


































Communication, Society and Media 
ISSN 2576-5388 (Print) ISSN 2576-5396 (Online) 

Vol. 7, No. 2, 2024 

www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm 

1 

 

Original Paper 

Exploring the New Interpretation of the Fengshen Story 

Jiashen Wang
1*

 

1 
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China 

* 
Jiashen Wang, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China 

 

Received: June 17, 2024          Accepted: June 28, 2024         Online Published: July 14, 2024 

doi:10.22158/csm.v7n2p1                         URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/csm.v7n2p1 

 

Abstract 

As a classic Chinese mythology novel, Fengshen yanyi (Investiture of the Gods) is famous for its 

cultural value, historical value and social value. The story of “Fengshen” is also considered a rich 

source of inspiration for entertainment and cultural industries in China, influencing a wide range of 

audiences with diverse backgrounds. As developing the potential “story universe” of Fengshen has 

become a hot topic in the Chinese film market, reinterpreting Chinese mythology needs to be focused 

on. Based on the case of the “Fengshen story”, this study aims to explore the new context of Chinese 

mythology by collecting and analyzing secondary research, categorizing and organizing the findings, 

and discussing further research from different perspectives, thereby understanding the modern 

adaptations of traditional Chinese mythology and suggesting a bright future of conducting 

interdisciplinary research on Chinese mythology in the new context. 

Keywords 

Chinese mythology, Investiture of the Gods, transmedia storytelling 

 

1. Introduction 

In today’s media environment, more and more traditional stories are being delivered through a broad 

range of media, from traditional communication such as magazines, newspapers, novels and books to 

stage plays, movies, animations, television series and other forms of new media. In this process, media 

plays an important role in which more opportunities are provided by media platforms to make the 

audience engage with the stories, changing the way audiences gain the story experience. Fengshen 

story and its adaptations have influenced not only Chinese audiences but also audiences who are 

fascinated with traditional Chinese culture. As media evolve rapidly today, traditional stories are 

presented to audiences in different ways, giving audiences new experiences and providing diverse 

perspectives for audiences to understand traditional stories from multimedia platforms. In addition, 

many traditional literature works are adapted based on audiences’ tastes and their social needs, which 



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makes it necessary to explore and understand traditional stories in the new context.  

Chinese mythology stories have rich historical and cultural resources which could be considered 

valuable research objects for building a potential ―story universe‖, however, so far, the academic value 

of mythological storytelling has not been noticed adequately (Zhang, 2022). Some researchers also 

mentioned that the theory of transmedia storytelling could be considered a potential research method 

for the new development of Chinese mythology (Shen et al., 2020; Wall, 2019). According to the theory 

of transmedia storytelling, each medium ideally makes its unique contribution to the unfolding of the 

story (Jenkins, 2007) which could be one of the essential elements to critically interpret the meaning of 

Chinese mythology in the new context. In this paper, the main characteristics of the Fengshen story in 

the new context are reviewed and the concept of ―Fengshen Universe‖ is used to interpret relevant 

attributes. Based on the literature review, relevant findings are categorized into subtopics for better 

understanding certain phenomena and interpreting the story in the new context, and further 

demonstrating the value of developing certain concepts. In recent years, there are many influential 

works have appeared in Chinese film markets which could be seen as valuable cases for this research. 

Through analyzing the case of the Fengshen story, conducting research on Chinese mythology and 

exploring the interdisciplinary study with transmedia storytelling lens are suggested, and opportunities 

for developing Chinese mythology in the new context are identified. 

 

2. Story and Values 

Fengshen yanyi (also known as Investiture of Gods or Fengshenbang) is a well-known Chinese novel 

that integrates historical events and many tales of Chinese mythological figures. It was written during 

the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), mainly based on the history of the battle between Shang and Zhou, 

talking about many adventures in the battle in which many humans, deities, and spirits are involved 

(Haase, 2008). Same as most Chinese mythologies, Fengshen story includes ideological attributes and 

narrative forms based on unique historical and cultural trends (Liu, 2017), which could be seen as the 

origin of many forms of art and literature works, providing an inexhaustible source of inspiration for 

cultural industries around the world (Shen et al., 2020) and making this study a chance to see the 

primitive society of China and more importantly the cultural origin of Chinese identity (Lei, 2024). As 

a trend of studying the mythical elements especially the elements in films and other new media, the 

cultural meaning of the mythical symbols could be revealed (Zhang et al., 2021).  

