"Journey to the West" external network is on fire? It was dark in front of my eyes, and this was "cultural export" again

Text | Ling Hu Boguang

Recently saw a video, that is, on the foreign video platform TikTok, "Journey to the West" opened a live broadcast of the Peach Banquet, and invited Sun Wukong and Guan Erye to help (wait, why is "Journey to the West" about the second master).

As a Chinese audience, watching the Great Saint Wine after three rounds and Guan Yu chatting about wine, one by one, "Do you know me", "I like you", "Come on baby", "Cheers", this feeling is still very wonderful.

The most important thing is that there is more than one such video, this is a special foreign account to do "Journey to the West" video, there are a large number of videos about "Journey to the West" and Chinese traditional culture, the current fans are only over 10,000, not a big hit, but many videos are well played, the following foreign netizens comment interaction is also very interesting.

In fact, as you expected, after this foreign video was transmitted back to the Chinese Internet, some people laughed when they watched it together, and some said that this is the export of Chinese culture in the new era, and what is this is not pure Chinese culture, misinterpretation of Chinese culture, etc., anyway, every time.

There are all kinds of disturbances on the Internet, and this phenomenon is normal.

But in addition to the ones who really smile, there are various other values and netizens with cultural views; I think they are all online, they are exactly the kind of people who can't afford to play in the postmodern Internet era, they are the obstacles to the real export of Chinese culture abroad, and cultural export really doesn't need to be too concerned.

"Journey to the West" is popular overseas? In fact, there are no "barriers" for the export of Chinese culture

Domestic cultural export always has a feeling of being too serious and online, and this incident reminds me of the video of "Uncle Egg" singing "One Cut Plum" and became popular on the Internet. In fact, everyone can think with their toes that now is the post-Internet era and the short video era.

This kind of foreign interesting video (including styling, lines and a certain magical moment) eventually became popular on the Internet of another country, and you will know countless when you think back to the Chinese Internet, and the time is very short, half a month, a month, three months, at most half a year is outdated.

This is the characteristic of the Internet era, with wide spread, low information, and too fast upgrading.

But whenever there is such a cultural phenomenon abroad, the domestic media will bring it in. Then supplemented by what "so-and-so is popular in a foreign country" and "so-and-so is a cultural export" carnival, and then scolded Chinese film and television dramas again, and then all kinds of ridicule and pursuit, and finally quickly passed, and then the next time -

In the final analysis, behind this phenomenon is that China's cultural export is not good, and cultural soft power is still too weak. However, in recent years, China's economic rise, national strength has become stronger and stronger, cultural self-confidence and national self-confidence have been repeatedly emphasized, and there is a desire for cultural export to let foreigners see it in the heart, so the desire will be so strong and the mentality will be so entangled.

If you don't export it out, scold you pop culture can't do it, and the output goes a little wrong and scold you for not being pure.

Speaking of returning to this cultural export, I have seen some people count the flow of Chinese literary and artistic works on major foreign platforms. What really makes Hualiu crush the Japanese stream and directly chase the Korean wave is not the four famous books or anything, nor the short videos and bloggers that have become popular for a short time, but the two novels and their adapted comics and TV series.

The two novels, one is "Ancestor of the Demon Dao" and the other is "The Blessing of the Heavenly Official", written by the same female author. The adapted TV series "Chen Qingling" is already very popular abroad, and it is even more popular in Southeast Asia. This together with the two starring Xiao Zhan, Wang Yibo is very popular.

You said that this popularity is difficult to quantify, and it is not just a touch on your lips.

Here is a realistic example, that is, "Nameless" starring Wang Yibo in the 2023 Spring Festival file, ranked first in the box office of new Chinese films introduced in Thailand in the past 20 years! The box office is only 8.9 million baht, which is not as good as a fraction of the Chinese box office, but it has set a record for 20 years.

You said that the quality of the film is good, and the box office in China and other countries is not the highest, you say it is the credit of Tony Leung, how many films starring Tony Leung have been introduced into Thailand in the past 20 years, and the box office is not a drop.

Admittedly, the Thai box office of "Nameless" is the credit of Wang Yibo, which shows how popular Wang Yibo is in Thailand.

This carrying the banner of the current Hualiu communication is such ancient dolls and sweet pets, as well as these traffic male stars, these works have been translated into dozens of languages and spread to five continents, there are hundreds of millions of female fans abroad, and even enhance the image of Chinese men among women in other countries.

According to statistics, the English version of "The Three-Body Problem" sold 1.5 million copies in the United States, sold 140,000 copies in Japan, and was translated into more than 20 languages and published around the world, with world sales exceeding 29 million copies, setting a record for overseas copyright sales of Chinese books.

This is already a good sales of novels in the world, after all, this is not the paper era.

Finally, Li Ziqi, some online novels and "Genshin" are also good overseas spreads, the former belongs to the top Chinese Internet celebrities on the extranet, with more than 10 million fans; The latter is also good in pop subculture, after all, Internet popularity can deceive people, data will not deceive.

