Chinese cuisine is infused with 5,000 years of historical memory. The eight major regional cuisines, with their frying, stewing, and cooking techniques, convey the diverse flavors of life in China. Food and drink evoke feelings of home and place, while also showcasing Chinese wisdom and civilization. As a unique part of traditional Chinese culture, food culture connects reflections on nature, life, and history through taste. NetEase Games recognizes the important role of food when it comes to promoting the Chinese spirit and culture. Games such as Justice Online, A Dream of Jianghu, New Ghost, and Wangchuan Dreamland have incorporated several traditional food elements in their designs, aiming to showcase the charm of Chinese food culture and promote it in a new era.

 

I. Tasteful Presentations of Festival Food Customs

        Chinese food customs are often reflected in seasonal activities and the food presented. For Chinese people, festivals and food are inseparable. Festival foods contain rich folk customs, and through gifting, sharing, and tasting the food, people can experience emotional communication and exchange. Such colorful festival food customs demonstrate Chinese wisdom when it comes to dealing with relationships between individuals, society, and nature.

　　NetEase Games has always been committed to promoting Chinese folk traditions and cultural characteristics. Through various gameplay designs, NetEase Games has launched diverse activities during traditional festivals, allowing players to learn about traditional festival food customs while they play, and conveying the historical and cultural memories behind these customs. During the 2022 Mid-Autumn Festival, the casual competitive game Eggy Party introduced its Baking Contest gameplay. Players worked together to make and submit mooncakes in three classic flavors—red bean, mixed nut, and egg yolk—in order to deepen their appreciation of traditional festivals while having fun. During the Lantern Festival in 2023, the Baking Contest launched a special festival level called Lantern Garden. Players needed to make common Lantern Festival food items such as sesame tangyuan, meat-filled tangyuan, and pineapple tangyuan. The scene featured ancient pavilions and flowing water, with lanterns and moonlight crafting a dazzling atmosphere. At the same time, the game released a Lantern Festival-themed skin called Von Dango resembling a black sesame tangyuan served in a blue porcelain spoon, symbolizing a yearly reunion.

 Eggy Party: Baking Contest

 Eggy Party: Mystery Box of "Von Dango"

        In 2022, during the Dragon Boat Festival, mobile card game Wangchuan Dreamland introduced a new character named "Qu Yuan" and launched the event "Boating Memories on the Dragon Boat Festival". As Qu Yuan rode on a dragon boat through the river, players needed to defeat monsters to obtain ingredients and zongzi (sticky rice dumplings). Afterwards, players needed to place the zongzi on the map to help Qu Yuan fend off the monsters. The game was inspired by legends of Dragon Boat Festival. According to legend, during the Warring States period, Qu Yuan, a renowned patriotic philosopher, poet, and politician, sacrificed himself for his country and jumped into the Miluo River. The people living along the river lamented his fate and threw rice into the river out of respect, hoping that the fish and shrimp would eat the rice instead of harming Qu Yuan's body. Later, Qu Yuan appeared in their dreams and told them that the rice thrown into the river was actually being devoured by the river dragons. He advised them to wrap the rice with mugwort leaves and tie them with colorful strings to avoid being eaten by the dragons. This is where the tradition of making zongzi originated. Through the gameplay, players not only got to experience the culinary and cultural traditions of Dragon Boat Festival, but also the noble character and spiritual values associated with the festival.

 Wangchuan Dreamland: Boating Memories of the Dragon Boat Festival

 

II. Meticulous Representations of Ancient Cuisine

        China has a long and rich history, relying on the wisdom of geography-based food. Over the course of time, this has developed into an extensive culinary culture.  However, with development and globalization, many traditional ancient recipes have been lost, and regional culinary cultures have faced challenges. NetEase Games makes full use of a massive amount of ancient culinary records to meticulously recreate ancient cuisine in games and showcase the diverse culinary styles through field research.

