This article is reproduced from Meihua Network: Mantou Business School
Recently, the Chinese carpenter "Grandpa Amu", who does not use a single nail or a drop of glue, has set fire to the tubing. The 63-year-old grandfather showed in the form of a video how to build a Luban stool, an apple lock, a wooden arch bridge, and a walking Peppa Pig with his bare hands... Known as the "contemporary Luban", it has exported a wave of power from oriental handicraft culture to netizens around the world.
In terms of cultural output, we have to mention Li Ziqi. In December last year, the topic of "whether Li Ziqi is a cultural export" caused a hot discussion on major platforms. As youtube's first Chinese video blogger with tens of millions of fans, Li Ziqi conquered foreigners with a unique pastoral food video.
Some time ago, after the creation and adaptation of short videos, "A Cut of Plum" also suddenly became popular abroad, ranking in the top three on spotify Finland, Sweden and Norway. A lyric with bgm ,"Snowflakes fluttering, north wind Xiaoxiao" has become a crazy element of overseas social platforms. Such a strong output of hardcore, I am afraid that even the original singer Fei Yuqing will have to come up with a series of exclamation points.
Chinese culture is being exported overseas from various unexpected angles. Today's article provides an inventory of some interesting cultural phenomena in recent years. How does this Chinese culture attract foreigners from various cultural backgrounds? Perhaps it provides some wonderful perspectives for the future export of Chinese culture.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > Grandpa Amu: The Contemporary Luban of Fire Abroad</h1>
Recently, Grandpa Amu's hot Internet, not only on weibo hot search, but also in foreign countries, known as "contemporary Luban".
Just a 10-minute video of making a wooden arch bridge garnered more than 40 million views on youtube. Foreigners expressed their surprise - what kind of immortal kung fu is this?
The 63-year-old "Grandpa Amu", whose real name is Wang Dewen, began to learn skills with carpenters at the age of 13. 3 years ago, he saw some woodworking videos on the Internet, and felt that the videos were not detailed enough, and it was not easy for the audience to learn after watching them, so he came up with the idea of recording videos to show traditional craftsmanship.
With the help of his son, Grandpa Amu filmed a series of short videos about traditional handicrafts and uploaded them to the online platform. Grandpa Amu's video has aroused the pursuit of netizens on Youtube, and has now had 1.18 million subscribers, accumulated more than 200 million views, and exported a wave of power from oriental handicraft culture to netizens around the world.
The Chinese Pavilion, which is built entirely of tenon and tenon structures without glue:
The Peppa Pig toy made for his grandson can make it move without batteries:
Many netizens looked at the comment area and said: "It's amazing!" What is this Chinese Kung Fu?" I also want such a fairy grandfather"...
Under the general trend of modern craft assembly line production, there are fewer and fewer craftsmen who master traditional crafts. Grandpa Amu did not expect that he would become a net red carpenter, for him, such a cultural output is more meaningful is to let more people know the traditional Chinese crafts handed down by the older generation.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Li Ziqi: Youtube's first Chinese creator with tens of millions of fans</h1>
When it comes to Li Ziqi, most Internet natives are impressed by her video style. Around the theme of "changing seasons, ancient style and ancient food", she works leisurely under the lens, making traditional Chinese food and handicrafts according to the time and place. The exquisite composition and tranquil atmosphere restore a pastoral life like a paradise in front of the camera.
On April 29, Li Ziqi's followers on Youtube exceeded 10 million, becoming the first Chinese video creator to break through 10 million followers on YouTube.
What is the concept of youtube fans breaking through ten million? Compared with foreign mainstream media, it is clear at a glance:
CnN (CNN) subscriptions, which are broadcast in more than 200 countries and regions around the world, are currently 10.2 million, which is a full 1 million fewer than Li Ziqi's fans. Moreover, in terms of the number of releases, CNN released nearly 150,000 videos, while Li Ziqi only released more than 100 videos, which shows the absolute influence of each video.
The number of subscriptions of mainstream media such as the BBC and FOX is also far lower than that of Li Ziqi.
On Youtube, Li Ziqi's each video has been played more than 5 million times, including tens of millions of blockbuster videos.
In the comments section of the video, you can see fans from all over the world expressing their admiration for Li Ziqi and the pure pastoral life in the video in different languages:
"I finally learned what life should look like"
"Seriously, you should create a Disney princess based on Li Ziqi"
"Her channel is like a clear spring on Youtube, calming the spirit"
There is even a fan of Li Ziqi in the United States, according to its video style, filmed a homemade kitchen knife video, and engraved Li Ziqi's name on the back of the knife, staged a real version of the "send a kitchen knife to the idol" plot.