Chinese mythology includes complex genealogical relationships (Zhao & Dolah, 2024), to a certain 

extent, the scattered and fragmented stories are not systematically organized (Yang et al., 2008). 

Fengshen story is based on rich Chinese mythology resources as it includes some concepts and settings 

from other mythologies, such as the myth of Goddess Nüwa which is originally from the Classic of 

Mountains and Rivers. In the novel Fengshen yanyi, the number of characters is significantly large, as 



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there are over 300 gods in the ―investiture‖ and many more relevant characters mentioned in the story. 

As a long tradition, many characters and plot settings have changed due to various reasons in the 

historical process (Zhao & Dolah, 2024), whereas different values that the same character represents in 

different stories could enrich the content of each story. As a classic mythology story, Fengshen yanyi 

has certain connections in terms of the plots and characters with The Journey to the West, one of the 

best classic Chinese novels, while the Fengshen story’s background is set about 1700 years earlier than 

the ―journey‖, and some characters are depicted differently in the two works, for instance, in Fengshen 

story, Nezha is a ―Superboy‖ who supports the Zhou army and finally wins the battle and becomes a 

god, representing a role model of justice, however, he is depicted as a member of the ―heavenly army‖ 

who supports Jade Emperor of Heaven to prevent Monkey King from fighting for freedom in the 

chapter The Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven of The Journey to the West. 

Unlike traditional media experience, the experience of the ―Chinese Mythology Universe‖ and the 

story's transformation from transmedia storytelling create more social attributes or patterns that 

influence the Chinese collective unconscious, symbolically reflecting the transformation of human 

experiences in China (Whyke & Mugica, 2021). So far, many terms are used to describe the concept 

regarding building a potential fantasy world from Chinese mythology or specifically for the story world 

of Fengshen in the media industry. Researchers from different fields often borrow the word ―universe‖ 

in discussions which are inspired by the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), such as ―Mythology 

Cinematic Universe‖ (Yang & Ning, 2021), ―God Universe‖ (Chen et al., 2022), ―Coloroom’s 

Apotheosis Universe‖ (Chen et al., 2022), ―Domestic Animation Universe‖ (Bai, 2022) and so on. Like 

MCU, the ―story world‖ is frequently described as ―universe‖ because the main story could be 

connected by several subplots, and as mentioned above, it is a huge collection of stories which include 

complicated characters’ relationships in different plots, whereas understanding this concept of the 

so-called ―Fengshen Universe‖ is better for interpreting the Fengshen story. 

 

3. Adaptation and Renewal 

The Fengshen story has been adapted from mythology text to different media forms, bringing new 

experience of traditional story to audiences in various ways, especially through the TV series and 

animated films. Some adaptations use modern media technologies to retell the story based on the 

original novel, such as the TV series The Investiture of the Gods (1990) and The Legend and the Hero 

(2007), while some adaptations feature rebuilding the story by only including the essential elements of 

the story, especially some independent films that feature famous Chinese mythological characters such 

as Nezha, Jiang Ziya and Yang Jian, giving audiences brand-new experiences with modern elements. 

Recent adaptations that include the potential of ―Fengshen Universe‖ could be categorized into two 

types, one is the historical fantasy film that utilizes the classic plots to retell the story without 



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significantly changing the original plot settings, represented by Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of 

Storms (2023) and following ―Fengshen Trilogy‖ which could be seen as a Chinese version of ―The 

Lord of the Rings‖ (Wei, 2019), another one is the animated film that features building new story with 

traditional elements represented by Ne Zha (2019) and its ―Coloroom’s Apotheosis Universe‖ (Chen et 

al., 2022). Animated film and historical fantasy film could be considered the two main types of 

adaptations which are becoming the trend for retelling the Fengshen story in today’s Chinese film 

market. 

