■Reporter Xu Yang and intern Sun Yanyang
Online literature is not only a window of the times for the world to understand China, but also a digital bridge for exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. Under the influence of Chinese online literature, more and more overseas young people are embarking on the road of online writing.
According to the 2023 China Online Literature Overseas Trend Report released by the 2023nd Shanghai International Internet Literature Week, as of October 10, WebNovel has trained about 40,300 overseas online writers, an increase of 00% compared with three years ago. Among the signed writers, the post-42s accounted for 3.<>%, and the trend of younger creation is significant. Global co-creation has become a new trend of online literature going overseas.
"Online literature is rooted in Chinese cultural traditions, and can project the emotions and concepts of many young people nowadays, which is an important force to promote the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture." Li Wei, a professor and critic at the School of Literature of Nanjing Normal University, said in an interview that when the "going out" of online literature is launched in multiple media, multiple channels and all formats, the excellent traditional Chinese culture and the story of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation carried by online literature also show its charm around the world, and the "circle of fans" fan continues to expand its radius.
China's online literature has become an "inspiration pool" and "gas station" for overseas creators
"Reading Chinese online articles makes me feel in love, which inspires me, and I also want to write some online articles to inspire and encourage others." The 15nd Shanghai International Internet Literature Week Chinese and Foreign Writers Roundtable was held in Shanghai yesterday, 28 online literature writers from 2018 countries including the United States, Bangladesh, Canada, the United Kingdom, India, Indonesia, and Nigeria discussed the creative trend of global online literature 。
The Barbados writer "Violet 167", who entered the pit after reading the online article "Lonely Fang", said that he felt the powerful power of female protagonists from Chinese literary works, "They heal themselves as they grow up and become their own masters".
Chinese online texts are "gas stations" and "inspiration pools". British writer Carvin draws inspiration from a number of Chinese web novels to create a unique Western fantasy story. "The rhythm of Chinese online texts is rich in variety, giving people a rollercoaster-like thrilling experience." He expects that he can convey a similar energy to readers in his work.
According to the American writer "Master Zinter", there are many Westerners who are interested in Eastern culture, but many people only have general stereotypes, and many people can't even distinguish which cultural symbols come from which country. "It was through reading Chinese online texts that I was able to distinguish the differences between Chinese cultural symbols and Japanese manga characters."
Engaged in online literature creation for 16 years, Chinese writers have "swept the world" and experienced the process from being questioned to being recognized. Today, the overseas reading volume of "Tiandao Library" written by him has exceeded 1 million. "There are differences in elements and themes between Eastern and Western works, but with the development of online literature, the works are merging with each other to bring readers a diversified reading experience."
At yesterday's "New Trend of Online Literature Going to Sea" expert and scholar salon, Hu Huijuan, vice president of Jinjiang Literature City, observed that online articles going overseas will also show the taste preferences of subdivided regions, such as Thailand will prefer "boss" romance, martial arts, etc.; Japan and South Korea prefer ancient Chinese themes, integrating the hot-blooded elements in anime; The European and American markets tend to be suspenseful reasoning, science fiction, etc. "Understanding the preferences of audiences in different countries or regions for online content types can better carry out targeted market development operations."
Why can Chinese online literature transcend borders, languages and cultures and "circle" overseas readers? "It's all about the story, the imagination, and the passionate or touching emotions behind it." According to Hou Xiaonan, CEO of China Literature, whether it is the growth and dreams in "Breaking the Sky" and "Full-time Master", or the heroic feelings in "Celebrating More Than Years", "the common emotions of human beings are the basis for good stories to attract readers around the world".
The full-format IP has entered the overseas life circle in three dimensions
The industry pointed out that after years of development, the trend of online literature going overseas has gradually become large-scale, the communication radius has been continuously extended, and the coverage has continued to expand, and Chinese online literature has become one of the most dynamic innovative carriers for Chinese culture to go global. The excellent traditional Chinese culture and the modern civilization of the Chinese nation have entered the daily cultural life of users all over the world in a three-dimensional and perceptible way in the form of diversified IP.
Yang Ruizhi, chief operating officer of Chinese Online, said that in the past, fantasy fairy was the main force of traditional online literature, and in recent years, science fiction, suspense, and urban themes have increased in the proportion of going overseas. Starting point Internationally, online writers have become a popular part-time job for overseas youth, and nearly 95% of oriental fantasy works, some of which directly name characters in Chinese, have a strong "Chinese flavor" in theme setting and connotation.
This "Chinese flavor" has been integrated into the overseas life circle through the hit IP adaptation. For example, in Thailand, during the hit of the "phenomenal IP drama" "Flower Thousand Bone", many young men and women coincidentally used a "makeup" portrait processing software to process their photos into "demon makeup" in the play. Many Korean artists have become loyal fans of the drama of the same name adapted from the online article "Langya Bang". In recent years, adaptations such as "Qingqing's Daily", which is based on the history and aesthetics of the Song Dynasty, and "Qingping Le", which depicts the feelings and aesthetics of the Ming Dynasty, have continued to spread overseas, showing the charm of Chinese civilization around the world.
The adaptation of Chinese online IP animation also has a "double-line resonance" with text output, and popular IP has prompted animation to be "reversely exported" to Japan. Li Wei took the online article "Once upon a time there was a Spirit Sword Mountain" as an example, the work was not only well received in Japan, but its anime adaptation quickly attracted the attention of Japanese "otaku", and the ratings were hot, and the adapted comic of the same name has also been ranked in the TOP3 of the popularity list for a long time. This year, the Japanese version of the animated movie "The Peak Glory of the Full-time Master" adapted from the online article "Full-time Master" was officially announced in Japan.
Many of the settings, elements, narrative principles, and even development formats of Chinese online literature have been "regenerated" in the overseas cultural industry. For example, Thailand has acquired a large number of remake rights for IP adaptations of Chinese online literature, and launched the Thai version of film and television dramas such as "Shanshan Comes to Eat", "If Snails Have Love" and "Fox's Summer", integrating strong Thai cultural elements and achieving localized growth. Drawing on "The Omniscient Reader's Perspective", which integrates many characteristics of Chinese online literature, it has become a national-level novel in South Korea, ranking first on the paid list of the Korean Munpia platform for a long time; The popular drama "The Young Son of the Chaebol Family", which gathers elements such as counterattack and revenge, has aroused widespread heated discussions with its "cool" and dense online taste. These phenomena also highlight the powerful radiation power of Chinese online literature from one side. (Wen Wei Po)