People red is not much. The Vietnamese blogger Bếp Trên Đỉnh Đồi, who was frantically complained about by netizens a few days ago, almost copied Li Ziqi's video style. In her video, she wears the same style of Plum Ziqi and uses a too similar shooting angle to express rural life. Li Ziqi has a dog, she also has a dog; an important person in Li Ziqi's video is Grandma, so her video also has a grandma role...
This not only caused anger among Chinese netizens, who thought she was "doing the same thing in Dong Shi"; Li Ziqi's overseas fans also left messages questioning the Vietnamese blogger for plagiarizing other people's achievements.
Because Li Ziqi's video has been carried by netizens from many countries and translated into various languages, some netizens with unknown circumstances cannot even tell which country Li Ziqi is. Li Ziqi once recorded a short video to explain to subscribers that he is a Chinese and is proud of it, and the filming place in the video is his hometown.
The popularity of Li Ziqi overseas has also caused some different voices in China. In December last year, the Weibo V@ Reslin Riist posted an article titled "How is Li Ziqi not a cultural export?" The long article about Li Ziqi is not a "cultural output" for a time aroused heated discussion among netizens, and the article was read more than 10 million times.
In the eyes of the opposing voices, they feel that Li Ziqi's videos are packaged by the team, too beautified, and not really rural life; some people think that the reason why foreigners like Li Ziqi's videos is to cater to their stereotype of China's rural economic backwardness; others think that the videos of Internet celebrities are different from literary and artistic works, and should not convey this value guidance...
In fact, if you look at these views calmly, it seems that the reasons are somewhat untenable.
Li Ziqi showed the traditional Chinese culture to people around the world in the form of short videos, attracting more foreigners to have interest and good feelings about China. In her videos, there are not only local food productions, but also intangible cultural heritage displays such as printing and dyeing, pen, ink and paper. There are no foreign subtitles, but foreign friends can enjoy it quietly in front of the screen. There is both output and reception, is this not a subtle cultural output?
After this hot discussion, official media such as @People's Daily and @CCTV News also came out to call Li Ziqi. At least Li Ziqi, as a sample loved by foreigners, has talked about Chinese culture well, so that more people have fallen in love with her life and China.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > snowflake fluttering: the divine comedy that triggered the frenzy of brainwashing in Europe and the United States</h1>
And the overseas popularity of "snowflakes fluttering, north wind Xiao Xiao" is more metaphysical. Fei Yuqing has been retired for more than half a year, if you hear that this old song that was first released 37 years ago suddenly became popular on overseas platforms, it is estimated that he is also full of "Do you have a lot of question marks for children".
On Spotify's "Top 50 Crazy Rumors" list, "A Cut of Plum" ranked among the list of many countries, showing a super momentum of virus transmission. Especially in the Nordic region, Norway, Finland, Sweden and other countries are in the top three on the list.
"Snowflakes fluttering, north wind Xiao Xiao" How did it explode abroad this time? It all started with a philanthropist on The Fast Hand in January, Ai Chin (known as "Egg Brother").
Zhang Aiqin is not a big V Internet celebrity, because of his special head shape, he has the alias of "Egg Brother". As a special actor, he also participated in films such as "The Wandering Earth", "Wise Tiger Mountain", "Passing Through Your World" and so on.
On January 6, he uploaded a video of himself humming "Snowflakes Fluttering, North Wind Xiaoxiao" and circling in the snow to take a selfie.
The video did not cause much repercussions in China. In early February, netizens @Buhjinator and @Haonslegne successively carried the video to the Tubing, and the name was also very interesting - "Chinese man in da snow" and "Asian man sings beautiful song in snow" respectively.
The magical Chinese man in the snow, humming a magical magic melody. Although the two bloggers themselves do not have many fans, the popularity of these two videos continues to rise. The video has been carried by other netizens to Ins, Twitter and other platforms, which has aroused the curiosity of foreign netizens: Who is he? Why did he sing in the snow? What does the song he sings mean? ......
By May, "Egg Brother" and "Snowflake Fluttering" have become popular on several major foreign platforms. The second creation of netizens pushed "A Cut of Plum" to the peak of the explosion. They upload spoof videos on platforms like Tik Tok, accompanied by bgm of "snowflakes fluttering, north winds and xiaoxiao" (and even Remix, Rap versions).
Some foreign friends of "2G network surfing" do not know what is going on before and after, and they are deeply brainwashed by this desolate and gentle melody. Originally this year's days were particularly sad because of the epidemic, coupled with this bgm with its own snow special effects, foreigners instantly felt the same - "Isn't this desolate feeling just me?!" ”
As a result, more foreigners began to study the lyrics of "xue hua piao piao bei feng xiao xiao" to find the source of the song. A video of Fei Yuqing's original singing of "A Cut of Plum" uploaded in 2014 was viewed by more than 9 million people, and most of the more than 60,000 comments below were new comments this year.
