Sun Wukong: From Folklore to 3A Game – A Cultural Wave of Chinese Export

China’s first 3A game
黑神话悟空 was launched on August 20th
because this day was Sun Wukong’s birthday in folklores
A netizen said Sun Wukong has always been their childhood hero
especially for those growing up in the 80s and 90s
global success of this game is like a wave of high quality export of Chinese cultures
in preparation for the game’s release
many Westerners flocked to CCTV’s YouTube channel and watched the classic 1986 drama
Journey to the West
A netizen realized our ancestor has left us mountains of gold mines
Journey to the West can be turned into a whole universe like Marvel or Star Wars
with not just games but movies
comic books and theme parks
some reviews have criticized Black Myth for lacking diversity
someone joked “we swan they frog
we play they die”
A netizen argued Wukong was born out of a rock
they don’t have gender
it’s up to the player to think of Wukong as a hero or heroine
in the book published in the 1500s
there was a chapter about the all female kingdom
in which anyone can get pregnant
including men, by drinking water from the Mother-Child River
A netizen joked the author Wu Cheng’en
had been leading the world in political correctness for more than 500 years
In the game there was a scene of the Headless Buddha
picking up its head and putting it back on
Netizens interpreted this as a reminder to the world that
many of these stolen heads are still on display in British museums