In a small town in the US Midwest, 47-year-old military veteran Natalie Hubble loves spending her evenings lost in the mythic worlds portrayed in Chinese fantasy stories.

Hubble has never been to China, yet few could describe Chinese mythical tales as well as she does.

She described her growing connection to Chinese culture, ancient and modern, as a “natural progression”, since she reads over 150 books a year and likes to take recommendations from all over the world.

She said her favourite fantasy novel was Chinese – Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, a gay romance novel by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. “The way everything came together in the end, and that the storylines all converged perfectly into one big reveal, was very satisfying.”

Hubble, who spent two decades working for US National Cemeteries after leaving the military, has also started learning the guqin, an ancient seven-stringed Chinese musical instrument, taking lessons from instructors via the social media platform RedNote.

For Hubble and many others who feel connected with Chinese culture, the internet and social media have become windows into the lives of people on the other side of the world.