Exploring the Worldwide Circulation and Contemporary Interpretation of Xuemo’s Works, Seeking New Paths for Cultural Communication | “Xuemo in Dialogue with International Scholars” (Episode 19)

Exploring the Worldwide Circulation and Contemporary Interpretation of Xuemo’s Works, Seeking New Paths for Cultural Communication | “Xuemo in Dialogue with International Scholars” (Episode 19)

On the evening of July 26, 2026, the 19th session of “Xuemo in Dialogue with International Scholars” was successfully held online. Organized by the World Literature Union and the Xuemo Foundation, the session was titled “Literary Translation, Film Adaptation, and Digital Communication: Xuemo’s Cross-Media Journey to the World.”

The forum brought together Xuezhao Li, a doctoral candidate at The Ohio State University in the United States; renowned director Jie Han; and Carson Xu from ByteDance as guest speakers, as well as author Xuemo and his summer camp students at Xuemo Academy in Wuwei. Yanjin Chen, senior editor of Xuemo’s works and author of The Xuemo Code, served as moderator.

Nearly 20 scholars and experts from China, the United States, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Nepal, and other countries joined the discussion. Together, they explored new approaches for the cross-cultural circulation of Western Chinese literature and Xin-xing Civilization (心性文明), a concept centered on the cultivation of the heart-mind and human nature. More than 200 online readers and over 100 on-site participants attended the event.

Translation Challenges in Regional Narratives: When Laoshun Meets “Paki”

The forum began with Xuezhao Li’s presentation, “Translation Analysis of Desert Hunters through Manipulation Theory.” She said that Desert Hunters, the second work in Xuemo’s “Desert Trilogy,” portrays the daily life of villagers living along the Silk Road, shaped by tensions of power, identity, and cultural differences. 

The English edition of Desert Hunters adopts different translation strategies for foreign poachers and Chinese police officers representing state authority. Li argued that these choices provide a good example of “manipulative translation” in literary studies. 

Li paid particular attention to Xuemo’s distinctive use of colloquial language. For example, the protagonist Laoshun refers to Pakistanis as “Paki,” and the novel uses expressions such as “ji li gu lu” (similar to “blablabla” in English) to portray how people chatter away in a foreign language. 

These details mirror the defensive attitudes and nationalist emotions of poorly educated Chinese farmers when encountering foreigners. At the same time, they expose the subtle differences between a common person’s speech and official diplomatic discourse. 

Comparing the Chinese original with Howard Goldblatt’s English translation of Desert Hunters, Li stressed that some of the original work’s stylistic features and cultural meanings are inevitably lost during translation in order to improve readability for English-language readers. 

This reflects a dilemma facing Chinese literature’s “going global”: how can a novel preserve its original vitality whilecrossing linguistic and cultural barriers? 

Xuemo offered a sharp perspective. He argued that the often-repeated idea that “the local is the new global” is not entirely accurate. In his view, cultural identity alone does not automatically become universally appealing. 

“The local cannot be directly translated into the universal,” Xuemo said. “It must first be refined, transformed, and expressed in a way that allows people from different backgrounds to easily relate to it.” 

Using Japan’s adaptation of Chinese Chan Buddhism as an example, he claimed that cultural communication is a systematic process requiring the establishment of a unique discourse system, community development and empowerment, long-term operations and more. 

Xuemo also mentioned that he had recently completed a nearly 400,000-character novel titled Going Global, which grew directly out of his reflections and decade-long international travels and cross-cultural exchanges.

Film Adaptation in the Age of AI: When Mastiff Meets Algorithm

In the next session, award-winning director Jie Han discussed the challenges and possibilities of bringing Xuemo’s novel Legendary Wolf of Xixia to the screen.

Han, known for films including Walking on the Wild Side and Mr. Tree, said that Xuemo’s fiction combines the cultural essence of Western China with a remarkable sense of foresight into common human concerns.

In Legendary Wolf of Xixia, the untamed mastiff and the female protagonist Zixiao, who gradually loses herself while living in modern Shanghai, form asymbolic relationship. Han suggested that their contrast reflects a spiritual crisis increasingly experienced by young people today: the feeling of becoming disconnected from their authentic selves.

However, the project has been paused as the film industry adapts to a new era.

Han explained that the original plan for a low-budget film has been delayed due to the potential inability to attract a large enough audience amid the rapid development of AI-generated videos. The team is now exploring a new adaptation into a medium-budget fantasy movie.

The greatest uncertainty, he said, comes from artificial intelligence.

“We are at a historical moment,” Han said. “AI has not yet reached the point where it can fully support the production of a feature film, but the traditional logic of film investment has already changed.”

Yanjin Chen suggested that the team might first experiment with an AI-generated short film and wait for technological advancement before producing a feature film.

Xuemo was optimistic about film adaptation. Referring to different versions of Journey to the West, he believed that classic works should allow diverse interpretations. The important question is whether creators can build a unique artistic world of their own.

He encouraged creators not to wait until every condition is perfect, but to begin projects and attract like-minded resources along the way.

Cultural Mission of Short-Video Platforms: When Xin-xing Meets Attention

Carson Xu joined the discussion from the perspective of digital platforms and shared his observations on cultural communication in the digital age. He said that the ByteDance ecosystem, including TikTok, has more than 3 billion users worldwide. For the first time in history, a Chinese company has created a communication platform with global influence.

However, Carson warned that digital platforms currently face a challenge he described as “bad money driving out good money.” Large amounts of fragmented and shallow content occupy users’ attention, while valuable traditional cultural content remains relatively scarce.

Carson proposed a three-level framework for cultural communication: “transmitting the Way, upholding the tradition, and spreading the message.” Scholars are responsible for “transmitting the Way” by clarifying core ideas and values; professional teams are responsible for “upholding the tradition” by transforming these ideas into forms suited to the present era; and content creators are responsible for “spreading the message” by bringing them to audiences through practical channels, which Carson called the “last mile.”

He emphasized that, as young people today spend more than two and a half hours each day scrolling through screens, ignoring short-video platforms would mean losing an important space for cultural communication. The Xin-xing wisdom embedded in Xuemo’s works, he suggested, is a cure for modern people’s spiritual crises and has the potential to become an important vehicle for “transmitting the Way.”

Xuemo agreed with his view and called Carson a kindred spirit of his. He said that in the future he would reduce unnecessary social activities and devote more energy to refining his work. He also hoped to collaborate with Carson’s team to promote the essence of Chinese civilization in the simplest modern language and share it with the world.

“Do not wait. Begin now,” Xuemo said.

Conclusion: Building a Discourse Community for Chinese Culture

At the end of the forum, Yanjin Chen mentioned the recent establishment of the Global Civilization Institute by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). She said that the institute closely aligns with Xuemo’s advocacy of Xin-xing Civilization and his call for new forms of human civilization.

From manipulative translation in Desert Hunters to the film industry’s transition into the AI era, and finally to the attention economy and short-video platforms, this session covered some of the central themes related to cultural communication in the contemporary world.

Xuemo concluded that literature, film, and short videos all require an active community supporting Chinese discourse. Only when Chinese culture can respond to the spiritual needs of Chinese people while addressing concerns shared by all of humanity can it move from the “local” toward the “global” and the “universal.”

Yanjin Chen added that both Xuemo’s writing and his efforts in cultural communication are guided by a spirit of selflessness. This desire to benefit others, she said, is the central motivation behind Xuemo’s literary creation and cultural outreach.