　　Chinese traditional pastries have a history of 4,000 years, emphasizing small and delicate creations that manifest the aesthetics and charm of Chinese culture.  As Mr. Chen Yin-que said, "The culture of the Chinese nation has evolved over thousands of years, reaching its peak during the Song Dynasty." During the Song Dynasty, pastries had numerous variations and complex processes, creating a unique, delicate taste in Chinese culinary culture.  NetEase's flagship martial arts game "Justice Online", which is committed to fully recreating life in the Song Dynasty, replicates a large number of Song Dynasty pastries in the game, down to the details. Mainly referencing "The History of the Song Dynasty"—supplemented by essays and records such as "Dreams of the Eastern Capital", "Dream Record", and "Stories from the Martial World" that describe the customs and traditions of the Song Dynasty—Justice Online perfectly replicates traditional pastries, such as the lotus pastry, Chongyang cake, and osmanthus cake, in the game. The layers of the lotus pastry are as thin as a veil, with a hint of jujube paste partially revealed in the lotus seed center, resembling a red lotus blooming by the lake and reflecting the taste and aesthetics of traditional pastries. The small size of the osmanthus cake, with a delicate sprinkling of yellow osmanthus on top, showcases the ingenuity of ancient people using flowers in food and cherishing the gifts from nature.

 Justice Online: the Lotus Pastry

　　In addition, Justice Online sets up a variety of food props in everyday gameplay, such as Mapo Tofu, Lantern Shadow Beef, West Lake Vinegar Fish, Squirrel Carp, Dongpo Pork, White Cut Chicken, and other famous Chinese dishes.  Some props require players to go to the corresponding map to find them.  For example, Hangzhou's famous dish, Sauce Duck, requires players to explore Hefang Street on the Hangzhou City map, while Yunnan's specialty food "Pa Rou Er Si" is hidden in a corner of the Dali City map, quietly waiting for players to discover.  Players can not only travel on the map to enjoy the scenery, but also "taste" local delicacies in the game, thereby experiencing the charm of Chinese culture and the power of cultural identity.

Justice Online: Dishes in the game

 

III. Rekindling Passion for Cooking

        Chinese traditional cooking methods include stir-frying, boiling, stewing, roasting, steaming, and deep-frying, while emphasizing control over ingredients, seasoning, heat, oil temperature, and flavor—all to achieve a delicate balance.  Confucius once said, "Food is not tiresome when it is finely prepared, and meat is not tiresome when it is finely chopped." The art of cooking embodies how much Chinese people cherish food, life, and the pursuit of harmony. Deeply rooted in Chinese tradition, NetEase Games has designed various cooking game systems in multiple games, allowing players to experience the joy of cooking dishes and rekindling the younger generation's love and passion for traditional Chinese cuisine.

　　"Serving Guests from All Corners" is special gameplay produced by NetEase's popular game Fantasy Westward Journey during the 2022 Labor Day holiday. In it, players could go to Chang'an City and receive the prop Sanjie Restaurant from the Labor Service Celestial Official to open their own restaurant and cook delicious dishes. Players would then need to perform various operations such as chopping ingredients, marinating, cooking, and seasoning, choosing between six cooking methods: stewing, deep-frying, boiling, steaming, blanching, and stir-frying. They could develop various ancient and flavorful dishes, such as "Fragrant Drumstick Lamb Soup," "Crab-stuffed Orange," and "Fresh Carp with Silver Threads." Similarly, the ancient-style fantasy MMORPG New Ghost also features a “Cooking God” system, which revolves around ingredient acquisition, sorting, and cooking. After obtaining the status of a restaurant apprentice, players can obtain ingredients by killing monsters or gathering, and then freely explore the cooking methods for various dishes, experiencing the complexity and depth of culinary arts while playing the game.

Fantasy Westward Journey: Sanjie Restaurant

 New Ghost: “Cooking God” system

　　In 2020, the martial arts mobile game A Dream of Jianghu embarked on an innovative collaboration with the Chinese Cuisine Association, launching the "Chinese Cuisine Culture Special Collaboration" event. Liu Qiang, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Chinese Cuisine Association and a master chef featured in the third season of "A Bite of China", was invited to showcase superb culinary skills for players, bringing the well-known dishes from the martial world of the game into reality, which was met with wide praise.  At the same time, the game also launched the "Cooking Challenge" event, encouraging players to compete in gourmet cooking.  Many players not only experienced the joy of cooking in the game but also tried their hand at cooking in real life. Some even replicated the dishes from the game, allowing themselves to slow down in this fast-paced era and rediscover the beauty of traditional Chinese cuisine.

 A Dream of Jianghu x China Cuisine Association

　　Traditional Chinese food is a long-standing accumulation of China’s history and spirit. It has an unforgettable taste and makes any Chinese person think of home.  No matter where people go, that flavor will always be evocative and nostalgic.  In this fast-paced society, fast food has become a major part of people's diets. Inheriting and finding ways to innovate traditional food culture has become all the more urgent.  NetEase Games has worked to deliver positive values in games and use online gaming to promote traditional food culture, striving to spark emotional and physical memories for the younger generation.