ZhongChi

ChiLi is the slash ship between Childe/Tartaglia and Zhongli from the Genshin Impact fandom.

Canon
In Zhongli's Teaser, Childe and Zhongli can be seen eating together at Wanmin Restaurant. Zhongli buys Childe (with 128,000 of Childe's mora) a pair of dragon-and-phoenix chopsticks as a gift. The description says "hopefully the Snezhnayan diplomat will practice using them". This is significant because gifts of dragon-phoenix chopsticks in Ancient China symbolize marital bliss, and Zhongli is a 6000+ old Archon shown to have a wealth of knowledge on Liyue's traditions and keeping them alive. In Chinese media, allusions to ancient Chinese couple traditions are popular ways to avoid censorship in BL media.

Though Childe was initially upset with Zhongli for lying to him, they are still on good terms as they are shown still frequently going out for drinks and dinner together. In the the Stone Harbor Treasure Journal event artworks, the two can be seen walking out of Liuli Pavilion together. They can be seen having dinner again in the ending illustration.

Archon Quest
In Act II of Liyue's Quest, the Traveler meets Childe at Liuli Pavilion. Childe offers to introduce them to Zhongli. Childe mentions taking the liberty of setting up a business dinner, as per Liyue custom, implying he paid to book the dinner beforehand. Childe took the initiative to introduce Zhongli to the Traveler as they sit down at the table. During their conversation, Zhongli asks the Traveler to help him. After Zhongli leaves, Childe tells the Traveler to leave if they please and not to worry about him. Childe walks towards the Traveler and Zhongli when the Traveler was helping him. He says he's just passing by and says Zhongli was "the same as ever", referring to the fact that Zhongli does not understand the concepts of money. At the end of their conversation, Childe gave the Traveler a bag of Mora and says they probably won't want to let Zhongli do the bargaining.

In Act III of Liyue's Quest, after the Traveler has defeated Osial, they are asked to meet Zhongli at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. However, Zhongli wasn't there and was said to be at Northland Bank instead. When they arrived at the bank, Zhongli was seen with Childe and Signora. Childe states that Signora and Zhongli had tricked him. After that encounter, the Traveler talks to Zhongli once more at the Yujing Terrace. They ask about the assassination of Rex Lapis, and Paimon says that the majority of people blamed Childe for what happened, Zhongli, however, claimed that they were all false accusations. Childe verbalized how offended he was when Zhongli seemed to not feel remorse for deceiving him, though it seems Childe harbors most of his resentment towards Signora and not Zhongli, refusing to return to the Tsaritsa on the same boat as her.

Quotes
"There's far more to that man than meets the eye. As for the extent of his power... lots to look forward to, I think."

- Childe's Voiceline about Zhongli: Pondering

"Tell me, how has Mr. Zhongli been lately? Not bad, you say? Seems he's had no problem acclimating to "mortal" life. Hmph, he sure had me fooled. Such a fiasco mustn't be so easily forgiven! The only way to reconciliation is fierce combat! What do you mean I'm no match for him? Hahaha..."

- Childe's Voiceline about Zhongli: Challenge

"That rascal from Snezhnaya has yet to depart from Liyue? Heh, no matter, just let me know if he gives you any trouble. I shall deal with the matter swiftly."

- Zhongli's Voiceline about Childe: Composed

"It's said that Childe and his reputation have yet again stirred up waves among the inner-ranks of the Fatui. Knowing his type, he will be sure to swiftly depose anyone who dares to challenge his actions. Hm... Come to think of it, there will be a lot of interesting news to be heard the next time we gather for drinks. Care to join me when the time comes, Traveler?"

- Zhongli's Voiceline about Childe: Drinks

Fanon
ChiLi is the most popular slash ship due to their frequent interactions and their voice lines about each other. It also grew in popularity due to the ongoing joke about Childe being Zhongli's living wallet or sugar daddy.

Childe calls Zhongli "Zhongli-sensei" in the Japanese version of the game due to the fact that Zhongli was the one who taught Childe how to hold chopsticks properly. In Chinese, he calls him "xiansheng", a respectful honorific loosely translating to "sir".

