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‘2026 version of Journey to the West’ goes viral as classic comes alive in young people’s everyday lives_我的网站

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    Livestreaming team of Journey to the West: Heroes' Gathering, featuring the four master-disciples Photo: Courtesy of the cast team of Journey to the West: Heroes' GatheringAt dusk, in an unassuming grove in Shouguang, East China's Shandong Province, performers dressed as Tang Sanzang (Monk Xuanzang), Sun Wukong (Monkey King) and other characters from the renowned Chinese classic Journey to the West set up a thatched hut and cooked around a bonfire while livestreaming. They were not fighting demons or embarking on a pilgrimage, but chatting, joking and improvising in response to comments from live viewers.
This seemingly makeshift Journey to the West: Heroes' Gathering livestream has gone viral lately, with related videos garnering more than 140 million views and more than 400,000 viewers tuning in simultaneously at its peak on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Netizens gave it a distinctly contemporary nickname — the "2026 version of Journey to the West." 
Behind the viral success is a format far removed from traditional film and television productions: The livestream does not rely on tightly scripted dialogue.
Gao Guancheng, director of the team, told the Global Times that the team usually prepares only a basic outline before each livestream, leaving about 80 percent of each livestream to improvisation.
"Comments from viewers, trending internet memes, and even unexpected incidents on site can all become the starting point for the next scene," he said. This seemingly spontaneous approach, however, is far from unprepared.
Into daily life
The performers playing the "four pilgrims" all have years of experience portraying characters from Journey to the West. That experience has given them the chemistry needed to pick up and build on one another's cues during livestreams.
"The actor playing Tang Sanzang has years of rich experience imitating the character, the actor playing Sun Wukong has studied monkey opera since childhood, and the actor playing Zhu Bajie has been portraying the character for nearly 20 years," Gao said.
"One look, one movement, or one punchline, we all know who should pick it up and who shouldn't," he added.
That chemistry may be the foundation for bringing the characters to life, but what truly connects this new Journey to the West with contemporary life is the seemingly ordinary daily routine.
Peng Tao, a young viewer in his 20s who works in the internet industry, told the Global Times that when he first came across Journey to the West: Heroes' Gathering, he felt as if he were watching a spin-off of Journey to the West, one in which familiar characters were simply going about their daily lives.
"In the past, we saw them on the pilgrimage and fighting the demons. Now we see them eating together, chatting and working. That contrast really draws me in," he said.
In his view, the relationships among Tang Sanzang and his disciples remain familiar, but placing them in everyday situations gives those relationships a new resonance.
"For example, at work, there may be a relatively domineering boss, someone who always rushes to take responsibility, someone who keeps the atmosphere lively, and someone who doesn't say much but always gets things done in the end. You start to feel that they're no longer mythical figures, but people around you," he said.
That sense of familiarity may be one way for classics to reconnect with younger audiences.
"I don't think they are doing Journey to the West a disservice," Peng said. "The basic personalities of the characters are still there; they've simply been placed in a new setting. If a classic can only be told in the same way it was decades ago, it may actually become increasingly distant from young people."
Finding the right balance between the old and the new is also something the creators of Journey to the West: Heroes' Gathering have been thinking about.
"We are not remaking Journey to the West. By preserving the basic characteristics of the characters while placing them in new everyday settings, we are bringing Journey to the West into the lives of ordinary people," Gao said.
Stories reimagined 

The modern revival of classic traditional classics is by no means limited to Journey to the West.
Classic Chinese texts taught in schools, including Letter to Wife, Pipa Song and The Golden Fishhook, have also been turned into vivid and engaging short videos. One video based on The Golden Fishhook has garnered more than 100 million views. Such adaptations have attracted widespread attention online, according to the Beijing Daily.
These time-honored texts have become part of a generation's collective memory and naturally come with an established audience. Yet with countless classics to draw from, there is no shortage of adaptations that simply capitalize on established IPs or recycle old memes, and not every adaptation wins over audiences. What truly resonates is finding a thoughtful way to bring classics back down to earth, according to the Beijing Daily.
Beijing-based cultural scholar Wang Deyan told the Global Times that the vitality of a classic does not lie simply in repeating it word for word, but in its ability to continually forge new connections with contemporary life, emotions and aesthetics.
"Classics can continue to resonate in new eras because the relationships between their characters, their emotional structures and the values they convey can still connect with people today," he said.
In Wang's view, the popularity of Journey to the West: Heroes' Gathering is essentially a way for young audiences to rediscover a classic through new forms of media: The characters remain the same, but the way audiences view them has changed.
"Short videos, livestreams and online fan creations have lowered the threshold for creative expression, giving classics opportunities to enter more tangible settings of everyday life," he said.
Perhaps classics truly come "alive" in moments like these, when they are no longer simply "old stories" preserved in textbooks and on screens, but enter livestreams, short videos and the everyday lives of young people, gaining new vitality in a new era through each retelling and each new way of being seen.
。    中新社福州8月20日电 (叶秋云)福建省人民政府官网20日发布福建省人民政府关于印发《福建省“十五五”文化和旅游发展规划》(以下简称“规划”)的通知及规划政策解读。规划提及“深化闽台交流，探索两岸文旅融合发展新路径”，提出鼓励台湾同胞申报国家级、省级、市级、县级非遗代表性传承人。

B |          　　对此，在闽台胞、国家级非物质文化遗产代表性项目福州脱胎漆器髹饰技艺福建省级非物质文化遗产代表性传承人黄守堃表示，台湾许多传统手艺的根源都在大陆，跨海“寻根”并传承技艺，意义深远。

C | “真正的两岸交流，要实实在在地落地，靠人与人真心相处，而非遗技艺的交流与传承就是非常好的方式。”他告诉中新社记者，正是大陆对非遗的保护力度，让他选择在福州扎根十余年。         　　规划提出要持续举办郑成功文化主题活动、海峡两岸(福建东山)关帝文化旅游节等活动，深化妈祖、陈靖姑等闽台民间信俗文化交流。在闽台胞、福建莆田学院妈祖文化研究院教授林孟蓉指出，妈祖、陈靖姑等民间信俗历经千百年演变，已成为两岸同胞同根同源的文化基因。         　　林孟蓉认为，闽台交流可从三个层面推进：一是经贸层面，以商引商，借台湾企业家回乡祭祖、参与宗教朝圣之机，吸引台商和侨资企业投资；二是学术层面，依托两岸妈祖文化的共通性，将信俗研究提升至文化遗产保护合作的高度；三是民间层面，搭建两岸宫庙基层网络，推动两岸宫庙深度共建。                   8月9日，“同名寻根两岸同心”——2026年闽台同名村镇(同宗)续缘之旅在福建厦门启动。图为歌曲《同名村》在活动上首次发布。叶秋云摄          　　福建师范大学地理科学学院、福建省文化和旅游研究院教授林明水指出，福建作为80%以上台湾同胞的祖籍地，拥有无可替代的“根脉”优势。         　　林明水认为，闽台交流应围绕“同名同宗村”深化宗亲往来，支持两岸同胞开展寻根谒祖、族谱对接和乡村共建等活动。他说，“这不仅能修复和活化乡村文化生态，更能将文旅交流下沉到基层民间，通过最朴素的血缘亲情促进两岸社会文化的全面融合。”(完)                【编辑:万纪玮】。

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