Shenwan Dream Chaser: Watch Shenzhen girls tell Chinese stories to the world

Sixteen years ago, in the dormitory of British international students, Chinese international student Wu Dake was playing Chinese movies and TV series while acting as a "translator" for her foreign roommates; 16 years later, she founded a cultural company in Shenzhen and distributed more than 100,000 Chinese cultural overseas works. Sixty percent of the subscribers were non-Chinese-speaking users, with hundreds of millions of people. She said that the traditional Chinese culture we love is also full of charm in the eyes of foreign friends. Follow the camera to see how Shenzhen girls tell Chinese stories to foreigners.

Wu Dake: There are more than 200 partners in our company, as well as many foreign friends. Most of the small language projects are completed by them for final proofreading and confirmation.

Wu Dake’s colleague Wang Fangxin (Thailand): There are some Chinese memes and jokes that would not be understood by Thai people if translated directly into Thai, so I need to localize them so that more Thai people can understand Chinese culture.

Wu Dake: This is what our company is doing: being a good “overseas promoter” of Chinese cultural products. For popular domestic variety shows, Chinese comics, long-form dramas, short plays, documentaries and other film and television works, we will first obtain the original authorization, and then start localized translation and secondary optimization. At the same time, we will also localize the plots, baggage, and laughter in them, hoping to tell the stories in a way that overseas audiences like and are familiar with.

Wu Dake: In the past, whether we were looking for hot spots or translating, we just "kneaded" and typed word by word. However, in the past two years, we have kept up with the times and have new tools.

Kang Xiaokai, colleague of Wu Dake: AI is actually an indispensable tool for improving quality in our work. We will put it on a self-developed digital and intelligent distribution platform to distribute these contents to overseas channels with one click.

Wu Dake: This is our real-time overseas traffic monitoring platform. Here you can see at a glance the real-time overseas popularity of Chinese TV dramas and Chinese actors and creators. The current number one on the list is the domestic drama "Lanxiang Ruyu". Whether it is based on the popularity of social media interactions or its overseas broadcasts, it is currently the most popular TV drama overseas.

Online traffic is constantly flowing, and our territory is constantly expanding. Now, we are already carrying out various projects such as IP incubation, derivatives development, offline activities, etc., and hold national comic pop-up events and fan viewing parties in Southeast Asia. Tickets are sold out as soon as they are released.

Wu Dake: Why did you take this path? You may not believe it. In fact, this matter was decided 16 years ago.

I studied in the UK in 2010, and there were 8 people in the dormitory who were all from different countries. Every weekend after dinner, we sit together and take turns sharing our country's film and television programs. But at that time, there was no Chinese film and television content on overseas video websites. I finally found some. While playing, I translated for my roommates and introduced Chinese culture to them: why chopsticks have a round end and a square end; why tea is served with both hands. All the roommates would say "Wow". At that moment, I suddenly realized: the traditional Chinese culture that I love is also full of charm in the eyes of foreign friends. A seed of entrepreneurship was sown.

Wu Dake: In 2013, I returned to my hometown of Shenzhen and founded a company with several partners. Unexpectedly at the time, this emerging business format, which was born in response to demand, would hit the trend of the times. In 2014, Shenzhen became one of the country’s foreign cultural trade bases with many supporting policies. Since its establishment, our company has received a total of nearly 9 million yuan in cultural export financial support, and enjoys more than 30 preferential policies such as value-added tax exemption. Shenzhen’s digital technology, artificial intelligence, and animation special effects industries also provide us with hard-core technological support.

Wu Dake: This row of windows in the company is our friends’ favorite place. Because you can see many Shenzhen cultural landmarks here. This is the Splendid China Folk Village, and that is Hong Kong. We are constantly telling Chinese stories to overseas audiences through the window of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.