Cultural Ties across the Straits: Resonating Traditions in the Digital Age

June 13, 2025 at 02:06 AM EDT

The Chinese mainland and Taiwan share deep-rooted cultural bonds, and ongoing exchanges across the Straits continue to strengthen these ties in the contemporary world. CGTN’s Liu Xin embarks on a fascinating journey to locations that have recently gone viral in the digital age. In this series, she meets three young professionals from Taiwan to explore how Chinese traditions are reimagined through modern lenses and how they continue to still weave an unbreakable connection across the Taiwan Straits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPQc2CQF5Qs

Gaming: A Tribute to Classic Tales

The video game Black Myth: Wukong, inspired by the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West, has captivated global gamers since its debut in 2024. Wen Huan, a makeup artist from Taipei, is one of its passionate fans. Her love for the game extends to cosplaying its characters, a hobby that led her to Xiaoxitian Temple in north China’s Shanxi Province, a real-world replica of the game’s iconic setting. Surrounded by sculptures and architectural marvels from the Ming Dynasty (early 17th century), Wen was awestruck by the temple’s fusion of Buddhist imagination and artistic craftsmanship. She immediately recognized the details in the temple that she had seen in the game. She even transformed Liu Xin into a game character, sharing how she was enchanted by Journey to the West during her childhood and how enthusiastic young people in Taiwan are about wearing traditional Chinese clothing.

Apart from Black Myth: Wukong, other mainland games like Arena of Valor and Three Kingdom Strategy Edition are also very popular among gamers in Taiwan. The shared language and heritage allow young gamers in Taiwan to easily connect with the historical and traditional elements in these games. They prove that digital technology can breathe new life into ancient tales, creating emotional resonance through pop culture.

Noodles Promoted by App

Next, the program features Liuzhou in south China and explores how food can serve as a powerful cultural bridge. Liuzhou’s Luosifen, or River Snail Rice Noodles, famed for its tangy broth and fermented bamboo shoots, has become a culinary sensation in Taiwan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for the dish surged after it was featured on TV shows, with social media amplifying its popularity. Now, the noodle business is worth $10 billion a year. Wang Qian, a restaurant owner in Taiwan, credits the mainland social media App RedNote (Xiaohongshu) for catapulting her Luosifen business to fame. According to statistics from Taiwan media, RedNote has more than 3 million active users, most of them middle school and college students. It is high on the Top 10 list of the most popular apps downloaded by young people on the island. Driven by customer requests for new flavors on RedNote, Wang traveled to Liuzhou to learn from a local master chef, who is also a RedNote celebrity.

As they collaborated on perfecting recipes and documenting every step on social media, Wang discovered that food transcends politics. Apps like RedNote and TikTok have turned cultural exchange into a participatory experience. Through food, abstract traditions become tangible, something one can taste, share, and co-create. Since people on both sides of the Straits are the same culturally, there is no barrier to accepting the same dish, even in different varieties.

Cross-Straits Love for Costume Dramas

Located in east China’s Zhejiang province, Hengdian World Studios is nicknamed China’s Hollywood. In 2024, 523 film and TV crews visited this huge studio and theme park cluster. It has become a cultural landmark since it was established almost 30 years ago. Most of the Chinese film and TV talents and professionals have been in Hengdian for different kinds of productions. Wu Tung is a costume drama director from Taiwan. He has built his career in the mainland’s booming TV drama industry. The program followed him to a martial arts training session and a costume warehouse as he was preparing to shoot a new costume drama. Over the past decade, mainland Chinese costume dramas like Empresses in the Palace and Scarlet Heart have dominated Taiwan screens and online platforms due to their high production value in sets, costumes, scripts, and talent. Here, historical sets blend authenticity with cinematic magic, attracting Taiwan tourists who enjoy taking selfies in scenes they’ve watched on TV.

For Taiwan audiences, these dramas require no translation and offer great entertainment, since the cultural DNA on both sides is identical. The stories in these dramas tap into a shared aesthetic and historical intuition, a bond forged by 5,000 years of civilization.

From the ancient temples of Shanxi to the digital feeds of RedNote and the immersive world of costume dramas, these personal stories reveal that while technology may reshape how we engage with culture, the roots remain deeply intertwined. The vibrant resonance of shared traditions across the Taiwan Straits, whether through a video game, a bowl of noodles, or a drama series, continues through a millennia-old legacy of language, history, and cultural tradition.

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Cultural Ties across the Straits: Resonating Traditions in the Digital Age

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