Liyue (Genshin Impact)

Culture Liyue is the China-inspired region in Genshin Impact. It is located in the eastern part of Teyvat and is the oldest established nation on the planet. Liyue reflects many traditional Chinese cultural elements in its customs and traditions. This can be seen in the Oriental-inspired names across Liyue, which are preserved in the English version of the game through pinyin. The clothing worn by the characters also draws heavily from Chinese aesthetics; most non-playable characters wear outfits inspired by the fashion of the Qing dynasty, blended with some modern elements. Clothing can differ depending on the character's occupation and social class. For example, sailors and workers wear round-necked, double-breasted short shirts with leggings and wrist guards, while women mainly wear qipaos, large-collared shirts with long skirts, and short shirts with short skirts. As for playable characters, Zhongli's costume has the design of a magua and a changshan and Hu Tao's costume resembles a Tangzhuang. Her hat draws from those worn by officials during the Song and Ming dynasties. The storylines and dialogue related to Liyue uses many Chinese historical allusions and poems. Liyue's cuisine is intricate and diverse, represented by two main culinary traditions: "Li" and "Yue" cuisine, which parallel China's Eight Great Regional Cuisines. Most of the dishes featured in Liyue exist in real life or have real-life inspirations such as squirrel fish. Liyue also features two major traditional festivals: the Lantern Rite and the Moonchase Festival, which correspond to the Chinese New Year, Lantern Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival in real life respectfully. During the Lantern Rite, on the first full moon night of the year, people release "Xiao Lanterns" and "Mingxiao Lanterns" into the night sky, and setting off fireworks is an indispensable activity for the people of Liyue. The Moonchase Festival celebrates the autumn season, with streets and buildings adorned with festive decorations, and some businesses setting up stalls and advertising to attract customers. Liyue's performing arts are modeled after Peking opera, and the developers even created an original opera piece entitled "Divine Damsel of Devastation", sung by opera performer Yang Yang. Finally, Liyue embodies Chinese xianxia traditions, with areas like Jueyun Karst and Chenyu Vale rich in lore about the adepti. Some playable characters are directly tied to this, such as Xiao, a yaksha with the goal of protecting the people. She led miners to migrate north of Mt. Tianheng to develop agriculture. Two thousand years before the events of the game, the Archon War broke out, leading to the desolation of Guili Plains and Guizhong's death. The God of Salt, who led the refugees to establish a sanctuary in Sal Terrae, was killed by the Lord of Geo. Consequently, Rex Lapis led the people to migrate south of Mt. Tianheng. The final battleground of the Archon War moved to the Guyun Stone Forest, where Rex Lapis killed a demon god and freed the enslaved Five Yakshas, making a contract with them. The Millelith, an army of brave mortals under Rex Lapis, were formed. The adepti retreated to Jueyun Karst, and Rex Lapis oversaw Liyue's economy, establishing the Rite of Descension. Liyue Harbor began to take shape. Subsequently, Rex Lapis abdicated his position, and the Liyue Qixing took control of all authority in Liyue, marking the transition from a rule by gods and adepti to a rule by humans. == Conception and creation ==

