天龙八部

When a Chinese mythic world travels without translation_我的网站

一 |     

    Chen Aijun works in an optical shop in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Aug. 14, 2026. (Xinhua/Lu Youyi)The video came with almost no instructions.
There was no narration explaining the mythology behind palaces rising above an ocean of clouds in the video, nor subtitles identifying the heavenly gates, cranes or tiny figures moving beneath them.
Yet viewers outside China quickly began naming the world for themselves.
Some called it "paradise." Others saw a "Celestial Palace" or an "Immortal Realm" familiar from Chinese fantasy games and television dramas. One user wrote, "Waiting on Wukong to show up," invoking the Monkey King from the Chinese literary classic "Journey to the West," or the hit game "Black Myth: Wukong."
The interpretations differed, but viewers did not seem to need the same cultural knowledge to enter the conversation.
Earlier this month, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning shared the 33-second AI-generated video on social media with a question: "What does the Chinese heaven look like?"
It opened up a hermeneutic discussion, with responses overseas suggesting a cultural image does not necessarily need to elicit exactly the same interpretation for everyone in order for it to be viewed meaningfully.
"The right to interpret ultimately lies with the audience," said Zhang Zheng, deputy dean of Tsinghua University's School of Journalism and Communication.
People encountering unfamiliar cultures inevitably draw on what they already know, Zhang said. Rather than fully grasping every cultural reference, what matters is whether audiences can encounter the work, understand it and respond to it emotionally.
Before strangers abroad could interpret this particular world, however, it first had to get out of one man's head.
Chen Aijun, 34, is an optometrist in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.
By day, Chen leads a quiet, down-to-earth life in a neighborhood optical shop. Inside, he worked among eyeglass frames and optometry equipment. On his computer was another landscape entirely: cloud seas, immense palaces, flying cranes and figures in ancient robes.
Chen's heaven did not come from any single ancient text.
Growing up in the 1990s, he watched "Journey to the West" and later encountered "The Investiture of the Gods," xianxia (immortal heroes) novels and fantasy games. Those stories mixed over time with images of Chinese architecture and landscapes he saw online.
He has never visited nearby Mount Emei, and most of what he knows of Mount Huangshan's famous sea of clouds comes from videos.
What appeared on his screen was therefore not a reconstruction of one fixed mythological scene, but a world shaped by traditional stories already filtered through television, novels, games, the internet and his own memory.
For years, Chen had no way to make that world visible.
He never studied painting, design, photography or 3D modeling. After high school, he joined his parents' optical business and eventually took over the shop.
Generative AI changed the gap between imagining an image and possessing the technical skills to show it to someone else.
More than a year ago, Chen began teaching himself through free online tutorials. In September 2025, he started regularly posting AI videos, and a month later began experimenting with palaces floating above clouds. He has since published more than 200 videos.
The process, however, involves far more than entering a few prompts. The technology lowered the technical threshold, but it did not make the choices for him.
When creating Nantianmen, the mythical heavenly gate, Chen first defines the spatial rhythm and tonal hierarchy, pairing towering architecture and cloud seas with deliberately miniature figures to amplify the celestial realm's grand scale.
If the result does not match the picture in his mind, he tries again. He often generates over 1,000 images a day, revising a single scene repeatedly before moving on to animation, editing, color grading and music.
The machine can generate a thousand possible heavens. Chen still has to decide which one is his.
"AI-produced images can be soulless, and it takes human inspiration and aesthetic sensibility to endow works with warmth and vitality," he said.
Zhang believes Chen's experience reflects a broader shift brought about by generative AI. He said AI is giving people without conventional artistic training access to forms of expression that once required specialized skills. But what they create still depends on what they bring to the tool.
"A person's existing knowledge inevitably shapes how they use AI," Zhang said.
Chen brought his memories to the machine. Viewers abroad, in turn, brought theirs to the image.
"Everyone brings their own associations to these scenes," he said.
If his imagined world had to be reduced to three elements, he would keep clouds, architecture and people. The first two should feel immense, he said, while the last should remain small.
The details are culturally specific, but the visual effect is more immediate: tiny human figures dwarfed by vast clouds and monumental architecture. The responses suggest that viewers did not need to understand every cultural reference to find a way into the image.
Chen has no overseas social media accounts and learned that the video was attracting attention abroad only when friends sent him screenshots.
His life at the optical shop has changed little. He still checks eyesight and fits glasses when customers come in, then returns to his computer when the shop grows quiet.
He now hopes to make longer AI videos with fuller stories. He also wants to visit Mount Emei and, one day, Mount Huangshan.
For years, images of distant mountains and clouds reached Chen through screens. His imagined landscapes later traveled through screens to people he had never met.
Now he wants to see the real mountains and clouds for himself.
    Chen Aijun makes AI videos in an optical shop in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Aug. 14, 2026. (Xinhua/Lu Youyi)
。    　　讯 8月20日，上海市住建委、市房管局、市财政局等六部门联合出台《关于优化本市房地产政策措施的通知》（简称《通知》），推出8项举措，涉及公积金、个人住房贷款、以旧换新、房票安置、二手房收购等方面。　　《通知》提出，明确，调整后，上海首套房商贷最低首付款比例统一为不低于15%；二套房商贷延续区域差异化，外环内最低首付款比例为不低于25%，外环外为不低于15%。新政自8月21日起实施。　　《通知》中，公积金优化措施有3条，数量居各类政策之首。就在前天，国家新版《住房公积金管理条例》刚刚发布，仅48小时，上海就出台“沪八条”，率先在省级直辖市层面推出多项公积金配套优化举措，对接国家公积金改革方向。此前购买新建期房才能提取公积金作为首付，现在，买现房也可以这样操作，切实降低了购房者的首付成本。另外，公积金提取频次与额度放宽。

二 | 由原先“五年内仅可提取一次”调整为“每个自然年可提取一次”，便于购房者更灵活使用公积金支付购房款，减轻资金压力。公积金的使用用途也有所拓宽。缴存人可提取公积金支付契税、购买车位等。　　住房公积金政策的优化降低了门槛、拓宽了用途，有效释放了多样化的住房需求。此次调整覆盖面广、精准度高，不仅有助于缓解购房初期的多重资金压力，也体现了公积金支持贯穿住房消费全周期的政策导向，对释放多样化、合理的住房需求具有积极作用。　　《通知》还有一个特点，就是“以旧换新”可享阶段性补贴。从8月21日起到明年3月31日，如果居民家庭在外环外购买新建商品住房，并完成合同网签备案，且在网签备案日前后1年内，出售上海二手住房的，可申请最高5万元的补贴。补贴总金额2亿元，用完即止。同时，此前“沪九条”出台的“以旧换新”补贴政策可叠加享受，两个政策加起来，最高补贴金额达8万元。　　《通知》还加大了房票实施力度，在征收拆迁补偿安置中增加房票安置方式，满足居民多元化安置需求。自2024年下半年试点以来，上海至今已累计发放房票1700多张。同时，上海还加快推进收购二手住房，用作保障性租赁住房。

三 | 此前，浦东、徐汇、静安等区已先行试点，累计完成房源收购523套。版权申明：凡注有“”或电头为“”的稿件，均为独家版权所有，未经许可不得转载或镜像；授权转载必须注明来源为“”，并保留“”的电头。

四 |     。

Current article:http://otqbld.wengsengzhanhuangu.cyou/list_xez8/u2xq.html

Published on:00:00:00