When the idols of "Produce Asia" appear in the spotlight on the Thai stage, when Indonesian audiences are moved by the plot of "The Broken Kite," and when Spaniards try to understand what "cultivation" means... Perhaps you in China have not yet realized that the "new three" represented by online literature, web dramas, and online games are rapidly rising. Under the encouragement of algorithm recommendations, social fission, and UGC, the cultural export path has evolved from simple content export to platform operation, and is building a cluster based industrial ecology with IP as the core.

Recently, a seminar on "Building the Digital Silk Road" focusing on digital culture going global and youth cultural exchange was held in Shanghai. In addition to exploring how Chinese digital cultural products can be deeply integrated into the global market, representatives from academia, industry, and platforms also believe that the growth of China's economic strength has further increased the international community's interest in Chinese culture, and cultural products are promoting the recognition and acceptance of China's way of life by overseas countries.

Cultural overseas experience paradigm shift

It should be acknowledged that cultural differences always exist, and it is difficult to eliminate absolute cultural barriers.

Wu Xuemei, the head of overseas content at Yuewen Group, mentioned that there may be comprehension barriers when promoting Chinese style online articles with the theme of cultivating immortals and heroes overseas. However, the relevant content is not localized during translation, but rather provides annotations to explain the Chinese cultural background. For other parts that cannot be fully localized due to differences in historical, cultural, and religious backgrounds, try to respect differences and find and amplify common parts, while doing detailed localization work, such as translating names, explaining unique terms, etc.

She mentioned that initially overseas users didn't quite understand the forms of updates and serialization, but a few years later, users began to actively follow updates. We have gradually developed from content going global to platform going global and model going global. The biggest success lies in promoting a fast-paced literary theme, which is the mode of chasing updates and interacting with authors and readers to create together.

This transformation confirms the viewpoint of Wang Xiao, an expert in the globalization of digital intelligence and a doctoral supervisor at Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University, that China's digital culture is undergoing a fundamental paradigm shift in going global: from "product going global" to "co creation going global".

He believes that the 1.0 stage is product output, where the finished product content is translated into language and then launched into the market. The 2.0 stage is localization adaptation, which involves content adaptation and cultural symbol implantation for the target market. Now, we have reached the 3.0 stage, which is value co-creation.

Liao Fangli, Director of Tencent's Strategic Communication Center, believes that one of the key factors in doing a good job in cultural internationalization is to break free from cultural constraints, return to the essence of the product, focus on user experience and value itself, rather than setting a high positioning too early or emphasizing the inheritance of a certain culture. Excellent works naturally attract users due to their fun, exquisite graphics, and exquisite design, and are spread through word-of-mouth, forming an active local user community and cultural interaction.

Enhance overseas recognition of Chinese culture

For overseas youth groups, thanks to the development of technology, language is no longer the biggest obstacle in the process of globalization, and there are increasingly similarities in cultural acceptance between Chinese and foreign youth. Wang Xiao believes that the essence of cultural products going global is not just about exporting goods, but also about the "culture" carried by the products - the presentation and dissemination of a group's unique thinking and behavior patterns to overseas markets.

Liao Fangli quoted the "Digital Silk Road" in Thailand issued by the Belt and Road Economic and Educational Development Institute of Thailand. This report takes the popular variety show "Produce Camp Asia" in Thailand as an example, and analyzes that the competition of contestants from more than a dozen countries on stage is itself a cultural interaction, while the global audience outside the stage initiates another "cultural dialogue" through bullet comments, secondary innovation, and social media, greatly enhancing the effectiveness of cross-cultural communication.

She mentioned that Chinese Internet enterprises that survive in the intense competition often have very unique business model innovation and interaction strategies with users. For example, in terms of IP incubation, Chinese companies have successfully commercialized the entire chain of products from literature to film, television dramas, and game peripherals within the Tencent ecosystem, and have expanded their fan base through in-depth exploration of IP images. This strategy is also effective overseas.

"The case of Tencent represents the upgrading of Chinese digital technology enterprises going to sea - from learning and learning from the world in the early days, to now our enterprises have formed a set of innovative methods and paths." As a review expert of the "the Belt and Road" cultural project of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Fang Ying, professor of the School of Economics and Management of Communication University of China, has long-term tracking and observation on cultural trade and cooperation projects facing the "the Belt and Road".

Fang Ying further mentioned that when a country's economy develops to a certain extent, it will attract other countries and regions to have a strong interest in culture, products, and technology. The increasing demand for Chinese cultural products such as TV dramas and movies, and even the phenomenon of foreign companies purchasing overseas broadcasting rights for traditional Chinese cultural dramas, reflect the attention and curiosity of the outside world towards the development path achieved by China's reform and opening-up in the past 40 years. With more and more foreign friends experiencing Chinese culture and convenience after traveling, studying, and living in China, civilian technological achievements such as hotel robots have also prompted foreign friends to actively comment or raise new topics on social media platforms. This is a two-way communication and interaction, which further promotes the dissemination of cultural products overseas.

To this day, Chinese companies still face challenges in going global, including but not limited to understanding and adapting to local market culture, legal systems, and geopolitical factors. Chinese enterprises not only need to consider market demand to provide good products, but also face factors such as supply chain, labor costs, and cultural value differences. At the same time, Chinese enterprises need to widely disseminate their corporate mission, vision, and cultural values through media, association cooperation, and other channels.

To cross mountains and seas in the future, it is necessary to build an iron triangle of "platform technology co creation": the platform provides a participatory and collaborative digital space to communicate with overseas audiences in a compelling rather than persuasive way; AI, Cloud technology ensures personalized experience and efficient collaboration, accurately expresses and predicts the product lifecycle through digital technology, and focuses on the commercial operation capability, data compliance capability, and overseas marketing capability of content; We also need to abandon the concept of self centeredness and try to tell stories from a global perspective. In the process of reshaping the ways of communication, interaction, and entertainment, more users should become content producers and creators, rather than just bringing Chinese stories abroad.

The ideal state is to make overseas users feel that although an IP or cultural product originates from China, it still provides them with a platform to express themselves, participate in creation, and has integrated into their lives. ”This is the ultimate vision of "cultural coexistence" in Wang Xiao's ideal.