chuānyuè
Also written: chuanyue; time travel; transmigration; world-hopping; body transmigration
A plot device in which a character crosses time, space, worlds, or identities. Depending on the story, the character may travel physically, awaken in another body, enter a novel or game, or carry modern memories into an earlier era.
Literal meaning
to cross through; to pass across
Cultural context
Chuanyue became a major device in Chinese web fiction and screen storytelling because it allows a modern viewpoint to collide with historical rules. Adaptations sometimes change literal time travel into dreams, simulations, storytelling frames, or other explanations.
How dramas use it
The protagonist often uses modern knowledge to navigate court etiquette, medicine, business, romance, or survival. The plot may emphasize returning home, changing history, completing a mission, or accepting a new identity.
Usage & formality
Chuanyue is broader than Western-style time travel. It may overlap with transmigration, portal fantasy, reincarnation, or entering a fictional work, but it is not automatically the same as rebirth after death.