Cross-border youth appeal

By internationalizing and localizing their digital cultural products, Chinese companies can make them an integral part of popular culture

Digital culture, represented by online videos, online games, web fiction, online music and web comics, has become one of the mainstream patterns of global mass culture, in particular among youth communities.

Generation Z, who have been living with the internet since birth, are heavily immersed in this culture and it is a large part of their way of life, deeply influencing their socializing and expression. They are also creators of digital culture. For example, producing memes, emojis and internet catchwords.

As a common language among young people, digital culture is accelerating the speed of globalization in a unconventional dimension.

The self-creation and experiential features of digital culture enable youths to form multiple interest groups based on interactive and socializing functions.

Against such a backdrop and with the accelerated development of technology in recent years, China's digital economy has been booming and its size ranked second in the world in 2017. For example, China is now a leading online game market in the world, and its innovative model of online literature is renowned worldwide as a cultural phenomenon.

At the same time, the Belt and Road Initiative, an umbrella initiative that includes cultural exchanges and people-to-people communication, has injected impetus into the digital economy by offering a platform for exchanges and coordinating policies such as the trade in services. For example, Chinese online literature has been translated into over 10 languages and read in 40 Belt and Road countries and regions.

Other digital culture products that have gained popularity in overseas markets include web comics, internet dramas, short videos and live-broadcasting platforms. They are also enhancing mutual learning and coordinated trade growth, and contributing positive energy to people-to-people connectivity.

Data from Tencent Research Institute shows that the digital cultural trade is especially active in Southeast Asian countries along the Belt and Road, which have similar economic and cultural backgrounds as China. Compared with the sophisticated markets in North America and Western Europe, these countries' digital culture industries are still emerging, with rapid growth rates and huge potential.

The overseas development of China's digital culture industry brings about opportunities to enhance cultural recognition among the youth, reach a wider audience, promote cultural exchanges and mutual learning and boost mutual understanding and trust.

However, there are huge cultural differences among the various Belt and Road countries, presenting big challenges to Chinese digital culture companies in their efforts at localization. Therefore, Chinese cultural enterprises need to think and work a way out in the internet age and find a proper balance between globalization and localization.

Chinese cultural companies need to identify the common values rooted in different cultures to gain affective recognition.

While localized creation requires a thorough understanding of local history and culture as well as sensitive issues concerning politics, religion and customs to avoid risks. Only by promoting outstanding Chinese cultural elements on the one hand and respecting local users' needs and customs on the other can in-depth affective interaction and understanding be achieved.

When choosing contents and topics, full consideration should be given to the designated locality and the timing to pay the greatest respect possible to local users. Take online games for example. We should appreciate and learn from overseas experience, make tailored adjustments to targeted users' habits. What's more, it is necessary to create a complete industrial chain of creation-R&D-products-export to share good digital cultural products with users in other countries.

Chinese production companies also need to improve their storytelling abilities by making the pace and style of the TV and film plays more internationally acceptable.

Chinese companies should seek cooperation with internationalized teams and talents, make the content, technology and related procedures more international and explore a sound cooperation model beneficial to Chinese culture going global.

They should also explore diverse publicity and distribution channels. Lack of channels is a weak link hindering Chinese enterprises' global efforts. To solve this problem, we should cooperate with leading new media platforms overseas and take advantage of their large audience to make publicity and distribution more effective.

It is good to establish our own channels online in the internet age. For example, Webnovel, the international portal of China Literature Group, has already been visited over 10 million times since it was established in May 2017.

Features of local culture and media should be taken into full consideration to make sound and efficient publicity planning. Overseas portals of online literature and comics should make personalized recommendations and distribution based on their content's popularity and users' habits.

Since international operation means more uncertainties and risks for small and medium-sized enterprises, they should try to cooperate with the large Chinese companies and utilize their international layout and industrial chain. Tencent Cloud, for example, has assisted many Chinese companies to expand their overseas business and collaborate with leading marketing platforms.

Last, ways should be explored to promote Chinese digital cultural icons. Compared with traditional mass communication media, the internet has broken the barriers of both time and space and built a new sphere. Different cultures can talk and interact on an equal basis on the internet, which contributes to cultural recognition of youth communities in the world.

Of the huge number of Chinese online literature, a large part is original, a source for intellectual property adaptation. Web comics are also keenly sought after for adaptations as films and TV plays, amplifying their functions. Creation and development of IP is a long and sustained process. Patience and long-term systematic efforts will help make the digital culture industry a pillar of global cultural trade, and contribute unique Chinese elements to the world's popular culture and youth culture.

Si Xiao is president and Sun Yi is senior researcher at Tencent Research Institute. The authors contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(China Daily 03/19/2019 page13)