Three-body, Li Ziqi, after the online novel? Finally, it was the turn of "Journey to the West" to become popular overseas

When the "Six Studies" Internet of the first six teachers became popular, there was a paragraph of content: To understand the culture of Journey to the West is to understand Chinese culture. Journey to the West is very popular overseas and so on.

To be fair, "Journey to the West" as one of the four famous Chinese classics, and because this god and demon novel is easier to spread in the world, "Journey to the West" is already one of the most popular Chinese classics abroad, and the world's messy remakes are not to mention the influence.

At the beginning of this year, there was not only a Netflix version, Wu Yanzu, Michelle Yeoh's "Journey to the West ABC".

This film was made by Chinese Americans, and the core is still the plight of Chinese Americans in American society, but the traditional cultural skin still has to be worn, which is enough to prove the status of "Journey to the West" in the hearts of Chinese people at sea food, and this work is broadcast on Netflix, and it can be regarded as affecting a wave of foreigners in disguise (how much is a matter of opinion).

The common thing in domestic public opinion is that this is not the "Journey to the West" culture, this is not our intention to spread Chinese culture. This is really "scolding Teacher Six at the beginning, then understanding Teacher Six, and finally becoming Teacher Six", what is the real "Journey to the West" ah (tactical back).

This traditional culture is actually difficult to spread to the world, proud of their own culture because of the contact since childhood, there is a sense of resonance and identity and familiarity, in their own eyes this is "orthodox", and when other cultures enter the spread, there will be a huge gap, this is especially true in Eastern culture.

This may have something to do with the world soil of the West's modern cultural success, and traditional culture itself is separated from new media, because new media is a product of modern technology. New media are also dominated by capital and entertainment, and when disseminating traditional culture, it will inevitably be greatly reduced in seriousness, which will cause a lot of impact and distortion on the shaping of traditional characters and historical values, and is even more detrimental to the dissemination of traditional culture.

Having said that, to put it simply, you don't like European culture like opera, theater, classical music. It is the fashion pop culture derived from modern times, among which the UK is the most successful, rock music, 007, Harry Potter, etc., these are also because the same English-speaking countries rely on the support of the United States.

Germany, Italy, and France were all innovative films, but unfortunately the innovation is literary films, and the spread of popular culture in the world is quite limited, basically limited to manufacturing and high-end luxury goods (the cultural definition right of old Europe, before the Qing Dynasty, China defined it in the world).

There is no history in the United States, and Japan spread to the world is not traditional culture such as geisha and Noh drama, but anime, games, film and television dramas, at most packaging some traditional culture in this, let alone South Korea.

These traditional cultural dissemination itself is difficult, the cultural and visual style elements led by the West have been accepted by the world, and the ancient myths of wearing robes and skirts are "alternative" in the eyes of the world.

This is also cultural export, that is also cultural export? Can China stop "exporting culture"?

I think that the domestic audience should give up this kind of shocking "cultural export" public opinion, a little nervous. Of course, what should be publicized is still to be publicized, and what should be fought for must still be won, such as South Korea's theft of Chinese traditional culture, which must not be left alone.

But don't really care too much, especially those netizens who want traditional Chinese culture.

In modern times, I have found that the dissemination of traditional culture does not have much effect by relying on the voice alone, Europe and the United States have not done it, we must rely on the strength of national strength, roughly speaking, traditional culture has determined the nationality, history and civilization of a country. They are inherently profound, artistic, obscure.

If you want to study abroad, you have to be strong enough to lead human civilization and make them feel that your traditions are the foundation that makes you strong. In addition, in terms of culture, you also establish rules for these cultural fields, such as the eight major arts of human beings: literature, music, dance, theater, painting, architecture, sculpture, and film.

Let's think about whether the whole world is learning from the definition of Europe and the United States, and the upper art of non-circulating countries is learning.

Therefore, no matter how popular the Korean Wave European and American markets are, it is only occasionally bubbling, and there is no much cultural influence, and the vast majority of European and American theaters still broadcast local movies. Outside the United States, American films account for a large proportion, which is the real cultural invasion or impact.

In fact, Asia, Africa and Latin America all have world-class "traditional culture", but no matter how profound the art is, it is not qualified in terms of cultural communication influence, unless the national strength is strong enough to attract foreigners enough, otherwise it is at most a "cultural curiosity" effect.

The cultural export of any country must be based on its own environment, customs and culture. Even with such a long heritage and strength of Hollywood in the United States, it is almost difficult to obtain recognition for filming films based on other cultures.

After all, no matter how hard you work hard, it is inevitable that there will be visible flaws in the unfamiliar life, not to mention the deep thinking and culture.

Whether it is the United States, Europe, South Korea or Thailand, all films that can be "out of the loop" are actually "local films".

Whether Chinese pop culture is present or future, the most fundamental thing is to "serve the people", which is the possibility of good works that "let the world see". Otherwise, any cultural export is just a rootless tree, which is only for a short time, and nothing will be left after the boom.