A foreigner left a message saying: "I thought it was just a stem, but I didn't expect it to be a good song." ”
On social platforms, "xue hua piao piao bei feng xiao xiao" has become a chat hard currency, which is a bit of a high frequency of "I'm too hard" that we can see everywhere:
"People around are off the list except me, xue hua piao piao bei feng xiao xiao"
"Tomorrow is DDL, xue hua piao piao bei feng xiao xiao"
"The new shoes worn were stepped on, xue hua piao piao bei feng xiao"
"My mother told me to go to work, xue hua piao piao bei feng xiao xiao"
......
When you don't know what to reply to others, you can also "xue hua piao piao bei feng xiao xiao"
Anyway, it is right to use, and the forwarding keeps up with the trend.
There are also more real foreign netizens to study the Chinese meaning of the lyrics, translated "The snow falls and the wind blows", although it can not completely restore the Chinese mood, but it is also depressed enough, desolate enough, lost to a certain extent.
"xue hua piao piao bei feng xiao xiao" can virally sweep the social platform, the logic behind it is inseparable from meme.
The word meme is derived from the British book "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins and is generally translated as "cultural meme" in Chinese. Because of its wide dissemination, meme has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary, which is defined as "the basic unit of culture, transmitted through non-hereditary means, especially imitation." ”
If you focus on its meaning, that is, meme is a replication factor, and imitation is the main way of transmitting meme. If you do not go online, meme can be understood as the "terrier" we usually mention.
"xue hua piao piao bei feng xiao xiao" as a popular meme among young people in foreign subcultures, even if the chat object does not understand, will try to understand, when ta master this stem, it will continue to spread in other social occasions, forming a viral effect. In this way, an old song Chinese came to the forefront of fashion. And the fact that Chinese song dominates the list is also hardcore enough to export Chinese culture.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > long-standing poem: The BBC kept Du Fu busy abroad</h1>
Some time ago, our great poet Du Fu was "busy" again, this time overseas. On 6 April, the BBC launched its latest documentary, Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet, which is a rare documentary to introduce Du Fu to a global audience.
The documentary's producer, Michael Wood, who combines multiple identities as a historian, documentary filmmaker, presenter, writer and is currently professor of public history at the University of Manchester. In this documentary, he takes on the dual tasks of writing and hosting.
At the beginning of the documentary, in order to let overseas audiences better appreciate the long history of Chinese poetry, he introduced: "China has the oldest and still active poetic tradition in the world, which has lasted for three thousand years, and is older than Homer's epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey". ”
As the title suggests, the documentary not only gives Du Fu the title of "China's greatest poet," but also places him with Dante and Shakespeare to reflect his poetic achievements.
Why Du Fu? Stephen Owen, a Harvard sinologist in the film, once said of Du Fu:
"Du Fu is the greatest Chinese poet. His greatness is based on the unanimous recognition of readers over a thousand years, and the rare coincidence of Chinese and Western literary standards. In the Chinese poetic tradition, Du Fu almost transcended judgment, and just as Shakespeare in our own tradition, his literary achievements themselves have become an important part of the historical makeup of literary standards. Du Fu's great character lies in the fact that it goes beyond the limited scope of literary history.
The documentary is not long, condensed in an hour. Wood followed Du Fu's footsteps from Gongyi to Xi'an, Chengdu, Changsha... It basically connected Du Fu's turbulent and displaced life. As an Englishman, Wood interacted with ordinary people in different places to explore Du Fu's charm as much as possible.
Wood once said in an interview that he hopes to reflect a common humanity through this documentary, which is very important today. On overseas platforms, some netizens said that they were "very relieved" to see this documentary related to China during the epidemic.
Was China's "greatest poet" Du Fu, or Li Bai, Qu Yuan, or Su Shi? In the face of cultural diffusion, the answer to this opinioned question is not important. If it can arouse the interest of overseas netizens in Chinese culture through a definition, it has an unusual significance.
There is also a big design in the film - let the British national treasure actor Ian McKellen recite the English version of Du Fu's poem. Due to his wonderful performance in the "Lord of the Rings" series, his "Gandalf" role is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and has a lot of weight in the hearts of people at home and abroad.
Although it is a small-cost documentary, and the poetry is inevitably lost in the process of Chinese-English translation, the emergence of "Gandalf" still adds a lot of points to the film. When he recited the translation of 15 of Du Fu's poems, such as "The Magnificent Tour" in a deep, thick English tone, the image of an old man who had experienced upheaval and displacement but maintained his wisdom suddenly appeared. Reading Du Fu with Shakespeare's drama brings wonderful feelings to audiences at home and abroad.
