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Qiongyao, the Taiwanese queen of romance books, is among the most bestselling writers to have existed in the modern century of Chinese literature. With scores of titles translated into Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Bahasa Indonesia, and (lately) English, her influence permeates East Asian popular culture. Despite this, scholarship on her works and her readership is extremely scarce. Approaching Qiongyao's reception from the Internet, this paper presents a broad, international perspective on Qiongyao's most persistent and devoted readership, namely young adult readers. Dismissing the myth perpetuated in academia that Qiongyao fans are passive consumers of pop culture, this article hears it from readers themselves. Through direct interaction with, as well as quiet observation of, Qiongyao fans on-line, it is clear that Qiongyao's works are not, at least not by definition, "mind-numbing" pop culture artifacts as many scholars hold. On the contrary, her romance books can be shown to serve as intellectual and literary inspiration for the individual young adult reader, and as a medium for cultural bonding between East Asian young adult readers collectively. In sum, it constitutes part of a phenomenon that may be thought of as "Cultural East Asian" young adult literature.
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