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‘2026 version of Journey to the West’ goes viral as classic comes alive in young people’s everyday lives_我的网站
一 | 满觉陇的山风拂过层层茶垄，茶树叶子被日头晒得发亮，胡先生站在自家茶园的梯坎上，指了指远处：“那边要是能修一条农用轨道就好了。
二 | ”这份期许，并非他一人所有。
三 | 自《政在@》栏目此前就《杭州西湖风景名胜区总体规划（2024—2035年）》（以下简称《规划》）开通民意征集通道以来，陆续收到不少来自“西湖景区原住民”、新纳入保护范围的居民的声音。他们大多不是规划专家，也未必说得清“九大景区”“一张图管控”的具体内容，但他们长期住在那片山水里，那些山脊线的起伏、建筑高度的数字、管控边界的移动等，落在他们身上，就是回家的路好不好走、茶园的水够不够用、夜里能不能睡个踏实觉……一个茶农的“微观规划”茶农胡先生从小生活在满觉陇，12岁搬到城里，25岁又搬回山上。
Livestreaming team of Journey to the West: Heroes' Gathering, featuring the four master-disciples Photo: Courtesy of the cast team of
Journey to the West: Heroes' GatheringAt dusk, in an unassuming grove in Shouguang, East China's Shandong Province, performers dressed as Tang Sanzang (Monk Xuanzang), Sun Wukong (Monkey King) and other characters from the renowned Chinese classic Journey to the West set up a thatched hut and cooked around a bonfire while livestreaming. They were not fighting demons or embarking on a pilgrimage, but chatting, joking and improvising in response to comments from live viewers.
This seemingly makeshift
Journey to the West: Heroes' Gathering livestream has gone viral lately, with related videos garnering more than 140 million views and more than 400,000 viewers tuning in simultaneously at its peak on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Netizens gave it a distinctly contemporary nickname — the "2026 version of
Journey to the West."
Behind the viral success is a format far removed from traditional film and television productions: The livestream does not rely on tightly scripted dialogue.
Gao Guancheng, director of the team, told the Global Times that the team usually prepares only a basic outline before each livestream, leaving about 80 percent of each livestream to improvisation.
"Comments from viewers, trending internet memes, and even unexpected incidents on site can all become the starting point for the next scene," he said. This seemingly spontaneous approach, however, is far from unprepared.
Into daily lifeThe performers playing the "four pilgrims" all have years of experience portraying characters from
Journey to the West. That experience has given them the chemistry needed to pick up and build on one another's cues during livestreams.
"The actor playing Tang Sanzang has years of rich experience imitating the character, the actor playing Sun Wukong has studied monkey opera since childhood, and the actor playing Zhu Bajie has been portraying the character for nearly 20 years," Gao said.
"One look, one movement, or one punchline, we all know who should pick it up and who shouldn't," he added.
That chemistry may be the foundation for bringing the characters to life, but what truly connects this new
Journey to the West with contemporary life is the seemingly ordinary daily routine.
Peng Tao, a young viewer in his 20s who works in the internet industry, told the Global Times that when he first came across Journey to the West: Heroes' Gathering, he felt as if he were watching a spin-off of Journey to the West, one in which familiar characters were simply going about their daily lives.
"In the past, we saw them on the pilgrimage and fighting the demons. Now we see them eating together, chatting and working. That contrast really draws me in," he said.
In his view, the relationships among Tang Sanzang and his disciples remain familiar, but placing them in everyday situations gives those relationships a new resonance.
"For example, at work, there may be a relatively domineering boss, someone who always rushes to take responsibility, someone who keeps the atmosphere lively, and someone who doesn't say much but always gets things done in the end. You start to feel that they're no longer mythical figures, but people around you," he said.
That sense of familiarity may be one way for classics to reconnect with younger audiences.
"I don't think they are doing
Journey to the West a disservice," Peng said. "The basic personalities of the characters are still there; they've simply been placed in a new setting. If a classic can only be told in the same way it was decades ago, it may actually become increasingly distant from young people."
Finding the right balance between the old and the new is also something the creators of
Journey to the West: Heroes' Gathering have been thinking about.
"We are not remaking
Journey to the West. By preserving the basic characteristics of the characters while placing them in new everyday settings, we are bringing Journey to the West into the lives of ordinary people," Gao said.
Stories reimagined
The modern revival of classic traditional classics is by no means limited to Journey to the West.
Classic Chinese texts taught in schools, including
Letter to Wife,
Pipa Song and
The Golden Fishhook, have also been turned into vivid and engaging short videos. One video based on
The Golden Fishhook has garnered more than 100 million views. Such adaptations have attracted widespread attention online, according to the Beijing Daily.
