From Mulan to Three Kingdoms: how traditional Chinese culture inspires the global entertainment industry (3)

The Yellow Turban Rebellion in the Three Kingdoms game. The rebellion was a peasant revolt in China against the Eastern Han dynasty, and was also used as the opening event in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. (Photo Credit:  Creative Assembly)

Enormous entertainment market

Apart from foreign audience’s growing interest in China, the country’s huge domestic market seems to be an even more important reason for the rise of Chinese culture in the global entertainment arena.

According to a survey published by the Motion Picture Association of America in April, with US and Canadian cinema takings at a 22-year-low thanks to an audience decline, the Chinese market will soon be world’s top film market.

The statistics for the Chinese gaming industry are also quite promising. With 600 million gamers, roughly twice the entire population of the United States, China has overtaken America as the “global gaming capital” regarding market size. The country is now the world’s largest mobile games market, accounting for over 25 percent of global revenue, while domestic games revenue in China is expected to reach a total of $42 billion by 2022.

“Roughly 5 percent of our business comes from the Greater China area, and we already have two studios in China, fulfilling the local needs of Chinese players. The Chinese gaming market is a big opportunity for foreign companies like us,” Michael Burk, director of Corporate PR, Ubisoft, told People’s Daily Online.

In addition to the vast market, the efforts of Chinese authorities to protect intellectual property rights has also encouraged more foreign films and games to enter the Chinese market. According to statistics, a total of 18,037 publication copyrights were imported into the country in 2017, a much larger number than previous years.