The combination of the new settings and the original settings has become a main strategy and 

inspiration in recent adaptations. The original story’s background, elements and settings of the plot are 

essential for the adaptations of the Fengshen story, enhancing the audiences’ experience and 

maintaining the consistency of the story. To deliver the story from new perspectives, the adaptations 

always include the basic settings based on the traditional understanding of the original story. In the 

main settings of the background, there are certain common and essential concepts about hierarchy for 

reflecting the relationship between ruler and subjects, such as by using the concept of the heaven and 

the realm of mortal world (Xu, 2023). Similar to the setting of the conflict between protagonist and 

antagonist in films, the contradiction between two powers is common in many adaptations, however, 

they are not always strictly opposite in the Chinese philosophical context (Xu, 2023), as it is blurry to 

judge certain actions and outcomes so that there is no absolute standard to determine what is right or 

wrong. Also, the innovative settings of the plot (Lv, 2019) are common for adaptations in today’s film 

market. Same as the effect that Disney redefined the meaning of ―True Love’s Kiss‖ in Maleficent 

(2014), Ne Zha (2019) recreated the traditional plot of ―stirring the ocean‖ by setting a new challenge 

of ―saving the city‖ for new protagonists, bringing a distinctive experience of the story to the audience. 

The new adaptation is also about placing the traditional story in a modern context instead of retelling 

and recreating it (Zhao & Dolah, 2024). Since Chinese audiences focus more on their real life than the 

supernatural world (Yang & An, 2008), some topics about what values films convey are frequently 

discussed among audiences, especially for animated films about heroic stories. The portrait of Nezha in 

Fengshen story used to be designed as a hero who challenges the power hierarchy by sacrificing his life 

to protect people (Tang & Ma, 2021), showing how the father-son ethic controls the children's rights 

(Yu, 2023). As the function of Chinese mythology evolves along with the ideology of different times 

(Liu, 2017), certain realistic topics in today’s society are added to adaptations so that critical discussion 

about the story could be inspired, for instance, Ne Zha (2019) reflects some social realities that are 

closed to audiences’ real life such as the value of individualism (Tang & Ma, 2021) and educational 

value for both children and parents (Lv, 2019). In that sense, the diversity of value attributes in 

adaptations develops the meaning of the Fengshen story. 

 



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4. Storytelling and Communication 

Media plays an important role in shaping public opinions and societal values (Semetko, 2004), 

furthermore, media environment is not only changing the way that audience perceive information but 

also influencing the development of integrated storytelling through different media platforms (Von 

Stackelberg & Jones, 2014). In today’s Chinese film market, different storytelling strategies have been 

applied for retelling traditional mythology stories, including classical mythology resources which are 

commonly used for narrative purposes (Zhao & Dolah, 2024). The theory of transmedia storytelling is 

used by some researchers for better understanding the adaptation of Fengshen story and ―Fengshen 

Universe‖ based on the construction of the story world (Shen et al., 2020). Compared to traditional 

communication, retelling the Fengshen story through various adaptations may form a culture in the new 

context, creating different experiences and values in media platforms. 

Jenkins (2007) explained that creating a unified and coordinated experience requires integral elements 

across multiple channels, and each medium should make a unique contribution to the whole story. 

There is a mutual connection between the mythical content and the forms from multiple media, and the 

mythical narrative and transmedia storytelling are bridged by their performative dimension (Blanariu & 

Popa, 2018). Shen et al. (2020) stated that the key to successful transmedia storytelling lies in the 

construction of the story world when understanding the evolution of Nezha’s portrait in Fengshen story. 

According to Jenkins’s theory, focusing on the flow of content across media, adding new elements to 

the world-building process, and deepening audience engagement are essential, reflecting how users 

consume content on a multimedia level (Atarama-Rojas, 2019). The effect of transmedia storytelling is 

positive for building the ―Fengshen Universe‖ as different media forms could be used to extend 

audiences’ fantasy space and increase their curiosity, for instance, in Ne Zha (2019), the conspiracy 

planned by two villains is hidden in the Ester eggs clip at the end of the film (Huang & Li, 2023). 

Hence transmedia storytelling could be considered as a theory to understand the Fengshen story in 

terms of storytelling in cultural context and fan cultures, as well as delivering transmedia brand stories 

and creating more entry points (Granitz & Forman, 2015).  

