How To Write Chinese Characters (No Not Hanyu)

If you want to learn Chinese tho I recommend the HelloChinese app

[libraryleopard]

One thing about me is that I will acquire library cards

[queerliblib]

one thing about us is that we are a library card you can acquire

[disc80s]

“you can’t forget your mother tongue” okay but have you considered bilinguals and polyglots whose first language isn’t english and whose development during adolescence was shaped by consuming content and media only in english and have ever since viewed that second language, foreign to their own, as a better outlet for their emotions and thoughts? as Yiyun Li said “it is hard to feel in an adopted language, yet impossible in my native language.”

[disc80s]

from Yiyun Li’s To Speak Is To Blunder

[dailyworldcinema]

Gong Li in Curse of the Golden Flower, 2006 dir. by Zhang Yimou

[checkyourasianbias]

Hello! I'm trying to write a fic in which a chinese-american character is a vampire, but don't want to accidentally mess up with how i portray him in this role. Does anything come to mind as far as stoker-style vampires that should be avoided?

From my understanding, a lot of the negative vampire tropes to be wary of are rooted in antisemitism, but here are some things to consider:

Vampirism is a very popular allegory that is able to mirror society's current most prevalent fears/anxieties. With a Chinese American character as a frame of reference, I think of the "Yellow Peril" trope that depicts East/Southeast Asians as a threat to Western civilization and Western cultural values. Traditional vampires as we often imagine them are foreign, seductive, and "exotic" threats that intend to corrupt "Western purity." This will be perceived much differently if you have an Asian character in this role over a vaguely European character, especially one who visually leans into racist propaganda (mocking slanted eyes, sinister long fingernails, associations with disease which...is kind of a core aspect of a vampire isn't it? draining life force and inducing death). On one hand, you can only change so much about vampires before they're not vampires anymore imo but the amount of thought you put into the character/motivations/depiction would help qualm negative discussion. Also, be aware of how you treat other Asian characters!

When writing a Chinese-American male vampire in particular, it's important to note that there was a lot of propaganda at the time perpetuating Chinese men as a "violent threat" to white women (eventually they were treated in a more positive light compared to Japanese immigrants, and ofc now a lot of stereotypes around Asian men revolve around them being "undesirable" or "effeminate", but the latter is less relevant to the time period you're looking for). If this character is interacting with white people a lot, his race would realistically affect interactions with them

Don't try to make him more "foreign" or "other" than you would any other vampire. This doesn't mean ignore his background or how other characters would treat him, but you as the writer while writing need to be aware of how he comes across and compare that to how you describe other vampires. Is he more ominous? More evil? More sexualized? Are these tied to his "Asianess"?

Going back to the "unclean" trope, I know about the tendency to make vampire characters have closer proximity to whiteness while making Brown/Black characters werewolves or more "beastly" supernatural beings. Idk biting someone's neck and draining them of their blood is kind of...like very unsanitary, OBJECTIVELY. I think we romanticize vampires as a fictional concept, which I don't necessarily mind because I love fun, but this is something to keep in mind when writing any potential scenes like that if you plan to write them more viscerally. It may draw those comparisons even if people can't pin point why (also I don't want to make it seem like I'm constantly comparing Asian characters to white characters but I think having the reference makes it easier to understand: if you're portraying him as inherently more violent/gruesome than any potential white vampires, it brings upon the implication that his race is the core difference even when they're all equal levels of vampire)

I don't like saying you can't write supernatural Asian characters because personally I LOVE supernatural characters imo they're so cool and powerful and have a lot of lore and I want Asian supernatural characters in my media. However, it can be hard to pull off without being thoughtful because any other negative stereotypes you have about Asian characters in general can easily seep through

[writingnothanyu]

Question for anyone who served at a waiter in a formal Chinese restaurant (or anyone who has ever dined at one ig too), what was the most memorable fighting for the bill moment you’ve ever witnessed? And what is the smartest paying for the bill maneuver you’ve ever seen? Feel free to reply in tags or thru the button or in my inbox

[boundwithpurple]

the 2010s era of “how to write xyz” blogs covering various marginalizations had their uses, but it created this clear mindset re writing outside one’s “own experience” where it’s like “there’s a checklist i can tick off that ensures no one will ever get mad at me” which i think is ultimately very restricting. i have definitely had to fight internalizing this mindset and the superficial assurances it offers. i do think it very important to try to be very thoughtful and deliberate, to put in real meaningful effort, in performing such imaginative work to be shared in a public forum. but writing to a checklist…you can see when people are doing this, where they are like trying to achieve this market tested product where their writing could not possibly offend anyone, and it lands on this equally dehumanizing note where there are no marginalized people involved. very eerie. because any given demographic is actually diverse in manifold ways, and also simply made up of idiosyncratic opinionated individuals, and will actually disagree quite strongly among itself on many points re what is realistic or unrealistic, what is respectful or disrespectful. there’s an ethics of care that is important to me, but distinct from and in many ways antithetical to the checklist model…

[writingnothanyu]

(Chinese American here!) Your mention of how it feels like sometimes people only write rich Chinese characters made me think about my own feelings about it—I think it heavily feeds into the model minority myth about Chinese (and other Asians) being naturally more successful and financially comfortable, and it also just…feels rather incongruous with my desire to see Chinese diaspora characters that I can relate to, ones that are down to earth and act like…well, average people. Most of us didn’t grow up rich, after all.

