Gen Z Bridges Taiwan Strait Through Digital Culture

From viral TikTok dances inspired by traditional temple festivals to mobile games featuring both Mazu goddess lore and trending K-pop aesthetics, young creators across the Taiwan Strait are rewriting cultural connections one algorithm at a time.

This week, a collaborative animation project blending Fujianese puppet theater with Taiwan’s night market vibes hit 10M views on Bilibili. Meanwhile, indie developers in Xiamen and Taipei launched a co-created RPG where players solve puzzles using Hokkien dialect riddles – proving language apps could never.

"We’re not thinking about politics – just cool stories our grandparents told us," says Chen Lina, 24, whose #HanfuMeetsStreetwear Instagram Reels went mega-viral last month. Her latest collab? A Taipei-based graffiti artist reimagining Ming dynasty porcelain patterns.

Even streaming platforms are catching the wave: iQiyi’s new fantasy drama Strait Spirits features voice actors from both sides debating mythological creatures’ accents in blooper reels that fans call "peace talks we actually enjoy."

As one Weibo user put it: "Our memes recognize their memes." Could byte-sized creativity brew bigger connections?

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Meet across the Straits, in spirit and in story

cgtn.com