Tanbi is a form of Japanese literature depicting love between men that its hardcore following of young, heterosexual women can't get enough of。

In the literary world of tanbi, a Japanese term meaning "the pursuit of beauty" and often used to refer to two good-looking men in a romantic relationship, there are answers to what a heterosexual woman wants in love and life。

At least, this is the case for Cici Zhou, a 25-year-old real estate agent who has devoured 1,200 tanbi books over the past 10 years, drawn to them by the strong characters and their fighting spirit。

Zhou's favorite, Tianxiadiyi (translated to English means "No 1 in the world")， is the story of two opposing majestic kings who are mutually attracted but have to fight against each other and their desire。

"You can't find these characters in normal chick-lit," she says. "They're both strong, outstanding men. There are dramatic ups and downs and greater obstacles to overcome."

There is no official tally, but there are an estimated one million readers of tanbi stories in China, according to Yang Ling, associate professor with Xiamen University who studies tanbi sub-culture。

The scene is dominated by work from Japan and China's Taiwan, but tanbi lovers are also putting out original stories in forums, podcasts, custom-made books and other items that target hardcore fans。

Jinjiang Literature, one of the more popular websites that features original tanbi stories, clocks two million log-ins a day. Ninety percent of its users are female, and 80 percent are in the 18 to 35 age group, according to a report the company provided to China Daily。

Tanbi borders on gay fiction, but the readership is predominantly heterosexual women。

"I never thought it strange when two men become a couple," Zhou says. "We are reading about two guys together exactly because we like boys."

"They're reading for the variety tanbi offers," Yang says。

The genre is broken down into a gamut of sub genres, that touch on a wide variety of themes from apocalyptic tales, star wars, martial arts, and fan fiction. The stories can be "clear-water" (platonic) or x-rated. Tanbi is written in so many styles that there are stories told in dialects from northeastern China to Cantonese。

"Whatever subject you like, you can find it there," Yang says. "It's like a small literary kingdom."

And then there is the love story at the core。

"In tanbi, love and relationships have no set patterns like in Cinderella, where a hero rescues a beauty in danger," Yang says. "Both sides can be strong. Or they can take different roles in different circumstances. There are many more possibilities to explore."

That is perhaps one of the reasons why these readers are more open-minded when setting their own terms, and more understanding to others, Yang says, who has interviewed many tanbi fans in recent years。

"These are definitely positive influences. When they are open to different types of relationships, they are also open to other discussions, such as staying single for longer, or raising a child on their own," Yang says。

According to Ducky, another seasoned reader of 10 years, who will only reveal the name she uses online, "I'm an independent woman, I get to make my own decisions in work as well as in life." She says she prefers stories where both members of the couple are standing on their own two feet and fighting for what they want in love。

"However, we still like alpha males better," she says. "When there are two of them, there is the tension we want. Especially now that boys are becoming feminine and girls have somehow turned aggressive."

In the strong male characters, the female readers find their most desired kind of romance。

"I believe tanbi describes the purest kind of love," says Jodie Cheng, who first discovered tanbi when looking for news of her idols, the Korean pop group Super Junior, in 2010. In a fictional account, written by tanbi fans, band members become lovers。

"But as long as a story has a modicum of realism, two men together means trouble, and giving up everything for love," Cheng says. "That's rare in our real life, therefore, we look for it."

With the rise of Sina Weibo and Wechat, two major instant messaging platforms in China, tanbi is no longer the cult genre it was a decade ago. There has been a growing number of girls, or fojoshi (a Japanese term for girls who endorse male homosexual love)， who have started to write fan fiction that moves tanbi into the world of mainstream literature。

A recent work pairs two X-men, Magneto and Professor X, powerful opponents who care about each other, at least in the Hollywood megahit X-Men: Days of Future Past。

"There are so many fojoshi that it's almost a selling point now," Yang, the researcher says。

"But whatever the girls are attracted to, they are after the true, good, beautiful human feelings that have always been at the center of literature."