I also remember when International Miku was a big trend and the Chinese Mikus with their full makeup looks and trendy fashion didn’t really speak to me as much as the “Miku from my local gas station” type designs. Made me think about seeing the more…disposable income laden Asian kids in high school and feeling super disconnected from them with their high tech, shiny stuff and designer clothes while I still wore some of the same shirts as I had in elementary (I did not grow very much)

Oh that’s a good point I keep forgetting about the model minority myth bc I’m such a cringe fail

Let’s also not forget the internalized classism among the Chinese, both mainlanders and diaspora… like there’s a reason why there’s a gazillion dramas about rich nobles and concubines and ceos and get rich quick stories … it’s bc we generally consider their stories to be worth telling…

Theres also this TikTok that goes over the generational and class differences between Chinese immigrants:

TikTok - Make Your Day

[writingnothanyu]

The thing about the hole question for me is that it depends, I say its one if you can see it like a straw but if its a hole in earth then its two if that makes sense

Ok…

[enbaluka-tokyo-drift]

The US tortured a chinese scientist to death and the media calls it "hostile questioning"

[kropotkindersurprise]

His name is Danhao Wang and he was murdered on March 19, 2026.

“On March 19, at approximately 11:00 p.m., officers from the University of Michigan Police Department responded to a report of a subject who fell inside the George G. Brown Building,” the statement read. “A faculty research assistant was found after falling from an upper level and was later pronounced deceased.”

Lin Jian, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the U-M researcher died by suicide after U.S. law enforcement interrogated him, urging the U.S. to conduct a full investigation. 

Wang worked in the lab of Zetian Mi, an electrical and computer engineering professor. Engineering Dean Karen Thole wrote in an email Friday that Wang played a major role in research breakthroughs at the University of Michigan, and the community is mourning his death.  “Dr. Wang was a promising and brilliant young mind, whose research into wide bandgap III-nitride semiconductor materials and devices published in Nature stands as a landmark, uncovering for the first time the switching and charge compensation mechanisms of emerging ferroelectric nitrides,” Thole wrote. “His loss is felt deeply not only by those who knew him here at the University, but also everyone who understands his potential to have contributed to breakthroughs in science that would have positively impacted people around the world.”

UMich investigating researcher’s death after alleged questioning

DPSS is investigating the March 20 death of Danhao Wang, an assistant research scientist in the College of Engineering.

[casualchancers]

Yall

How many holes does a straw have?

1 hole

2 holes

Secret third option (pls reply or place in tags)

Voting ended onApr 6

[writingnothanyu]

What are your writing/characterization pet peeves when it comes to Chinese characters in media?

'the morally grey' without the actual complexity of an actually well written morally grey character... like... they just kill people? but it's never expanded upon why

honour!!! -> why does everyone seem to think saving face is like some exotic concept. it's not that hard to understand. litmus test: replace self-respect in your statements that contain the word 'honour.' does it seem ridiculous to say whatever the characters are saying at that moment? if it sounds ridiculous to say self-respect in that phrase, then chances are, it's ridiculous to say the word honour in that phrase as well

only depicting rich chinese ppl -> idk why this one bothers me... like yes most of us have meet rich chinese international students as they certainly exist, but like??? some portrayals seem to make them seem like the enemy because they're Chinese?? Like it's just repackaged yellow peril 2.0? I find that there's this weird tension between lower income white ppl and rich pocs... there is def an element of classism, but let's not forget this bizzare unspoken entitlement that what rich pocs have, should inherently belonged to the white lower income classism simply b/c they are white.

shrinking asian ppl -> idk why white ppl have this weird size fetish for tiny asian ppl in general, like do yall not like us taking up space? Like chinese guy whose power is to shrink is just... a bad dick metaphor... Chinese girl whose power is to shrink just... screams weird kink

portrayal of chinese bodies as disposable as they are numerous -> yes there are over a billion people in china... but lets not forget they are all people, with unique stories and personalities... lets not forget their humanity just because there is a lot of them... scarcity adding value is a lie

I'm not saying you can't write these, but like, pls ask yourself why you're making certain authorial choices, and what you're saying when you do write this kind of stuff.

