Video games convey the world into traditional Chinese holidays
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Time estimated: 10 min
Creative video game makers are taking the Lantern Festival – the end of Spring Festival celebrations – to a worldwide audience, with their fanciful artistry drawing praise from foreign players.
One of the most popular is "Lantern Rite," which is part of the "Genshin Impact" franchise. It creates a fantasy world of seven nations called Teyvat. One of them is Liyue. The video is filled with festive lanterns, fireworks, traditional buildings and a painted pleasure boat.
US player "Thejonathon" is amazed by the stunning views about the reunion of characters from different countries at the Liyue fair.
The game's publisher, Shanghai-based miHoYo, told Shanghai Daily that "Lantern Rite" is designed specifically with reference to the Chinese New Year and the Lantern Festival.
On YouTube, the reaction of foreign Genshin players is full of praise.
A US player who goes by the online name of "Thejonathon" said he was amazed by the stunning views about the reunion of characters from different countries at the Liyue fair.
"My heart is melting," he said.
YouTuber Elizabeth Alexandrou commented, "I love how everyone looks into the sky filled with millions of lanterns, and even though not all of them know each other, they are all under the same sky in the same place, united as one."
Inspired by traditional Chinese shadow puppetry, the creators included a mini puzzle-solving segment called zhiyingxi, or "Paper Shadow Play," in the video.
In the game, the traditional folk art of Liyue comprises "actors" and a curtain made of paper.
The puzzle-solving game zhiyingxi, or "Paper Shadow Play," in the "Lantern Rite" event
Last year during the "Lantern Rite" event, the game released the new character of Yun Jin, a Chinese opera singer. In the "opera" entitled "The Divine Damsel of Devastation," the voice is provided by Yang Yang from the Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe.
The opera's video was viewed more than 8.3 million times on YouTube.
"I sing Western opera for my college major," said Kathrynn Davis, a young US mezzo-soprano.
If it weren't for me playing Genshin Impact and experiencing Yun Jin's scene in the game, I really don't think I would have ever known the art of Peking Opera.
— Kathrynn Davis
She added, "Being able to see such a different style of opera has been an eye-opening experience for me, and I wish we were taught about it in music history. It's so different from Western opera. It has more emotion involved in it. The staging and the accompaniment are important to the overall mood, but the actual singer holds so much of that momentum that you don't even really listen to the accompaniment."
Top: The poster of Genshin Impact's "A Journey of Art and Heritage"
Above: A heritage craft featuring painting inside glass bottles
A supporter of traditional Chinese culture, miHoYo, released two eight-minute videos of its documentary series "A Journey of Art and Heritage" during Spring Festival. They invited masters of woodblock prints and a heritage craft of artists painting inside glass bottles to contribute to the project with segments showing how they work.
Genshin has been released worldwide and the documentary series has versions with subtitles in 15 languages.
"We display traditional culture in a modern way, making the game an important carrier of cultural inheritance and allowing more people to learn about Chinese heritage," said Liu Wei, founder and president of miHoYo. "We use exquisite techniques to record these meaningful journey moments."
The 22 woodblocks with 22 different colors and tools Yang used for the work "Five Yaksha"
Yang Naidong, an "inheritor" with Yangjiabu New Year Woodblock Prints, carved 22 woodblocks and engraved the game's five yaksha – immortal warriors capable of mastering different nature spirits – into one Liyue work. Instead of the usual three-to-six colors, New Year Woodblock Prints used 22 for the video.
"Making woodblock prints is a lifetime job," Yang said. "I want to pass this art to the next generation."
"Genshin Impact is not just a game," said YouTuber Truman Luen. "It's becoming its own virtual culture, a meta-generation, with its own art, gastronomy and history."
"That's exactly why I love it so much," said another YouTuber called "Sundalo Sketch," in a reply to Luen's comment. "It's opened so many doors for people to learn more about each other's cultures."
Left: In a Chinese New Year event, Shining Nikki players encounter various mythical creatures and monsters.
Right: Two new characters released for Shining Nikki's Chinese New Year event
MiHoYo is not the only domestic game company to focus on Chinese culture.
Papergames, creator of the popular dress-up Nikki game series, also uses cultural heritage elements in its Chinese New Year offering entitled "Shining Nikki." It's inspired by ancient Chinese legends, including the classic "Shan Hai Jing," or "The Classic of Mountains and Seas."
It tells the story of a Chinese mermaid named Jiao Ren and a divine bird. Game players encounter various mythical creatures and monitors, including a rabbit-shaped figure called E Shou to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit.
Top: The documentary series "Behind the Scenes: Yunjin"
Middle: Posters of Nikki and a rabbit lantern, with a paper-cutting pattern produced by the Suzhou Art and Design Technology Institute.
Above: Poster of Shining Nikki's collaboration with Shandong Museum
Papergames invited two teachers from the Suzhou Art and Design Technology Institute to produce examples of Suzhou lanterns and paper-cutting for the game.
Two years ago, Papergames cooperated with the Nanjing-based Yunjin Brocade Research Institute to reproduce auspicious clothing based on the wardrobe of Empress Xiaoduanxian from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It took eight months to transform the designs into digital format.
"It's absolutely stunning," said YouTuber Lily Davin. "The amount of time and dedication that went into making the brocade is amazing."
Last year Shining Nikki worked with the Shandong Museum to reproduce a set of imperial costumes stored at the museum and made a video where its heroine Nikki explains the "flying fish suit" clothing patterns to the public.
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Editor: Su Yanxian
Designer: Shi JingyunWriter: Ke JiayunPhoto: Ti Gong