(ECNS) -- A grassroots livestream in Shouguang, Shandong Province, has gone viral by recasting Journey to the West as a workplace comedy, drawing up to 400,000 concurrent viewers.
The show Xiyou Qunyinghui (literally "Gathering of Heroes from Journey to the West") features four performers portraying Tang Monk and his disciples in woodland settings, with costumes and voices echoing the 1986 TV adaptation.
Much of the humor comes from workplace dynamics, with Tang Monk as the manager and the Monkey King the overworked employee.
Improvised dialogue often draws on audience comments. Since debuting in April, the account has gained hundreds of thousands of followers, with clips spreading widely on social media. At its peak, one livestream drew 13.9 million visits.
In one exchange, the Monkey King complains that he and his fellow disciples do all the grunt work — fighting monsters, even cooking.
"I plan the route, don't I?" Tang Monk replies.
"Yeah, and it's a straight line from one monster to the next," the Monkey King fires back.
The livestream debuted on April 15, garnering more than 8,000 views. Its popularity surged in July as clips spread across social media, with the account gaining as many as 390,000 followers in a single day. At its peak, one livestream drew 400,000 concurrent viewers and up to 13.9 million views.
The show has also sparked debate online. Some viewers question whether its humor trivializes the literary classic, while others see the contemporary adaptation as a way of making familiar characters relevant to a new generation.
(By Helen Mo, intern Yang Hongran)
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