[offarawaysnfuturedays-inmydreams]

"Yeoh mentions the Asian-centric Netflix comedy she starred in last January, The Brothers Sun. "It never got picked up, and that was devastating to me," she says. "It was funny, it was beautifully done...I don't know what else you need. So we still need to keep pushing forward. We don’t have a choice." In some ways, Yeoh is still bending Hollywood to her whim, fighting for better roles, setting new precedents for Asian actors in the US. And boy, can she fight. "It's very important you don’t let other people dictate who you are or what you do," she says. "Especially now, at this point in my career. I have my community, where we know how to support each other. We'll find the writers who will write something other than the 'grandmother'."" -Michelle Yeoh: 'When I look back at it, I go, "What the hell were you thinking?"'

MICHELLE YEOH + 2020s filmography (so far)

[avengerphobic]

honestly im very tired of peoples inability to recognize stereotypes that stem from sax rohmer novels i think white people especially owe it to asian people to do a cursory reading of the premise of fu manchu novels and read the characters are associated with them just so they can get their heads out of their asses and stop blindly reading fu manchu and fah lo suee reskins without any critical thought

[avengerphobic]

like an asian daughter trying to get away from her evil dad or trying to usurp her father with the help of white men is a anti asian stereotype i need yall to know that. the daughter who is actually good and is just a helpless victim of her father and she needs help from a white man to either get away or kill her father is a racist stereotype. Id take it a step further and say that even if its not a white man getting help from any outside force to usurp or run from her father is in fact racist. An asian woman falling in love with a white man and that white man basically making her realize that she shouldn't be following her father is racist it comes from Daughter of the Dragon. It comes from Sax Rohmer. We need to recognize that its a thing. We need to be critical of how we talk about characters that fall into that trope

[queer-n-autism-vibecheck]

Hello hello ! This is the queer and autism vibe checker talking !

Joke aside, calling me Miss Z and English is not my first language, so I apologize in advance for any mistake ! (That's the more you will know about me, and I hope you'll all respect that)

The concept of this blog is inspired by both @creatingblackcharacters and @checkyourasianbias (go see their blogs, they're really cool and instructive !) so if you know how their blogs work, you'll guess how it's going : here, we're going to talk about queer and autism representation !

Being part of both communities, I'm simply dying for some good representation in medias, but it's unfortunately quite that rare, so I'll be posting lessons on both those topics ! On the other hand, feel free to ask about those subjects, or if you wonder what to avoid when writing a queer or an autistic (or both !) character ! (Just remember I'm a single individual, so my opinion is just mine and not to take as a singular truth !)

Lessons are in the way, please be patient !

Specific posts centered about queer identities will be tagged #queer vibe check and those about autistic identities will be tagged #autism vibe check !

(And be kind to each other, it's free and makes everybody feel nice !)

[starlightandtears]

Wow wtf HIV/AIDS was discovered by Flossie Wong-Staal, an Chinese-American woman, and she’s the reason the HIV test even exists. AND THEN she invented the molecular knife that lead to treatments for HIV/AIDS. And she’s STILL ALIVE. We don’t hear about the contributions of Women of Color enough, my word. Madness.

[vodcar]

Flossie Wong-Staal - Wikipedia

Flossie Wong-Staal - Wikipedia

https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flossie_Wong-Staal

[yungcrybby-anonymousbosch666]

you can always tell a major breakthrough is made by a woman, a woc or any poc because it’s either completely ignored or never credited like it just happened by itself

[checkyourasianbias]

colored pictures of wong-staal, who died in 2020 at the age of 73

[checkyourasianbias]

Welcome! My goal is to educate as many people on possible about everything Asian, whether that be on how to create or analyze an Asian character, or to re-examine worldviews surrounding Asians. Be respectful in the askbox and remember that Asia includes ALL Asians. Inspired by @isuggestlandback and @creatingblackcharacters. Please go check them out.

📝Lessons 📝

If you're seeing this through a reblog, you can check the original post to see when I update this list!

Lesson 1: To Be Added!

FQA under cut

Disclaimer: I am not the voice for all Asians in the world! I am just one person!! Also racism against Asians is called orientalism. Now you know!

Do I count as Asian? I can't answer that for you, I don't know you. Here's a list of Asian countries though.

What are your 'credentials'? Only answering here so I don't get asked more invasively in the future. I am Taiwanese American with a lifetime's experience of being Asian. I have lived in Japan for two years. Despite my knowledge being East Asian-heavy, this remains a blog for all Asians, and my research and blog content will reflect that.

Do you have a Ko-Fi or Paypal I could donate to? I do not, but I reblog fundraisers for Asians and people of color frequently. Please donate to them.

[orientallyyours]

In China, the wheelbarrow was also used to carry passengers. There could be up to six adults or eight children on a Chinese wheelbarrow, neatly distributed on both sides of the vehicle to keep the balance. If a person was transported together with his or her luggage, and the weight of both was similar, then the baggage was placed on one side and the passenger on the other side. Small imbalances could be absorbed by keeping the wheelbarrow slightly tilted while driving. Keeping the vehicle at an incline was also the standard procedure when transporting a single person without luggage.

Source: Lowtech Magazine