The Divine Damsel of Devastation (神女劈观), an opera song from the game Genshin Impact, has many fans uploading their own covers of the song online after its release. Surprisingly, many professional opera singers joined this carnival and recreated the song as well.
The Divine Damsel of Devastation is about the feats of a heroine and connects with the game’s latest stories. The story is heavily inspired by a Chinese tale “Li Ji, the Serpent Slayer”(李寄斩蛇). And is sung with Beijing Opera techniques by National First-Class Actress Yang Yang (杨扬). The combination of the singer’s professional performance, the great visual design, and the heart-touching story have amazed countless people. Derivative works began showing up online in no time.
Enthusiasts uploaded their Devastation works on Bilibili.
On Jan 14th, Zeng Xiaomin posted a derivative work sung by herself in Cantonese Opera style on Bilibili. People soon found out that Zeng Xiaomin is a Chinese national first-class actress and a recipient of the Plum Blossom Award. It is definitely not a sight you see every day, considering that the mainstream in China does not appreciate video games. Fans were shocked and excited to see such an influential person had joined with them. Most would probably not expect other influential people to join the trend.
Zeng Xiaomin’s video got 3.5 million views and 2nd on the Bilibili ranking board.
However, that is exactly what happened over the next two weeks: professional actors and instrumentalists continued to upload their own takes on the piece. The Divine Damsel of Devastation has been performed in many Chinese opera styles, including Huai, Sichuan, Yue, and Qingqiang, and performed with many different instruments. Many participants are National First-Class Actors/Actresses, with over half a dozen Plum Blossom Award recipients. National First Class is the highest official rank an actor can get in China, and the Plum Blossom Award is the highest theatrical award in China. Someone even commented on Bilibili “from now on, I will only listen to derivative works that are made by a National First-Class” as a joke.
Some also commented that the opera styles they listened to in the last 10 days are way more than in the last decade.
On Jan 28th, Genshin Impact held a “special streaming event for the Lantern Rite Festival” at 20:00 (CST) on Bilibili. Three professional actresses were invited to the event and collaborated with popular Genshin video uploaders.
The collaboration event poster.
Many people believe it is a win-win result for both sides. Chinese opera desperately needs an opportunity to show its charm since it is no longer popular among young people. Collaboration with a game sporting over 50 million monthly players is a perfect chance. With Genshin also gaining esteem for “popularizing traditional cultures”.