New Silk Road to build global access to Chinese culture

New Silk Road to build global access to Chinese culture

XI’AN, June 9 (Xinhua) — China should build a new Silk Road using the Internet to help integrate Chinese culture into the outside world, the vice chief of a Chinese Internet entertainment company said at the weekend.

American cartoons, such as Dreamworks’ “Kung Fu Panda” and Disney’s “Mulan,” are not true embodiments of Chinese culture, said Wang Yuyun, vice president of Perfect World.

“They are Hollywood cultural products made for viewers around the world. American producers borrowed the classic tales or images of China, and the cartoons mainly reflect American values,” she said.

On Sunday, “A New Silk Road, A New Dream” — a press tour sponsored by Wang’s company as a cultural journey across Eurasia — kicked off in Xi’an, capital of China’s western Shannxi province and the starting point of the ancient Silk Road.

In ancient times, the Chinese culture spread through the great Silk Road, and prevailed in many countries along the road as a “modern fashion.”

The Chinese government has put forward a strategy to build a Silk Road economic belt, which is also expected to strengthen friendly people-to-people exchanges with other countries, especially in the cultural field.

Wang expressed her belief that the Internet will play an important role in the interaction among people of different countries.

“On the basis of the developing new Internet technologies, the cultural exchanges have become more large-scale, sufficient and diversified, strengthening interaction and mutual trust among different peoples,” she said.

In other words, she explained, the world has an opportunity to rethink what they know of Chinese culture thanks to the “Internet New Silk Road for Culture.”

Wang said to build such a road, it is necessary not only to focus on strengthening China’s influence in the world, but also to ensure that private enterprises of the cultural industries should self-improve in two areas.

In terms of marketing, they should provide excellent cultural products and deeply explore local markets with a long-term plan, she said.

“And strategically, you can learn from the Hollywood style: combining the best elements of different cultures into one, and creating a product that satisfies the global taste and at the same time bears more Chinese elements,” Wang said. “In such a way, the people of the other countries can naturally accept the Chinese culture.”

According to Wang, a Chinese online game developed by Perfect World and based specifically around Chinese culture has been played in more than 100 countries thanks to its adoption of local elements.

In the Internet age, the “New Cultural Silk Road” should be built to intensify economic cooperation through cultural exchanges among different countries, she said.