Geography The game development team stated that Liyue was created with a Chinese fantasy theme. From white-box testing to art design, scene creation, it took a year to complete. Liyue officially opened on March 19, 2020, and its area is 1.5 times that of the initial region, Mondstadt. In the game, Liyue is located in the eastern part of the continent of Teyvat, bordered by Mondstadt to the northeast and facing Mt. Tianheng to the west. Liyue features diverse terrain, with sandstone formations being a prominent feature, symbolizing the Geo Archon's leadership. The area includes shallow beaches, plains crisscrossed by rivers, towering mountains, and stone forests. As Liyue is themed around the Geo element, warm colors dominate the scenery. resembling a thin strip of sky in the early stages, later completing the final design by referencing ancient Chinese plank roads. After passing through, they arrive at the alluvial river of Bishui Plain, known as "Dihua Marsh", modeled after the landscape of Guilin and Yangshuo, characterized by continuous stone peaks, dense water networks, and floating vibrant flowers. The iconic building, Wangshu Inn, is inspired by the Lingnan Diaojiaolou architecture, with its temperament resembling the inn in the movie Dragon Inn. The northern "Qingce Village" showcases a tranquil village with numerous terraces and is inspired by the Longji Mountain and Rice Terraces. The prototype of Liyue's Luhua Pool is located in Huanglong's Five-Color Pond. Zhuhua Pool, located next to Mt. Tianheng, is inspired by the famous Tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. Mt. Tianheng features the "Jueyun Karst", shrouded in clouds and mist year-round, with plank roads and suspension bridges between the peaks. Passing through Mt. Tianheng, the player arrives at Liyue's southeastern commercial port, "Liyue Harbor". Another new area, "Chenyu Vale", was released with the 4.4 version update on January 31, 2024. It is located in the northwest region bordering Fontaine. The area "Qiaoying Village" is known for producing tea, and its architectural design takes inspiration in the Huizhou architecture in Huangshan, Anhui Province. Adepti The xianren () or just xian (), localized as "adepti" in English, are unique and central to the mythos of Liyue and are portrayed in Genshin Impact as divine or semi-divine beings who protect the region under the mandate of the Prime of the Adeptus, Rex Lapis. In traditional Daoism and Chinese folklore, xianren are Daoist immortals who attain transcendence through discipline and cultivation, often retreating from the mortal world to dwell in sacred mountains. The locations where the adepti live are accordingly called dongtian (), sacred Taoist sites. Of them, the player's home (called the "Serenitea Pot" in English) is named after the famous dongtian Luofu. However, while traditionally, all living beings can become xian, the developers purposefully deviated from traditional concepts of the xian by restricting the adeptus status to non-humans. The game localizes the full title of the adepti as "mighty and illuminated", a translation of the term , which literally means "three eyes and five manifestations". This term is historically associated with Huaguang Tianwang, a Daoist protector deity featured in Journey to the South, a Ming-dynasty novel, and other late imperial Chinese supernatural literature. The instrumentation blends traditional Chinese instruments such as the dizi, erhu, guzheng, and pipa with Western orchestral music, fusing folk music with symphony. The original music was composed by Yu-Peng Chen and performed by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, recorded in the Shanghai Symphony Hall over five days. Some of Liyue's character songs use modern musical styles, such as Qiqi's character song which uses a synthesizer, and Hu Tao's theme which imitates the style of 1990s Hong Kong zombie movies. == Influences ==

On the eve of the Spring Festival of 2022, Genshin Impact released a video of Liyue character Yun Jin's opera performance, "The Divine Damsel of Devastation", which garnered over 30 million views worldwide within a year. On October 9, 2022, Genshin Impact officially released the first film in the "Gourmet Tour: Liyue's Cuisine Collection" series, showcasing the production process of the famous dish "Slow-Cooked Bamboo Shoot Soup". This video received over 2 million views on Bilibili and YouTube on its first day. In the Spring Festival of 2023, the Genshin Impact team, in collaboration with Southern Weekly, launched a documentary series, "A Journey of Art and Heritage", focusing on traditional crafts such as printmaking and carving. Several documentary shorts showcasing the process of these artisans creating their works will also be released. == Reception ==

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China praised miHoYo on its official Weibo account for exploring a new model of cross-industry cooperation with "games + culture and tourism" in Genshin Impact. Liyue has also been praised by Xinmin Evening News and Shanghai Observer. Xinmin Evening News wrote that Liyue prominently showcases elements of traditional Chinese culture, allowing players to gradually discover traditional cultural elements such as opera, tea culture, chess, traditional medicine, and mechanical arts as they explore Liyue. Liyue serves as a type of "destination image" and inspires the appreciation of Chinese culture, encouraging travel from international players. Russian journalist Valiyev Samir believes there is a "Liyue Effect", as Liyue is a driver of tourism and a "meticulously crafted virtual homepage to Chinese civilization". Game Daily believes that Liyue is the key reason Genshin Impact was listed by the Ministry of Commerce in the "2021-2022 Key Cultural Export Enterprises and Projects List." They argue that through Liyue, the game has gradually embedded and exported elements of Chinese culture to the world, accomplishing one of their main goals. Game Gyro believes that Liyue's many elements allow global players to truly appreciate the beauty of Chinese culture. Since Liyue's place names and local products are named in Chinese, they have also attracted some non-Chinese players to study the pronunciation of Liyue's geography and products. Polygon cited reviews stating that Liyue's design is completely different from Mondstadt, featuring more unique architecture, better background music, and more tightly integrated lore and stories. While blending East Asian cultural elements, it retains gameplay, expressiveness, and aesthetics suitable for players worldwide. Alan Wen from Eurogamer noted that Liyue "is clearly inspired by traditional Chinese culture and architecture." Kotaku editor Sisi Jiang felt that Liyue is an idealized portrayal of Chinese social relationships, where merchants and customers show care for each other through mutual benefit, and money can build interdependent relationships, unlike the current society where shopping habits are often disconnected from community. == References ==