AS visitors milled through the ancient courtyards of Nanchan Temple in Wutai County in north China’s Shanxi Province, Ma Yongpeng stood among them, casually spinning a replica of the Monkey King’s golden cudgel.

The young entrepreneur from Beijing, like many others recently drawn to the site, had come because of the globally acclaimed video game “Black Myth: Wukong.”

Nanchan Temple — home to one of Asia’s oldest surviving wooden structures, dating back more than 1,000 years — features prominently in the game inspired by the classic Chinese novel “Journey to the West.”

“I grew up playing video games, mostly imports from Japan, the United States or Europe, crafted with incredible skill and attention to detail,” he said. “In China, few games reach that level. But ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ is definitely one of the greats.”

Captivated by the ancient structures and sculptures depicted in the game, Ma mapped out a nine-day trip across the province to gain firsthand experience, joining a wave of domestic travelers increasingly drawn by the country’s cultural heritage.

This trend reflects a broader vision gaining ground across the country, where tourism is seen as a way for people to better understand Chinese culture and grow more confident in it.

During the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, China recorded 888 million domestic tourist trips, up 123 million from the seven-day National Day holiday in 2024, according to official data.

In the same period, a total of 751,000 foreigners entered the country, including 535,000 under the visa-free policy, representing year-on-year increases of 19.8 percent and 46.8 percent, respectively.

One of this year’s biggest cultural phenomena has been the animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2,” which challenged Hollywood’s long-standing dominance of the global top-grossing film charts.

Like “Black Myth: Wukong,” the film reimagines a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) mythological tale, telling the story of Nezha, a boy with supernatural powers who also appears in “Journey to the West.”

Its stunning success has turned the mythological figure into a modern cultural icon, with Nezha-themed merchandise selling out rapidly while the film was screened in theaters.

For young Chinese, this rising interest in Guochao, or “China-chic,” has moved beyond visiting cultural heritage sites or buying cultural products. Some are now dedicating their lives to reinventing traditions.

Wu Houchen, 27, is one of them. After studying Chinese traditions in a metropolis, he returned to his hometown near Mount Huangshan in east China’s Anhui Province to run a fish-shaped lantern studio about three years ago.

Lanterns made by his young team come in both traditional bamboo-frame designs that preserve classic shapes, colors and dance forms, as well as new versions crafted from wire or plastic.

“Before, elderly villagers were skeptical of these creative ideas of the young people,” Wu said, adding that attitudes of the locals toward the centuries-old craft have shifted in recent years as video clips of innovative designs went viral online and visitors flocked to the town to experience this intangible cultural heritage.

This revival of traditional culture is taking place across regions and among every ethnic group in the country.

In May, a rock version of the Manas epic — a UNESCO-listed oral tradition of the Kirgiz ethnic group from northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region — was performed at a music festival in Nanjing, more than 4,500 kilometers from its place of origin.

The epic tells the story of the hero Manas and his descendants in their fight against evil, embodying perseverance, unity and courage.

“It was so powerful and exciting,” said Lu Haojie, a tourist, describing the fusion of solemn traditional musical rhythms with electric guitar riffs.

Technology is also giving new life to cultural treasures. In Luoyang City, central China’s Henan Province, the inscriptions of the Longmen Grottoes are brought to life through AI algorithms and augmented reality infrared triggering technology. When visitors touch a character, it is recreated in oracle bone script, inscriptions, official script, cursive, running script and other traditional fonts.

Even the success of “Ne Zha 2” owes much to the advances in technology, with its animation combining AI and deep-learning emotion synthesis to create breathtaking visuals.

From silent films to AI-powered blockbusters, Chinese cinema is now merging cutting-edge tech with 5,000 years of culture, creating stories that resonate worldwide.

While deepening their interest in China’s own traditions, Chinese people are also eager to explore the cultural heritage of other countries. In August, a grand exhibition on ancient Egyptian civilization — the largest of its kind held outside Egypt in two decades — concluded a 13-month run at the Shanghai Museum, drawing a total of 2.77 million visitors.

“The exhibition truly broadened our horizons and built a bridge for civilizational exchange,” said Wang Fei, a white-collar worker from Shanghai, noting that people no longer come just to buy merchandise but to learn, to appreciate beauty and to understand.

Inspired by the experience, Wang later traveled to Egypt with her family for a deeper, firsthand encounter with its ancient sites.

The event, which showcased 788 Egyptian artifacts alongside ancient Chinese relics, exemplified China’s increasing focus on cultural exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations in recent years.

In recent years, various activities were organized both in China and abroad, and cross-cultural platforms like the Liangzhu Forum and World Conference of Classics have been initiated in recent years to highlight the Chinese civilization and enhance exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.

Spanning more than 5,000 years, Chinese civilization continues to engage with other cultures and influences the Chinese people in many ways.

China’s DeepSeek model, with its low barriers and open architecture, embodies the inclusive spirit of Chinese civilization, said Chang Lih Kang, Malaysia’s minister of science, technology and innovation.