Liyue (Genshin Impact)

Liyue is a fictional nation in the video game Genshin Impact, developed by miHoYo. It is located in the eastern part of the game's continent, Teyvat, and serves as the main location for the first chapter of the game's main storyline. The capital city is Liyue Harbor. Liyue worships the concept of "contracts" and its guardian deity was once the Geo Archon "Rex Lapis," also known as Zhongli. The nation is practically governed by the Liyue Qixing. Festivals in Liyue include the Lantern Rite and the Moonchase Festival.

The creation of Liyue took one year, and its design is based on ancient China, with artistic references to China's Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, Huanglong Scenic Area, the landscape of Guilin, Fenghuang Ancient Town, and the Hanging Temple in Shanxi. This setting has been positively received, praised as a symbol of Chinese culture within the game.

Setting
Liyue represents the China-inspired region in Genshin Impact. The Geo-elemental nation is located in the eastern part of Teyvat and is the oldest established nation on the continent.

According to the lore, about 3,700 years ago, Rex Lapis founded Liyue. The goddess Guizhong guarded Mt. Tianheng and built the Guizhong Ballista. She led the original miners to migrate north of Mt. Tianheng to develop agriculture. Two thousand years ago, the Archon War broke out, leading to the desolation of Guili Plains and Guizhong's death. The God of Salt, who led the refugees to establish a sanctuary in Sal Terrae, was killed by the Lord of Geo. Consequently, Rex Lapis led the people to migrate south of Mt. Tianheng. The final battleground of the Archon War moved to the Guyun Stone Forest, where Rex Lapis killed a demon god and freed the enslaved Five Yakshas, making a contract with them.

Before the end of the Archon War, the adeptus Cloud Retainer broke her antlers to support the damaged Mt. Tianheng, turning her blood into a river that formed Bishui Plain, submerging the ruins of Sal Terrae. The war ended a thousand years ago, with Rex Lapis subduing the remaining demon gods at Guyun Stone Forest. The yakshas and adepti cleansed the evil spirits left behind. At this time, only, the Golden-Winged Yaksha, remained among the Five Yakshas. Liyue's people turned to commerce, with the Liyue Qixing, representing seven commercial forces, governing the nation. The Millelith, an army of brave mortals under Rex Lapis, were formed. The adepti retreated to Jueyun Karst, and Rex Lapis oversaw Liyue's economy, establishing the Rite of Descension. Liyue Harbor began to take shape.

When the Traveler arrived, Rex Lapis took on the persona of "Zhongli" and staged his own death, escalating the conflict between the adepti and the Liyue Qixing, who were acting as interim rulers. During this chaos, the Fatui diplomat and harbinger, better known as "Childe," summoned the sealed demon god Osial, who launched a sudden attack on Liyue Harbor. With the help of the Liyue Qixing and the adepti, the Traveler fought against Osial and ultimately defeated him, with suspending him in the air at the Jade Chamber before sealing him once again. Subsequently, Rex Lapis abdicated his position, and the Liyue Qixing took control of all authority in Liyue, marking the transition from a rule by gods and adepti to a rule by humans.

Liyue's festivals include the Lantern Rite Festival, inspired by the Lantern Festival during the Spring Festival. During the Lantern Rite, on the first full moon night of the year, people release "Xiao Lanterns" and "Mingxiao Lanterns" into the night sky, and setting off fireworks is an indispensable activity for the people of Liyue. The Moonchase Festival celebrates the autumn season, with streets and buildings adorned with festive decorations, and some businesses setting up stalls and advertising to attract customers. Liyue's cuisine includes dishes such as Dragon Beard Noodles, Mora Meat, Stir-Fried Filet, Moon Pie, Golden Shrimp Balls, Oncidium Tofu, among others.