In AO3. ChiLi is also the number 1 most written ship in AO3 for the Genshin Impact fandom with about 3000+ Fanfictions. There are about 650+ works in the #Tartaglia/Zhongli tag in Pixiv.

Its rival ship is Chilumi, which is Childe's second most popular ship.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

TWITTER

PIXIV

Trivia

 * On their official account in Hoyolab and on Twitter, MiHoYo posted two Happy White Day (a holiday similar to Valentine's Day) illustrations that depicted  Zhongli and Childe presenting a gift towards the camera. Though these two illustrations were separate, the setting appeared the same, and no other character illustrations were uploaded except for the two.
 * Childe's English voice actor, Griffin Burns, has said in a TikTok Q&A that he ships Childe and Zhongli.
 * On his TikTok, he posted a video of himself using Childe's voice to say "hey girlie, hold still" to images of female characters, before whispering it last to Zhongli suggestively.
 * He also posted a cover of Nicki Minaj's "Chun-li" but with "Childe" instead of "Nicki" and "Zhongli" instead of "Chun-li."
 * He also supports mpreg Childe, and even made a video on how to draw it.
 * Similarly, Zhongli's English voice actor, Keith Silverstein, follows Chili artist @Qing11502143 on Twitter.
 * Lumine's Chinese voice actor, Geng "Baobao" Minglin, considers Zhongli to be gay.
 * She said while switching party members, "老友你也不看. 孩子你也不看. 美女你也不看. 男人. . . 你开始了是吗. . . ", which translates to "Old friends (Venti), you don't look. Little kids (Qiqi), you don't look. Pretty girls (Fischl), you don't look. Men...(Childe...you're suddenly interested.)"
 * She later states that Childe and Zhongli are a pair with amazing chemistry.
 * According to Lumine's Chinese voice actor, art of 18+ and gender-bent versions of Zhongli are sent by Zhongli's Chinese voice actor (her director) into the Mihoyo voice actors group chat every day.
 * Additionally, she says that gender-bent Zhongli is a "大奶美女" (big-breasted beauty) and that she cannot look at him the same way after seeing that.
 * At timestamp 3:47, Zhongli can be seen walking in the background of Childe's rerun teaser, "Genshin Impact EP - A Warrior Far From Home."
 * Zhongli and Childe can be seen walking out of Liuli Pavilion together in three of the Stone Harbor Treasure Journal event artworks. In one, Childe is winking at Zhongli.
 * Childe's family has a saying: "if you really care about someone, give them mora!"
 * Childe's special dish is "A Prize Catch", a variation of Calla Lily Seafood soup.
 * The main change is that Childe uses an octopus instead of a crab for the seafood portion (this references his fishing hobby back in Snezhnaya). It is also described as looking like a beast with tentacles, screaming as it drowns in an ocean of blood.
 * Ironically, Zhongli hates seafood due to him having to pest-exterminate hundreds of small, slimy hydro slimes during the Archon War. The experience traumatized him, and he stays far away from any seafood that is slimy or squirms (he can eat seafood if it is chopped up). Childe's signature dish, as many fans will say, is "Zhongli's worst nightmare".
 * The band around Zhongli's arm and the garter band around Childe's thigh have been found to be the same, if not very similar to each other.
 * In the picture that Mihoyo's official Twitter account posted for Zhongli's birthday, Zhongli is depicted holding a bouquet of flowers, which is shown as being held together by a jeweled string with beads resembling 🔶💧, the symbol often used for the ZhongChi ship.
 * In Zhongli's Acrylic Block Keychain that Mihoyo sells on their official merch website has ginkgo leaves (a symbol of longevity and vitality but also of harmony and love) on the bottom right corner. Interestingly, in the beginning of Childe's teaser video, "Childe: A Letter to Snezhnaya", a ginkgo leaf floats down into the palm of Childe's hand, who regards the leaf with some sort of awe.
 * Common symbols used for this ship on Twitter include: 🔶💧,🔸💧, 🐉🐳, 🐉🐋

Variations

 * ChiLime refers to the ship between the two and Lumine.
 * ChiLiguang refers to the ship between the two and Ningguang.