By Sun Ye ( China Daily )

“耽美”是一種日本文學(xué)流派，這種文學(xué)描述的是男人之間的愛情，在中國(guó)許多年輕異性戀女性成了“耽美文學(xué)”的鐵粉。

在日本文化里，“耽美”的文學(xué)釋義是“對(duì)美的追求”，并且常用來形容兩個(gè)俊美男子之間的浪漫情感。女性異性戀者也能在其中讀到對(duì)感情和生活的追求。

就拿25歲的房產(chǎn)中介周慈慈(音)來說，在過去的十年里，她已經(jīng)閱覽了近1200件關(guān)于“耽美”的作品，并被主人公堅(jiān)強(qiáng)勇敢的性格所打動(dòng)。

周最喜歡的作品是《天下第一》，它講述了兩位偉大的帝王之間的爭(zhēng)斗和彼此的欲望。

她說，在通俗小說里我們是讀不到這樣的人物的，他們都很堅(jiān)強(qiáng)、杰出，生命起起伏伏，需要越過一個(gè)又一個(gè)障礙。

據(jù)廈門大學(xué)[微博]研究“耽美”文化的助理教授楊玲說，雖然沒有官方統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)，但據(jù)估計(jì)在中國(guó)“耽美”文學(xué)有近百萬的讀者。

作品場(chǎng)景大多設(shè)置在日本和中國(guó)臺(tái)灣，但是“耽美”愛好者們也會(huì)在論壇、播客、專門的書籍里或其它工具上分享一些原創(chuàng)作品，以此來吸引忠實(shí)粉絲們。

“耽美”文學(xué)接近男同小說，但讀者中女異性戀卻占大多數(shù)。

周慈慈說：“我不覺得兩個(gè)男性成為伴侶很奇怪，我們讀這些關(guān)于男人的故事只是因?yàn)槲覀兿矚g男孩子。”

楊玲說道，讀者喜愛耽美文學(xué)的多樣性。

“耽美”體裁多樣，涉及到啟示錄故事、星球大戰(zhàn)、武打、以及同人小說。故事可以是柏拉圖式的或略帶色情的。耽美文學(xué)風(fēng)格多種多樣，有的以中國(guó)東北方言寫成，也有些以廣東話寫成。

楊玲說，不管你喜歡什么樣的主題，在這樣的故事王國(guó)里你都能找到。

而且愛永遠(yuǎn)是故事的核心。

楊玲說，在耽美故事中，愛情并不像灰姑娘童話那樣有著固定模式，比如英雄救美等等。雙方都可以很強(qiáng)大，或者在不同場(chǎng)合里他們扮演著不同的角色。要去闡釋的可能性無窮無盡。

楊玲在近年采訪了眾多耽美粉絲，她說，當(dāng)涉及到自身時(shí)，這些讀者往往很開明而且善解人意，這也許就是原因之一。

楊玲說：“耽美文學(xué)當(dāng)然會(huì)帶來積極影響。當(dāng)人們開始接受不同的戀愛方式時(shí)，人們也漸漸會(huì)對(duì)一些爭(zhēng)議采取包容態(tài)度，比如長(zhǎng)期單身、自己認(rèn)養(yǎng)小孩兒等等。”

據(jù)粉齡已達(dá)十年之久網(wǎng)友Ducky說，“我是一個(gè)獨(dú)立的女性，不論在工作還是生活中我一直追求自我。”她還說，她喜歡那些故事，故事里的主人公遺世獨(dú)立、為愛獻(xiàn)身。

她說，“然而，我們還是更喜歡具有男子漢氣概的男人，當(dāng)出現(xiàn)兩個(gè)男性時(shí)，我們往往不知道該選哪一個(gè)。而且當(dāng)下男孩子越來越女性化，而女孩們卻似乎更有闖勁兒。”

故事中的男子漢，往往就是女性心中最理想的男神形象。

2010年，Jodie Cheng在搜尋偶像男團(tuán)“Super Junior”的最新動(dòng)態(tài)時(shí)，偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)了耽美文學(xué)作品，講的是男團(tuán)成員之間的愛。

Jodie Cheng說：“我認(rèn)為耽美描述了純粹的愛，但是只要故事中加入一點(diǎn)現(xiàn)實(shí)元素，兩個(gè)男人在一起就意味著接踵而至的問題、意味著為愛放棄一切。而這些在我們生活中是很少見的，因此，我們一直在書中尋找著這些。”

隨著新浪微博和微信這兩大即時(shí)通訊平臺(tái)的興起，耽美這一體裁也不再像十年前那樣小眾，萬千女孩開始撰寫耽美小說，由此推動(dòng)其成為一種主流文學(xué)形式。

最近上映的《X戰(zhàn)警---逆轉(zhuǎn)未來》是一個(gè)巨大成功，在影片里，萬磁王和X教授是兩個(gè)惺惺相惜的對(duì)手。

楊玲說，“如今有太多喜歡耽美文學(xué)的女孩們，這儼然已成為一大賣點(diǎn)。”

“但是不管女孩們到底是被什么所吸引，這背后真實(shí)的、美好的人性將永遠(yuǎn)是耽美文學(xué)的核心。”