Conception and creation
The game development team stated that Liyue was created with a Chinese fantasy theme. From white-box testing to art design, scene creation, it took a year to complete. Liyue officially opened on March 19, 2020, and its area is 1.5 times that of the initial region, Mondstadt. In the game, Liyue is located in the eastern part of the continent of Teyvat, bordered by Mondstadt to the northeast and facing Mt. Tianheng to the west. Liyue features diverse terrain, with sandstone formations being a prominent feature, symbolizing the Geo Archon's leadership. The area includes shallow beaches, plains crisscrossed by rivers, towering mountains, and stone forests. Plants in the mid-altitude areas are dominated by poplar trees, with locust and pine trees at higher altitudes, while bamboo, plum, and ginkgo trees grow in the plains and riverbanks. Animals include cranes and lizards that inhabit the cliffs.

The development team also focused on constructing Liyue's ecology, including climate, vegetation, and wildlife. As Liyue is themed around the Geo element, warm colors dominate the scenery. Players enter Liyue from Mondstadt through a stone gate designed based on karst arches, resembling a thin strip of sky in the early stages, later completing the final design by referencing ancient Chinese plank roads. After passing through, they arrive at the alluvial river of Bishui Plain, known as "Dihua Marsh," modeled after the landscape of Guilin and Yangshuo, characterized by continuous stone peaks, dense water networks, and floating vibrant flowers. The iconic building, Wangshu Inn, is inspired by the Lingnan Diaojiaolou architecture, with its temperament resembling the inn in the movie Dragon Inn. The scene in Dihua Marsh reproduces the characteristics of Guilin's multiple waters and continuous mountains, depicting the details to reflect the life of the people of Liyue. The northern "Qingce Village" showcases a tranquil village with numerous terraces.

The tributaries of Bishui River wind down from Dihua Marsh, eventually merging into "Luhua Pool," inspired by the iconic calc-sinter terraces of Huanglong Nature Reserve in Sichuan. The Huanglong Scenic Area is the only well-preserved plateau wetland on the mainland of China, and the production team believed that Huanglong possessed a sense of "dreaminess" and "mystery" beyond reality. Therefore, they chose Huanglong as a reference for Liyue's "ecosystem." The prototype of Liyue's Luhua Pool is located in Huanglong's Five-Color Pond. The water in Luhua Pool uses a different material from other water surfaces in the game, giving it attractive colors under various lighting conditions. Additionally, setting high points around Luhua Pool is aimed at allowing players to "more easily experience its perfect side."

Zhuhua Pool, located next to "Tianheng Mountain," is inspired by the famous Tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. Tianheng Mountain features the "Jueyun Karst," shrouded in clouds and mist year-round, with plank roads and suspension bridges between the peaks. This place is the retreat of the immortals who guard Liyue. Zhangjiajie was chosen as the model because its fantastical landscape seems "a bit out of this world." In the game, Jueyun Karst is the retreat of Liyue's immortals, and Zhangjiajie's towering mountains and misty atmosphere fit this setting perfectly. Additionally, the sandstone peak forest of Zhangjiajie aligns with Liyue's theme of the Geo element.

Passing through Tianheng Mountain, you arrive at Liyue's southeastern commercial port, "Liyue Harbor." In the game, the entrance to Tianheng Mountain in Liyue Harbor is inspired by the Tianmen Cave in Tianmen Mountain. The development team believed that entering Tianheng Mountain and discovering Liyue Harbor would create a strong visual and spatial contrast, highlighting Liyue's natural and cultural heritage. Liyue Harbor's architecture is influenced by the ancient town of Fenghuang in Western Hunan and the Hanging Temple of Mount Heng in Northern Yue. These locations were chosen because the art team believed they provided "a foundation wrapped in fantasy." The pailou-like entrance and bridge upon entering Liyue Harbor were designed to convey a sense of ceremony and solemnity.

The new area, "The Chasm," was opened on March 30, 2022, with the 2.6 version update. The Chasm features a complex terrain with many unique ecological and geological environments. It is divided into an upper and a lower region, and completing tasks will unlock the underground mine area, where players can use the item "Lumenstone Adjuvant" to explore this region. Another new area, "Chenyu Vale," was opened on January 31, 2024, with the 4.4 version update. It is located in the northwest region bordering Fontaine. The area "Qiaoying Village" it is known for producing tea, its architectural design takes inspiration in the Huizhou architecture in Huangshan, Anhui Province.