In 2012, a collective party of the first generation of mobile Internet was still "Du Fu is very busy". By 2020, Du Fu was still "very busy." Inspired by the documentary, overseas netizens launched a campaign called #DuFuReclaimed# to post videos of themselves reading Du Fu's poems. Although the translation of poetry is difficult, it does not stop their enthusiasm in the slightest.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > ancient poem: sentiment and poetry on anti-epidemic materials</h1>
How attractive is Chinese poetry? When the new crown epidemic first broke out in China, chinese lovers at home and abroad not only donated anti-epidemic materials as quickly as possible, but also used ancient poems to express friendship.
"Mountains and rivers are exotic, the wind and moon are the same day", a simple eight words, which poetically conveys the warmth of the community of human destiny. The representative of the HSK Affairs Bureau of the donor Japan Chinese Proficiency Test said: "China and Japan have a lot of beautiful history, this sentence 1300 years ago can represent the mood of the Japanese people at this moment, the epidemic in China, Japan can not watch the fire from the other side."
The materials donated to Dalian by the Maizuru Municipal Government in Kyoto, Japan, read: "The green mountains are raining with the clouds, and the bright moon was once two." It is understood that this poem was conceived by a Chinese who exchanged with the International Exchange Agency for the Revitalization of Maizuru Port, quoted from Wang Changling's "Sending Firewood to serve the Emperor", and won the unanimous praise of the people in the exchange office.
The hotly debated phrase "I don't know if I have no clothes, I am in the same robe with my son" was also proposed by a volunteer student student to add to the materials.
Writing poems was originally just an accident in terms of epidemic prevention materials, but it added a more poetic connotation to the matter of working together to fight the epidemic.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Chinese character craze: Chinese T-shirts, tattoos, Chinese exams</h1>
For foreigners, learning poetry is indeed too difficult, but the boom in learning Chinese is in full swing.
Duolingo, the world's #1 language learning app with 300 million users, has more than 5 million non-Chinese users learning Chinese worldwide. More than a third of these learners are in the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, Canada, India and Australia.
The rapid development of China's economy has made more and more foreigners realize that learning Chinese is not only an interest, but also a self-investment.
On social media at home and abroad, there are also stars in various fields who post their results in learning Chinese and taking Chinese tests:
At the beginning of this year, the popular Korean love bean Lin Yun'er shared the good news that she took the Chinese proficiency test and passed the fourth level, and basic Chinese listening and speaking is not a problem. Nicknamed "Chinese Level 10" by fans, she often uses her Chinese to interact with friends and fans, and has secretly run to the Sanlitun Cinema to watch "Young You".
Danish badminton brother Anseron also posted his homework in preparation for the Chinese exam some time ago:
In Russia, Chinese was added to the college entrance examination last year. In the Russian college entrance examination in July this year, 358 candidates took the Chinese subject test, an increase of 24% over the first year. In the eyes of the candidates, learning Chinese is very helpful for future work and life. Looking at last year's Russian Chinese college entrance examination paper, it is really a bit of our taste of doing the fourth and sixth level examinations:
Just like most Chinese speak English with their own "Chinese pronunciation", foreigners learning Chinese are always tortured by 1-2-3-4 intonation to doubt life. For example, what do you mean by "put", "over", "up", "poison", and "don't" in the following sentences?
It is difficult to learn a foreign language, it is even more difficult to learn Chinese; it is difficult to learn Chinese pronunciation, and it is even more difficult to learn Chinese write. However, foreigners always seem to have a special preference for mysterious structures such as Chinese characters from the East.
Fashion is a reincarnation, in the past we wore T-shirts written in English as fashionable, and now foreigners also have to take Chinese t-shirts to catch up with the trend. As for the meaning of the word, it doesn't matter:
T-shirts are not enough? Foreigners began tattooing Chinese characters on their bodies again. Beckham once showed his Chinese tattoos - "life and death have a destiny, riches are in the sky".
NBA star Iverson tattooed the word "loyalty" Chinese on the right side of his neck, simple and handsome, reflecting the important position of loyalty in his life creed.
Of course, there are also many celebrities who have been pitted by tattooists, such as KenJan Martin tattooed "gain and loss" on his left arm. It is said that the tattooist told him at that time that the word meant "never satisfied, constantly enterprising". Yao Ming said that when he first saw this tattoo, he almost laughed:
It seems that it is not enough to worship the mysterious square characters, but to explore more to avoid overturning (manual doge).
What is a true "cultural output"? It seems more appropriate to leave this topic to experts and scholars to discuss. For the widest range of ordinary people, we can look at these cultural anecdotes with a more tolerant and diverse attitude.