Decoding the language of the young

Before the team released the book with a colorful cosplay (costume play) party in June, Shao and her students did eight years of work－the last three on compiling and editing.

On the day of the book launch, every member of the team dressed as their favorite characters from manga, animations, games and films.

Lin Pin, Shao's former doctorate student and now teaching at the Capital Normal University, dressed as Harry Potter.

Speaking about the book, Wang says: "The book, which is trying to break the walls between two worlds (a two-dimensional and a three-dimensional one), is more like an invitation to our world."

As for Shao, she says: "This signals that the book is from people who have experienced the subcultures, and are striving for their voices to be heard by mainstream society."

Mao Ni, a widely read author of many web novels, says he thinks the walls exist because of laziness and stereotypes.

The editor of the book Kuang Rui says the book is not only for the younger generation, who might know the words, but more for the older generation, including parents, bosses, teachers and scholars.

"It is to bridge the generation gap and, in a way, revitalize the publishing business as well."

Yang Zao from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences says: "Language defines how we think, and is a footnote to our era, about its culture and values. To understand the young, is to understand their language."

For Singaporean translator of Chinese web novels, Jeremy Onn Hong Wen, the book helps foreigners gain better knowledge of the country's young minds.

And Morgane Gonseth, a doctoral candidate from the University of Geneva, who has been researching Chinese web novels for her thesis, says the book defines words she frequently encounters with an academic precision that is useful to her and peers.