New character in Genshin Impact victims of cultural differences -apkrig
Less than two weeks ago, the Chinese RPG Genshin Impact received version 2.4, in which two new playable characters Shenhe and Yun Jin also came into the game. It was the latter that began to embarrass many players. Yun Jin is not only a capable fighter, but also an excellent singer and dancer. The developers from the Shanghai miHoYo studio tried to bring even more of their culture into the game through this character. However, even with the mixed responses and various critical reactions, they seem to have succeeded.
The update was released on January 5, but of course its content and details about the character itself were known before. Yun Jin was introduced as an opera diva, who is already strengthened by music and dance. Even at the time when she was only an NPC and director of the Yun-Han Opera Ensemble, she was known for her impressive opera performances. Thus, it could be assumed that these features would not be left untapped and that players could look forward to meeting Chinese, or even better, Peking Opera. The creators really cared, as evidenced by the presentation of voices, both for the spoken word and for the singing, or a detailed look behind the scenes of the character’s own creation. However, it seems that cultural differences may be greater between Asia and the West than one might expect in the world of video games. And from an artistic point of view in particular.
reminder to PLEASE be respectful about yun jin’s singing. her voice is representing traditional chinese opera, its chinese culture ! its disrespectful to mock or make fun of her and its not funny.
— hourly polearm users 🗡 | 💤 (@hourlypolearms) December 26, 2021
The initial reactions from the players, either directly during the game or after the publication of a short demo at the end of the year, were not very positive, some were downright rude. It wasn’t so much about Yun Jin herself as it was about her singing. He became the target of ridicule on a number of streams. The main culprits are the differences in how most of the world perceives opera as an art form compared to China. Beijing Opera (Jingxi) is currently the most widespread type of Chinese theater and has a long tradition and privileged position, since 2010 it has even been inscribed on the World Heritage List. Even so, its appearance in the West is often unknown. Beijing opera is characterized by strongly stylized acting and, of course, the singing itself, accompanied by pantomime, acrobatics and various martial arts. In this case, however, it is singing that disturbs the most experienced idea of opera the most. However, a better representative could not have been elected for him than the real actress of the Beijing Opera Yang Yang, whose singing parties permeate all language versions of the play. Yun Jin’s rappers are, among others, Judy Alice Lee in English and Wenxiao He in Chinese.
guys saying derogatory things abt yun jin singing is racist btw ! her voice is representing traditional chinese opera even the developers said it themselves, so mocking or making fun of it is not funny 😀 pic.twitter.com/TnBP2LWvZu
— — connect : rinx ! (@WTFBOOTAO) December 26, 2021
However, it should be noted that there are many people who appreciated this cultural nipple and the incorporation of Peking Opera into the play, and many others have become accustomed to this non-traditional voice. The fact that it was a non-traditional representation of their culture with the best of intentions, as evidenced by the 20-minute video, which was released a few days ago on the game’s official channel and shows how Yun Jin brought to life. After all, it also includes an effort to present this slightly different opera to the rest of the world, and it seems that Genshin Impact has really aroused interest in it, and this is how games can work.
