Traditional Chinese music embodies years of Chinese history and artistry. With its unique tones and techniques, it transcends the boundaries of language, conveying the spirit and culture of the Chinese nation. However, with the influence of modern music and pop culture, the intricate and diverse techniques needed to play traditional Chinese music have gradually faded from the public view. As a medium that combines sound and interactivity to express emotion, games are augmented by traditional Chinese music. NetEase Games is committed to cultivating the field of music, integrating elements of traditional music into games to help promote traditional Chinese music for a broader international audience.

 

I. Ancient Instruments, National Treasures

        Traditional Chinese musical instruments are deeply rooted in diverse cultures within China, which are rich in history. They have undergone transformations as their influence expands, breaks boundaries, and reaches across different fields. NetEase Games has combined traditional musical instruments with modern music production techniques to restore auditory experiences for the instruments while incorporating contemporary elements, bringing ancient music to life once more.

        In 2023, the prestigious Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra was invited to create an anniversary rendition of music from NetEase’s mobile game Infinite Borders for its eighth anniversary, using Chinese music instrumentation and arrangements. The game held an online anniversary concert for the world, tracing the origins of Chinese music and exploring its cultural heritage. This effort was nominated for Best Live Concert For Visual Media at the 2023 Hollywood Music in Media Awards.

　　NetEase Games has been working to prevent traditional Chinese musical instruments from dying out through new innovations. The Bianzhong—the first of the eight ancient musical instruments—is a set of bronze bells in various sizes, weights, and pitches arranged in order, and is a significant symbol of China’s Bronze Age. However, the art of playing the Bianzhong is disappearing. In order to recreate the auditory experience of ancient times, the production team of Naraka: Bladepoint went to Suizhou, known as the hometown of the Bianzhong, to thoroughly understand the tonal range and technique of the Zeng Hou Yi Bianzhong in the Suizhou Museum. With the help of the museum's Bianzhong experts, they sampled and recorded the entire set of Bianzhong, digitally preserving the ancient sounds in the game, allowing overseas players to experience the history and charm of Bianzhong in the game.

The Naraka: Bladepoint Team Recording Bianzhong

 

II. From Ancient Text to Classic Performances

        Since ancient times, music and literature have been inseparable. Ancient poetry and novels often possess a certain musicality, which also provides a rich foundation for game music composition. In Infinite Borders, the design team adapted ancient poems using the form of the Suzhou Pingtan (a performance art in the form of ballad-singing in the eastern city of Suzhou) to narrate the stories of Zhou Yu's life and achievements, bringing ancient Chinese classics to life.

　　Prose has also provided inspiration for music compositions. At the end of 2022, NetEase Games released a new expansion pack "Mountain with Ho: Searching for Dragons in the Snow" for the turn-based mobile game Westward Journey. In addition to performing with traditional Chinese musical instruments, the production team adapted the piece "A Lament for the Ancient Battlefield" by Tang Dynasty writer Li Hua and composed lyrics based on the characteristics of the dungeon. Using the language of the Northwestern Qiang ethnic group, the music portrayed the cruel and tragic nature of war, while also presenting the solemn and majestic atmosphere of ancient battlefields. Due to the team's dedication to quality and innovation in composition, the original soundtrack of the "Mountain with Ho: Searching for Dragons in the Snow" expansion pack received a Bronze Award for Game Music at the 2022 Global Music Awards.

Westward Journey: "Mountain with Ho: Searching for Dragons in the Snow"

 

III. Harmonizing the Ancient and Modern

        Chinese culture contains many ethnic and regional customs. NetEase Games has worked to integrate ancient mythology and regional culture into its game music, due to music’s unique capacity for emotional expression and resonance. In this way, it can promote history, cultural connotations, and the humanistic spirit of Chinese culture.

        For the 15th anniversary of the Tian Xia franchise, NetEase Games invited experts such as Jin Yue of China National Traditional Orchestra to compose the anniversary theme song "Ballad of Dreams Past". This song combines traditional Chinese string instruments with electronic music, depicting epic and magnificent myths and immersing global audiences in a mysterious and beautiful world, while showcasing the unique charm of Eastern music. With its high-quality audio-visual performance, "Ballad of Dreams Past" was the only Chinese original song nominated for the Best Game Song (Console & PC) at the 14th Hollywood Music in Media Awards in 2023.

　　In addition to traditional folk culture, NetEase Games is also committed to exploring the beauty of regional culture. Infinite Borders uses the warlords' division from the late Eastern Han Dynasty as a background story and the Thirteen Prefectures as components of a game map. Composer Huang Zhiqian created a suite of the Thirteen Prefectures for Infinite Borders. Through game music, players around the world could feel the desert winds and sand of Liangzhou, smell the fragrant jasmine in the bright Yangzhou spring, and hear the horse-head fiddle from Youzhou. The Symphony Suite of the Thirteen Prefectures in Infinite Borders uses the language of music to depict the spirit of the Three Kingdoms, promoting sentiments from thousands of years ago.

Infinite Borders: The Symphony Suite of the Thirteen Prefectures

　　Different music carries characteristics of different nations and records stories from historical periods, transcending time with its unique form of expression. This is how cultures meet and intertwine, transforming into notes that reach all corners of the world. With the power of game music, NetEase Games has worked to promote traditional Chinese culture and cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world.