kong-degang

The Many Faces of Sun Wukong

Contributions from individuals with unique perspectives to share. Hear from everyone, from experts and commentators to those whose voices are often marginalized.

VOICES & OPINION

Some critics complained that Game Science, developers of the wildly popular game “Black Myth: Wukong,” did the Monkey King dirty. But the mischievous simian has always defied easy categorization.

Is There a Right Way to Stage a Classic Play?

Chinese stagings of classic plays tend to be overly faithful to the source material or commercialized cash grabs.

How to Adapt a Classic

What four recent productions say about China’s changing approach to literary adaptations.

Four Games That Sum Up China’s 2023

These four titles weren’t the biggest games released by Chinese developers this year, but they are some of the most memorable.

What Makes a Good ‘Three-Body’ Adaptation?

Ahead of Netflix’s version, two Chinese adaptations of “The Three-Body Problem,” one live-action, one animated, offer lessons in the importance and pitfalls of staying true to the text.

Five Games That Sum Up China’s 2022

“Do religious androids dream of electric Buddhas?” and other questions from China’s year in games.

How Chinese Studios Are Gamifying Late Capitalism

Chinese gamers have embraced survival simulators grounded in the drudgery of daily life. Is that enough to build real solidarity between workers?

Meet the Chinese Left’s Master of Anti-Imperialist Memes

The vlogger Little John Khan made a name for himself telling tall tales about the history of “small countries.” Now, as young Chinese drift leftward, he’s taking his channel in a more overtly anti-imperialist direction.

All China’s Gamers Want for Christmas Is an AAA Game To Call Their Own

Can the country’s studios transfer their mobile gaming success to the time-consuming, costly world of AAA game development?

How Video Games Fueled the Rise of Chinese Fantasy

Thirty years ago, the martial arts epic was the country’s most popular genre. Today, fantasy dominates the entertainment industry, thanks in part to the success of an 18-year-old video game.

Pixel Deep: How Localized ‘Reskins’ Shaped China’s Early Gamers

Known in Chinese as ‘huanpi,’ early localization efforts were half-hearted, often patronizing, and still better than nothing.