The scene art director stated that the game doesn't meticulously recreate the real-world prototypes but rather extracts elements and reconstructs them to present a form of moderate fantasy. During the production process, the team visited many scenic spots in China to gain inspiration. MiHoYo's director and vice president of game operations, Yin Chunbo, mentioned that the team was initially worried that, as a private game company, their requests might be rejected by scenic areas. However, the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee's publicity department and the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism wrote recommendation letters for them, giving the team more opportunities.

Music
The original soundtrack of Liyue adopts the traditional Chinese pentatonic scale. The instrumentation blends traditional Chinese instruments such as the dizi, erhu, guzheng, and pipa with Western orchestral music, fusing folk music with symphony. The original music was composed by Yu-Peng Chen and performed by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, recorded in the Shanghai Symphony Hall over five days.

Influence
On the eve of the Spring Festival of 2022, Genshin Impact released a video of Liyue character Yun Jin's opera performance, "The Divine Damsel of Devastation," which garnered over 30 million views worldwide within a year. On October 9, 2022, Genshin Impact officially released the first film in the "Gourmet Tour: Liyue's Cuisine Collection" series, showcasing the production process of the famous dish "Slow-Cooked Bamboo Shoot Soup." This video received over 2 million views on Bilibili and YouTube on its first day. In the Spring Festival of 2023, the Genshin Impact team, in collaboration with Southern Weekly, launched a non-heritage documentary series, "A Joruney of Art and Heritage," focusing on traditional crafts such as printmaking and carving. The series explored several Chinese intangible cultural heritage inheritors, using non-heritage forms to present Liyue's immortal legends and urban life. Several documentary shorts showcasing the process of these artisans creating their works will also be released.

Reception
The setting of Liyue has received positive evaluations. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China praised miHoYo on its official Weibo account for exploring a new model of cross-industry cooperation with "games + culture and tourism" in Genshin Impact. The From Halting to Traveling event related to Liyue helps promote local tourism and intangible cultural heritage, expanding the game's social value beyond entertainment. Liyue has also been praised by Xinmin Evening News and Shanghai Observer. Xinmin Evening News noted that Liyue prominently showcases elements of traditional Chinese culture, allowing players to gradually discover traditional cultural elements such as opera, tea culture, chess, traditional medicine, and mechanical arts as they explore Liyue. Shanghai Observer praised Liyue for using cultural innovation to make traditional Chinese culture vibrant and lively.

Game Daily believes that Liyue is the key reason Genshin Impact was listed by the Ministry of Commerce in the "2021-2022 Key Cultural Export Enterprises and Projects List." They believe that the story, characters, architecture, monsters, and activities in Liyue contribute to cultural export step by step. Game Grapes commented that Liyue gives the most direct impression through the transformation of its overall artistic style. Unlike Mondstadt's Euro-American fantasy and Japanese fantasy styles, Liyue is firmly set in the direction of Eastern fantasy. Game Gyro believes that Liyue's many elements allow global players to truly appreciate the beauty of Chinese culture. Since Liyue's place names and local products are named in Chinese, they have also attracted some non-Chinese players to study the pronunciation of Liyue's geography and products.

Polygon cited reviews stating that Liyue's design is completely different from Mondstadt, featuring more unique architecture, better background music, and more tightly integrated lore and stories. While blending East Asian cultural elements, it retains gameplay, expressiveness, and aesthetics suitable for players worldwide. Alan Wen from Eurogamer noted that Liyue "is clearly inspired by traditional Chinese culture and architecture." Kotaku editor Sisi Jiang felt that Liyue is an idealized portrayal of Chinese social relationships, where merchants and customers show care for each other through mutual benefit, and money can build interdependent relationships, unlike the current society where shopping habits are often disconnected from community. Screen Rant compared Liyue's settings with similar places in China, concluding that "the similarities between Liyue and China are undeniable, whether in terrain or culture."