These time-honored texts have become part of a generation's collective memory and naturally come with an established audience. Yet with countless classics to draw from, there is no shortage of adaptations that simply capitalize on established IPs or recycle old memes, and not every adaptation wins over audiences. What truly resonates is finding a thoughtful way to bring classics back down to earth, according to the Beijing Daily.
Beijing-based cultural scholar Wang Deyan told the Global Times that the vitality of a classic does not lie simply in repeating it word for word, but in its ability to continually forge new connections with contemporary life, emotions and aesthetics.
"Classics can continue to resonate in new eras because the relationships between their characters, their emotional structures and the values they convey can still connect with people today," he said.
In Wang's view, the popularity of
Journey to the West: Heroes' Gathering is essentially a way for young audiences to rediscover a classic through new forms of media: The characters remain the same, but the way audiences view them has changed.
"Short videos, livestreams and online fan creations have lowered the threshold for creative expression, giving classics opportunities to enter more tangible settings of everyday life," he said.
Perhaps classics truly come "alive" in moments like these, when they are no longer simply "old stories" preserved in textbooks and on screens, but enter livestreams, short videos and the everyday lives of young people, gaining new vitality in a new era through each retelling and each new way of being seen.
。对比过去和现在，他最大的感触是路好走了，但车也多了。
四 | “以前要走半小时山路才能坐上公交，下雨天就蹭邻居的车去上学。”他说，如今游客从“只有节日才有人”变成了日常流量，双休日、节假日，山路上挤满了骑行的人，“有些骑得比汽车还快，挺危险的。”但真正的困扰藏在更深处。作为“西湖景区原住民”，胡先生家的房屋修整和装修面临多重限制。
五 | “车子开不到门口，建材要肩挑背扛，建设成本高不少。再加上世界遗产的高度管控，想扩建基本不可能。”他理解这份保护背后的分量，真正让他犯难的，是另一件事——农业政策在景区里落不了地。胡先生家的收入全靠茶园。按常规农业政策，茶园可以配套一定比例的农业用房、蓄水池、农用轨道、喷灌设施。但在西湖风景名胜区范围内，这些设施往往被挡在门外。“茶园需要用水，蓄水池的配比和实际需求有差距。我们想建农用轨道运输肥料和茶叶，想安装喷灌设施抗旱，都很难批下来。”他说，“山上有些地方连手机信号都没有，物联网茶园更是难以实现。”《规划》提出了全要素保护体系，山体、水体、生物多样性、历史文化都在保护之列。“茶叶是我们祖祖辈辈的生计，茶园基础设施不能等同于一般的建设开发。”胡先生最大的期待，是政策在落实过程中能为农业生产留出弹性空间。
六 | 皇城根下的“夜困扰”十五奎巷，南宋皇城遗址核心区。傅先生在这里住了三十年。这次《规划》将河坊街、太庙遗址、南宋御街、三省六部、嘉会门遗址等片区正式纳入西湖风景名胜区范围。傅先生的身份也从“老城南居民”变成了“西湖景区原住民”，他说，改变其实早就开始了——不是从《规划》批复那天起，而是从周边旅游氛围越来越浓那天起。“最大的影响是回家堵车。”傅先生说，他家门口的道路几乎天天塞车，原本五分钟的路程有时要堵上半小时；停车更是“老大难”，邻里之间为抢车位没少闹不愉快。当西湖的管控半径扩大，日常生活的便利性如何保障？同时困扰他的还有夜间商业的干扰。“很多人只看到景区边开酒吧、开夜市拉动经济的一面。但对于每天住在这里的人，晚上十一二点还能听到外面喧哗，凌晨一两点仍有客人在街上大声说话，这种苦恼是难以想象的。
七 | ”傅先生说。《规划》明确了要“守护西湖与城市共生的文化特质”，但对皇城遗址片区而言，文化传承与过度商业化之间的张力从未消解。傅先生希望限定夜经济的最晚营业时间，“让我们能睡个安稳觉。”商户眼中的“非遗机会”潘先生在河坊街经营一家古玩店，2021年入驻。相比原住民对交通和农业的焦虑，他看到的更多是机会。
八 | 他对《规划》的细节并不完全了解，但听到河坊街纳入西湖保护范围时，他的第一反应是：“能不能借这个机会，让河坊街的非遗传承借势活起来？”在他看来，现在的河坊街商业化气息过重，“同质化竞争严重，流量经济发展迅猛，很多非遗传承‘少人问津’。”他认为，既然要融入西湖保护体系，就不能只划个范围、竖块牌子，而应借助西湖的文化影响力，培育一批有杭州特色和非遗特色的点位。“如果只是把河坊街圈进景区，游客来了看到的还是千篇一律的网红店，那‘并入西湖’的意义就打了折扣。
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