Moreover, there is a strong connection between the main story and individual characters in the 

―Fengshen Universe‖, which is essential for enhancing the meaning of the Fengshen story in the new 

context due to the importance of the choice of characters. To some extent, the experience of the 

Fengshen story is delivered through the ―Fengshen Universe‖, as well as individual characters and their 

transmedia adaptations. Some characters in the Fengshen story become well-known fantasy figures in 

adaptations from different media, such as Nezha and Jiang Ziya. For instance, as an important narrative 

element in the Fengshen story, the figure of ―Nezha‖ evolves in which the image is produced in 

different creative products and extended in different channels (Shen et al., 2020), as well as the story is 

presented in an environment affected by different international flows of technologies, aesthetics and 



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story structures (Whyke et al., 2021). In recent years, there have been some positive explorations in the 

Chinese animated film market in terms of linking different characters-based works for building 

―Fengshen Universe‖, however compared to MCU, the current techniques for building intertextuality of 

character story’s text (Li, 2023) and building empathetic characters in the contexts (Zhao & Dolah, 

2024) still need to be improved. 

Fan culture also plays an important role in the creation of the meaning-making of certain cultural texts 

(Schiller, 2018). Current fan groups of Fengshen story come from a wide range of origins, and 

audiences’ story experience could be influenced by their different levels of understanding of Chinese 

mythology. Therefore, focusing on the study of audience preferences of mythological films (Ye, 2021) 

and different media forms (e.g., picture-story book, magazine, film or even video games) that audience 

encounter (Breen et al., 2017) is meaningful. However, current audience groups of the Fengshen story 

are limited to audiences’ age and region restrictions (Shen et al., 2022). To respond to the increasingly 

important influence from the groups of fans, an enhanced diversity of characters and story world 

representations should be focused on (Schiller, 2018). The degree of participation between producers 

and fans is also crucial (Ryan, 2015), and many activities related to the recreation of mythology stories 

can bridge the divide between narratives with traditional Chinese cultural elements and contemporary 

societal expectations (Wang et al., 2023). Currently, there is a transformative potential for the audience 

to create certain content for the story from digital shared platforms, such as Bilibili, a digital platform 

that is popular in China (Wang et al., 2023), which could be used for fans to rebuild their own 

Fengshen story. 

Based on these findings, the potential for the development of the ―Fengshen Universe‖ in terms of 

storytelling and communication could be explored. As mentioned before, transmedia storytelling is 

strongly related to user-generated content in which both the producers or writers of the original story 

and the audience could extend and enrich the story through their creativity and sharing from a variety 

of social media platforms (Atarama-Rojas, 2019). Moreover, based on the potential of the audience in 

terms of contributing to the recreation of narratives, an in-depth understanding of the incentives that 

encourage diversity of fans to engage with the story is suggested for developing the story universe. 

 

5. Cultural Symbol and Construction 

Branding and advertising influence the audience experience in which stories’ narratives are enriched 

and boundaries are blurred (Gu & Zhao, 2021). With the rise of the global animation and film industry, 

the diverse reinterpretation of the story has gradually become the focus of ―Fengshen‖ cultural 

Intellectual Property (IP). As modern reconstruction of the traditional stories’ meaning becomes more 

common in recent adaptations, different practices are conducted to make Fengshen story more readable 

in terms of cultural contents, such as telling a new story or even criticizing the original story (Liu, 



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2020). Also, mythological IPs can show modernity through the development of traditional texts (Chen 

& Cho, 2024) or ―postmodernism‖ by adding the spirituality of the characters (Tan, 2023). Based on 

the attributes of the cultural content and the position of the brand in the new context, ―Fengshen 

Universe‖ would be a new cultural symbol that connects today and the past. In recent years, some films 

and animations in the Chinese entertainment market are considered huge potential for the development 

of local cultural IP through transmedia storytelling. Some films produced by famous companies and 

creative teams are easier to gain the trust of audiences and other entertainment consumers, which is 

also beneficial to the development of the brand (Fan et al., 2022). On the other hand, China has so far 

produced very few ―transmedia‖ examples, and creators’ understanding of IP rules is still insufficient 

(Gilardi & Lam, 2021), making the construction of cultural symbol an important topic to focus on. 

