Adapting is key to winning foreign audiences

Storyline must gel with overseas viewers to ensure success, according to Japan-based specialist, Jiang Xueqing reports in Tokyo.

In recent years, Chinese cultural appeal has shown encouraging momentum globally. Dong Zhiling, founder and president of Facewhite, a Tokyo-based film distribution company specializing in bringing Chinese films to Japanese audiences, stresses the importance of communicating stories in a language the audience can truly understand.

"Fundamentally, we have to speak in a way others can comprehend — just as you wouldn't speak Chinese to someone who's never studied it. No matter how eloquent or poetic your words are, they won't land if the listener doesn't understand them," Dong says.

He notes that part of the responsibility falls on creators, who must be mindful that deeply rooted Chinese concepts may need to be adapted in form or expression for overseas audiences to grasp. Without that consideration, international success becomes far more difficult.