beginning, with Fu Shen deserving to have his own masculinity emphasized and not just shoved into an ill-fitting “bottom” mold. They also break some more of the toxic molds of danmei by being “enemies to lovers” but actually being really heartfelt and domestic and passionately in love for half the book, in the open, making no excuses. Their story of course also has strong themes of morality, politics, goverment and rulers, as well as duty and sacrifice, so just a fully rounded package all around. 

So I guess I just found the art a tad misleading when it comes to their couple dynamics at first glance and felt some type of way about it lmao. Idk sorry about this mini rant, I mean ill to no one and nothing, I just wanted to air out some thoughts I’ve had after reading some conversations about them around the internet hahah. Still loved the art and ofc the books, I hope we get to see more and more art of them in the future bc there’s always room for everything! <3

[joelletwo]

OH that was the end of the first book huh. 400 pages in how many days kjfg didnt expect that. the writing is............................... good? its very different. stylistically. from. danmei translations ive been reading for the past ~year lol. and also formally different in ways that mean im not having to absorb so much information with every line and can breeze thru a lot quicker. its been. soooo long since ive read sth like this. and anyways i like it and im looking forward to reading more. and im obsessed with moon (and stone. stone in every scene from now on please.)