tbh... some Recent Events i've heard about has made me think about... the emotional labor that chinese fans perform when non-chinese fans ask for their help on culture? personally, i'm always pleased to help, and those who've approached me have been appreciative and gracious...

but i've come across others who've put in the time to help people who... don't really seem to understand the kind of thought that goes into details that may not ultimately feature prominently in works at all??

i get asked a lot about names, so let's use that as an example.

when people ask me to help with names, they typically want to know that the CHARACTERS make sense, even if it ultimately only appears in the fic in pinyin. however, in the pinyin form, the meaning of the name is completely lost, so a lot of my labor may be lost.

if you asked me to give you a name in pinyin, for exmaple, i can come up with any name on the spot. Shiying sounds like a girl's name, and so does Liying. Zichen and Jiahao also sound like names. but if you ask me what the characters are, then i actually have to think about it.

what are the elements you want to go into the name? you want something to do with water? something to do with darkness? you'd like there to be something about flowers, but it's a guy? now i have to think of a character that relates to flowers but ISN'T female coded.

on top of the meaning, i have to think if the name is a homophone for something strange or unflattering. like in 2/ha, it's played as a joke that shi/mei's name is a homophone for "martial sister". i usually also sound out the name to make sure the tones sound good together...

but in the end, when you put the name in a fic in pinyin, the meaning and tones are lost, and non-chinese audiences can't tell the difference? so idk? maybe some people think that it doesn't take a lot of thought, like telling a foreigner "yeah jason is a common english name".

the same kind of labor gets put into threads that chinese diaspora make to explain cultural nuances or wuxia/xianxia genre conventions to non-chinese audiences... on some level, i think we all enjoy seeing others enjoying our culture and learning about it...

but yeah... people have been appreciative of my time and labor... but i've heard from others who've had bad experiences from people they've helped...

so please appreciate chinese fans in this fandom for taking the effort to explain things?

just because we're chinese, doesn't mean that we know every single facet of chinese culture, history, and literature. it doesn't mean that we give excellent names, or can answer every question without doing some research. these things don't come effortlessly...

when we put info out there, we expose ourselves to criticism... on twt, we may get attacks on whether we are "chinese enough". so if we accidentally gave you a bad name, the blame also falls on us that "how could a chinese person give such a bad name?

they are clearly not a Real Chinese / Not Chinese Enough".

but the thing is... not all chinese people are good at names. i mean... look at jc? he's canonically bad at names, but no one is saying he's not Real Chinese because he named his dog Xiao Ai right? hahaha.

so please do engage with chinese fans who do put in the emotional labor to explain things... tell them how much you appreciated their threads! link them the fics their threads inspired! maybe if it featured prominently in your work, credit them!

with fics, we've accepted that we should comment, or writers stop writing. so?? let's?? appreciate our translators, and the people who write educational threads too. let's also appreciate our sensitivity betas, and the help that goes behind "small details" in fics...

again, just because someone is chinese, doesn't mean that they automatically know everything about chinese culture, history, literature, politics, and so on!! culture is also diverse. the "chinese culture" in my country is different from "chinese culture" for diaspora elsewhere.

but i've never lived in those countries, so i wouldn't know what aspects of MY "chinese culture" are universal, and which aren't... so to you, a thread that really helped you, may have actually earned OP a lot of negative QRTs and hostile accusations!

translators face a lot of nitpicking. twt can be very hostile in general.

so... can we try to bring a bit of brightness to those who've helped us? can we appreciate the spark of goodness in them that made them think: this person needs help, so i will offer what help i can.

if you know anyone who's helped you in any way, by translating, making a thread, helping you with names or cultural details... i'd like to ask you to think about how to make them feel more appreciated!