词汇 · Glossary
Glossary
Donghua and the web novels behind it run on a vocabulary with no clean English equivalents. This glossary defines each term in plain English, with the Chinese characters and pinyin alongside.
A
- Ascension飞升fēishēng
- The leap from the mortal world to a higher plane of existence, the traditional endgame of a cultivator's path.
C
- Cultivation修炼xiūliàn
- The practice of refining qi and tempering body and soul through staged realms of power, in pursuit of longevity, strength, and eventual immortality.
D
- Danmei耽美dānměi
- Chinese male-male romance fiction, a web novel powerhouse whose animated adaptations reshaped donghua's international audience.
- Danmu弹幕dànmù
- "Bullet comments": viewer comments that fly across the video itself, a defining feature of how donghua is watched on bilibili.
- Dantian丹田dāntián
- The "elixir field" below the navel where a cultivator stores and refines qi; the body's power core.
- Dao道dào
- The Way: the underlying principle of reality that cultivators seek to comprehend, and the source of phrases like "dao heart" and "profound meaning".
- Donghua动画dònghuà
- The Chinese word for animation; outside China it has come to mean Chinese animation specifically, the way anime means Japanese animation.
F
- Face-Slapping打脸dǎliǎn
- The signature payoff of web novel fiction: an underestimated protagonist publicly proves scornful rivals wrong, "slapping the face" of everyone who mocked them.
G
- Golden Core金丹jīndān
- A crystallized core of refined qi formed in the dantian; in most power systems, the milestone that separates true cultivators from students.
- Golden Finger金手指jīnshǒuzhǐ
- Fan slang for the protagonist's unfair advantage: the grandpa in a ring, the system, the mysterious pagoda, whatever guarantees they outpace the world.
- Guofeng国风guófēng
- "National style": aesthetics that deliberately draw on traditional Chinese art, music, dress, and architecture; a badge of pride in modern donghua.
- Guoman国漫guómàn
- Short for "national comics/animation": Chinese-made animation and comics, as opposed to imported Japanese works.
I
- Immortal仙xiān
- A being who has transcended mortality through cultivation; less a god than a graduated human, with bureaucracy to match.
- Ink-Wash Animation水墨动画shuǐmò dònghuà
- Animation in the style of Chinese ink painting, invented by Shanghai Animation Film Studio in 1960 and never fully replicated elsewhere.
J
- Jianghu江湖jiānghú
- Literally "rivers and lakes": the parallel society of martial artists, wanderers, and outlaws that wuxia stories inhabit.
M
- Manhua漫画mànhuà
- Chinese comics; the counterpart to Japanese manga and Korean manhwa, and a major source of donghua adaptations.
N
- Nascent Soul元婴yuányīng
- A miniature soul-body formed from a dissolved golden core; cultivators at this stage can survive bodily death and project their spirit.
- Nianfan年番niánfān
- The "year-long season" release model: a donghua that airs weekly, essentially without breaks, for a full year or more.
Q
- Qi气qì
- Vital energy that permeates the world and living beings; the raw fuel that cultivators absorb, refine, and weaponize.
S
- Sect宗门zōngmén
- A cultivation school and power bloc in one: master-disciple lineages that control territory, techniques, and resources.
- Spirit Stones灵石língshí
- Crystallized qi used as both currency and battery in cultivation worlds.
T
- Transmigration穿越chuānyuè
- Waking up in another world or another body, often in a novel the character has read; China's homegrown parallel to isekai.
- Tribulation渡劫dùjié
- A trial sent by heaven, most famously lightning, that a cultivator must survive to break through to a higher realm.
W
- Web Novel网络小说wǎngluò xiǎoshuō
- Serialized online fiction, often thousands of chapters long; the source material for most major donghua.
- Wuxia武侠wǔxiá
- "Martial heroes" fiction: trained martial artists navigating the jianghu underworld by codes of honor, with skills that bend rather than break human limits.
X
- Xianxia仙侠xiānxiá
- "Immortal heroes" fantasy built on Daoist cosmology, where martial artists cultivate qi to transcend mortality, ascend realms, and defy heaven itself.
- Xuanhuan玄幻xuánhuàn
- "Mysterious fantasy": Chinese high fantasy that keeps cultivation-style power progression but invents its own worlds, free of strict Daoist cosmology.
Y
- Young Master少爷shàoye
- The arrogant heir of a rich clan or sect, existing chiefly to underestimate the protagonist and be humbled; one of the genre's most durable stock characters.