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When a Chinese mythic world travels without translation_我的网站
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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.
。 近期NBA的一条新闻，根据欧洲媒体报道，20年榜眼秀詹姆斯·怀斯曼即将加盟西班牙联赛。
B | 属实唏嘘，一位正值黄金年龄的乐透秀，短短五年时间，联盟里已经没有了他的位置。 这种局面下，很难不让人提出问题： 如果时间倒回20年选秀大会，勇士还会选择詹姆斯·怀斯曼吗？ 对于这个问题，在这个节点拿出来讨论多少有点扎心。
C | 此前步行者后卫哈利伯顿参加播客节目时，主动提到了当初为勇士试训的经历： “那是我职业生涯至今最完美的一次试训，整个过程一球没丢；我当时就觉得，勇士完全是为我量身打造的球队。
D | ” 从这段描述看，在哈里伯顿的视角下，他原本以为勇士会在榜眼位置选择自己的；但尴尬的是，即便试训出色，但勇士明确表态： “我们知道你非常适合我们的体系，但不确定会用榜眼签选择你。” 后续的事情走向所有人都知道了，勇士在榜眼签选了怀斯曼，而哈利伯顿则是一直等到第12顺位才被国王选中。 而如今回头看，不同的两个选秀顺位，直接意味着两条完全不同的生涯轨迹。 在国王虽然被看好，但哈利伯顿还是被换去了步行者，随后一路打成全明星后卫，甚至在2025年季后赛中打出了直通总决赛的黑马表现。如果不是跟腱撕裂，他甚至有机会早早捧杯。 反观被勇士选中的怀斯曼，虽然贵为榜眼，但在勇士期间始终没能融入球队，最不到3个赛季便离开金州。截至目前，整个生涯也只出战了152场比赛，基本已经没有NBA机会了。 对比来看，这二人之间的落差，确实有些大；当然，也不能完全马后炮的指责2020年的勇士，当初他们放弃哈利伯顿选择怀斯曼，其实也不无道理。 当年勇士手握榜眼签，但哈利伯顿在选秀前预测中甚至都没能进入前三；对于一支刚刚经历伤病调整、同时手握水花的稳定球队，勇士自然更看重新秀即战力。
E | 只是问题在于，勇士选中的怀斯曼，最终没能兑现出球队对他的期待；甚至近日勇士老板拉科布也亲口承认，当年的选择确实失败了。 而更让勇士球迷难受的是，他们并不是只错过了哈利伯顿；在20年选秀之前，勇士其实有机会往上操作，但最终他们没这么做。
F | 状元郎爱德华兹当年的勇士试训表现甚至还不如哈里伯顿，甚至球队也考虑过三球，但克莱突遭伤病，导致球队方向转变到运动天赋和即战力上，转而选择了怀斯曼。
G | 事情到这里还没完，2021年，勇士再次得到一个七号签。 当时来看，球队内部不少人看好小瓦格纳，但最终勇士又选了库明加；而如今再对比看，这又是一笔让勇士球迷后悔的失败选秀。 所以，现在来看，勇士确实遇到了困境，但困境完全是他们自己造成的。 大胆假设，如果当年榜眼签选的是哈利伯顿，21年七号签再拿下小瓦格纳，那么现在的勇士会是什么样呢？。
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Published on:13:49:41