Currently, cultural IP consumers focus on content quality, culture and creative innovation about the 

meaning of the brand, and there are certain connections between consumers’ perception and their 

emotion (Fan et al., 2022). In today’s Chinese media industry, different creative methods have been 

used to build Fengshen cultural IPs based on specific attributes. Coloroom Pictures and Light Chaser 

Animation Studios are two famous companies that focus on building ―Fengshen Universe‖, their works 

interpret Fengshen story through new perspectives by using different creative strategies to create 

Chinese-style ―Superhero‖ and adding different levels of popular culture in their films (Tan, 2023). 

However, for the adapted historical fantasy films, the effects of heroes and reflection of individualism 

could be weakened to certain extent, making it more challenging in terms of modernity rewriting, for 

instance, the storyline in Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms (2023) is relatively vague because 

it includes too many characters, information and values from different levels (Zhang & Huang, 2023). 

Through the analysis of Chinese fantasy films, Zheng et al. (2024) summarized the advantages and 

problems of narratives and proposed a few strategies for developing the IP ecological process, such as 

building a ―unified world‖ by creating a narrative ecosystem and deepening the relationships of 

characters. So far, as mentioned, the Chinese mythology brand is in the developing stage, due to the 

incomplete construction of the grand worldview and the lack of interaction between operators and 

audiences (Liu, 2019), building Fengshen cultural IP and symbol still needs to be explored in terms of 

the audience engagement and their perception. 

 

6. Conclusion and Discussion 

Based on the discussion above, it could be seen that the adaptations of Fengshen story and the 

transformation of characters’ images are made according to different social contexts, audiences’ 

preferences and trends of media cultures. Through the analysis of the literature, the value of exploring 

the ―Fengshen Universe‖ and the significance of conducting further research to understand Chinese 

mythology have been discussed, which could be helpful to deepen the cultural meaning of the story in 



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the new context and form a unique cultural symbol. Although some previous research focused on the 

study of audiences’ difference and the comparison among different cultures (Chen et al., 2022), the 

study about audiences’ motivation, behavior and experience are still inadequate. It is also necessary to 

highlight that most findings were made based on the feedback from Chinese audiences or audiences 

with Chinese backgrounds, while the opinions from other entertainment consumers with diverse 

cultural background should also be included for exploring a broader understanding of the Fengshen 

story and amplifying the voice of Chinese culture in the new context. Further research about the 

diversity of fan groups with various cultural backgrounds and experiences could be conducted with 

audience-centred studies, such as how transmedia storytelling of Chinese stories occurred by including 

audiences' experience and engagement in different lenses. Therefore, there should be a gap that could 

be bridged by interdisciplinary studies to develop Fengshen story and other Chinese mythology stories. 

By reviewing the principles of transmedia storytelling and other researchers’ interpretations based on 

the theory, as well as the cases from previous research, the main features of the communication in the 

Fengshen story are summarized, more importantly, the opportunities of developing the narratives and 

potential story universe could be identified. It is possible to use the ―Fengshen Universe‖ to describe 

and interpret the Fengshen story in the new context. In general, the Fengshen story in the new context 

is influenced by diverse values, linking to the audiences’ daily life rather than merely building a fantasy 

world. By adding new elements from different resources, the Fengshen story is being retold by new 

adaptations in which its meaning is deepened and enriched through transmedia storytelling and 

building cultural IP. The animated adaptations and historical fantasy films are used as the cases of 

media forms in the discussion, while their interrelationships should be explored further because the two 

categories are different in terms of the story structure, plot setting, storytelling and even building 

cultural symbol, which should be discussed separately by using more cases. The value of exploring the 

―Fengshen Universe‖ lies in its rich resources, adaptations of portraits, and plots that connect to the 

audience’s real life, also there is a mutual influence between the characters in the story and the story’s 

audience. In this paper, representative films are used as the cases of adaptation for demonstrating and 

explaining relevant concepts, while other media forms such as TV series or video games are not 

included due to less relevant research, which could also be the focus of further research. 

 

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