No Woo: At China’s Top Anime Convention, Love Takes a Back Seat

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NEWSNo Woo: At China’s Top Anime Convention, Love Takes a Back Seat<br>For more than a decade, the niche, female-focused nüwu genre has attracted a cult following through web novels. Now, fans are taking it offline.

By Fan Yiying and Mao Rui<br>Jul 08, 2026#gender#literature#arts

“Who’s this buff woman?” a visitor at Comicup 32 (CP32) — a popular Chinese anime convention — asked, pointing at the drawing on a banner outside one of the booths.

The drawing was part of the convention’s first-ever booth dedicated to nüwu, or “female-led, no-CP” — “CP” is short for “couple” — literature. Nüwu is a niche category of web fiction that explores the personal growth and platonic relationships of female protagonists, eschewing romance or male love interests. Despite the nüwu booth’s location — tucked away in a corner of the 300,000-square-meter convention center in Hangzhou, capital of the eastern Zhejiang province, this May — it drew a steady stream of visitors, suggesting interest in a narrative that departs from mainstream love-driven female stories.

Over the past two decades, Comicup has evolved from a modest gathering organized by the manga club at Shanghai’s Fudan University in 2007 into a sprawling convention attracting nearly 300,000 attendees and over 10,000 booths. Though the convention scene has long been shaped by its predominantly female fan base, it has been overwhelmingly defined by genres such as otome and other works centered around male characters.

By contrast, nüwu has — until the past few years — remained marginal. The genre has existed in China for more than a decade, with the popular web novel website Jinjiang Literature City officially designating nüwu as a category in 2015. Nüwu’s rise is often attributed to readers’ reported preference for fewer love stories. Yet, the genre frequently contends with platform algorithm suppression and limited promotional visibility, resulting in output far below that of other genres.<br>The initiative to bring nüwu to CP32 was born late last year, according to the booth’s core organizers, Xiaoyan and Mushu — pseudonyms — both of whom are also self-published authors. “We were online friends who participated in an online relay to create nüwu pieces,” Mushu said, referring to a common practice among web novel fans in which they call for themed works in advance, then release them periodically to build hype. “We hit it off at the end of last year, and because we wanted to do more meaningful things for nüwu, we started planning.”<br>But their initial promotional posts online drew considerable ridicule. “Some criticism came from the fan convention community, who accused us of not understanding fiction and illustration,” Xiaoyan said. “Others argued we were corrupting the nüwu space by promoting and directing attention toward otaku culture, because they believe the convention itself is male-centric,” she said, using the Japan-originating term commonly used to describe an — often male — obsessive hobbyist.

Despite considerable skepticism, Xiaoyan said she was determined to set up a nüwu booth. “I think there’s a lot of meaning in doing this — whether online or offline, we should at least try,” she said. “And I feel that after getting to know each other online and bonding over time, everyone really wants to meet each other in person.”

As Comicup draws a largely female crowd, nüwu has huge potential to reach new readers, Xiang Qingming, another organizer and creator of the CP32 nüwu booth, told Sixth Tone using their pen name. “They may read all sorts of things, but if we can add just one nüwu novel to their list, that’s already a win,” she said.

Drawing a crowd<br>The response at CP32 exceeded the organizers’ expectations, with numerous nüwu fans stopping by their booth. To claim a creator-made sticker at the booth, visitors were asked to name characters from the original works — a common practice at anime conventions to ensure merchandise related to creators’ works, such as stickers, goes to genuine fans. One person named 10 characters in a row. “As a creator, I thought: if one day someone remembered every single character I’d created, that would be wonderful,” Xiang said.

Mushu recalled how she had recommended two nüwu titles by other authors to attendees at the event. The very next day, she got feedback — they genuinely loved the stories.

In nüwu, language is tweaked to fight implicit gender biases — for example, swapping “Heavenly God,” laotianye, to “Heavenly Granny,” laotiannai. Authors also create female-centered realities, such as the “Menstruation Festival” in a popular web novel by the author Weiwowujiu — a pen name — where periods are openly celebrated instead of considered taboo.

“Many people had no idea that female-focused fiction could be written like this,” Mushu...