Love for tradition
About six years ago, Shang You, the director of China's 2020 hit anime White Cat Legend, never thought that his anime work would one day top the trending list on Bilibili.
To his surprise, once the anime was released, it soon became a hit and was rated favorably on review platform Douban, scoring 9.2 points of 10.
White Cat Legend is a 12-episode-long action-comedy anime that was released on Bilibili on April 10, 2020. It tells the story of an official attempting to solve crimes with the appearance of a white cat during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
The interesting plot as well as the exquisite scenes in the anime have captured the hearts of many anime fans not only in China, but also in Japan, a country well-known for its anime production.
The number of Shang's followers increased from thousands at the beginning to about five million later.
Shang told the Global Times that he could feel the interest of young users of Bilibili has gradually shifted away from Japanese culture through Japanese anime to their own country's history with the availability of high-quality Chinese anime.
He said that Bilibili was only a niche cultural gathering place mainly based on Japanese ACG culture when he first registered in 2015. But now, the website has included more diverse content including dance, travel, dining, politics and college classes.
Different from most video websites, Bilibili promotes originality. Most videos its users upload are originally made, with videos introducing ancient classics with a modern touch often enjoying wide popularity.
In addition, the website promotes an interaction culture - danmu or bullet screen comments - where users exchange their opinions on the videos.
The Global Times reporter noticed that a growing number of Bilibili users are interested in the genre of international politics. They enthusiastically communicate and leave comments on these videos and their sense of recognition of China's development is vividly demonstrated.
They grew up in an era when China joined the WTO and became more open to the outside world. In addition to the wave of globalization, the internet has turned the earth into a "global village" with connectivity. Generation Z is indigenous to digital technology, and they can see the world and be seen by the world, Shi Wenxue, a cultural critic based in Beijing, told the Global Times.
Multicultural communication makes the environment more open, as Hollywood films, Japanese animation and ancient Chinese traditional culture are equally accessible and compete on the same stage, he said.
American YouTuber Nathan Rich, who runs "the King of Hotpot" channel and comments actively on politics and current affairs has registered on Bilibili.
"I like Bilibili because it has its own unique culture and the users are very real and sincere," said Rich. Currently, Rich has 1.32 million followers on Bilibili. Rich felt that the young generation in China are "becoming more aware of the political realities of the world, and that not everyone has positive intentions toward China."
