From fantasy to reality

"In real life, our identities and classes are definite, but online, we can have other identities. Perhaps time travel fiction just satisfies our imagination of a change in our identities. The lost identity in a new time and space, and how to apply modern experience to certain historical circumstances, might provide literary nourishment for readers," she said.

For example, if given another life, can a person who lives passively improve their lot in life? In literature, they can feel the pleasure from proactively seizing opportunities, becoming stronger and better.

"That is a brand-new experience brought by reading online literature," she noted.

Similarly, in historical fiction, choosing which periods to write about also reflects a collective social consciousness of our time, she added.

Now it is time for online literature to shoulder its responsibility to build a better spiritual life for the people, she said.

As one of the judges of this year's contest of excellent online novels, Huo said she was happy to see that the submissions remarkably display not only the traditional Chinese cultural genes and spiritual core, but also Chinese people's high revolutionary spirit and the glorious achievements of industrial construction in the country. There are not only works reflecting middle-class life, but also those depicting the rich lives of people at the grassroots of society. There are also books extolling the heroic deeds of ordinary people and works about trendsetters of the time.