"Mr. Zhang, I have admired your name for a long time, and after all, I am still your fellow countryman!"
In a high-end hotel in New York, a Chinese man in his thirties was having a cordial conversation with Zhang Yida.
Lai Jingping just returned to the United States from Chengdu recently when he suddenly received a message from a friend saying that Chairman Zhang Yida of Zhonghe Group wanted to meet him.
Lai Jingping is no stranger to Zhang Yida. This young man nine years younger than himself is the founder of the world's most valuable super unicorn company.
The globally popular Musical.ly software comes from his company.
So Lai Jingping rushed to New York from his parents' home in California without much hesitation.
"Mr. Lai's hometown is Rongcheng?"
Zhang Yida quickly switched to Sichuan dialect and asked.
Lai Jingping gave a wry smile and replied in poor Sichuan dialect: "I'm sorry for that, Mr. Zhang!"
As soon as he heard Lai Jingping speak, Zhang Yida knew that this child's dialect was definitely not good enough, and he was barely above level four.
Lai Jingping explained: "I immigrated to the United States with my parents when I was three years old. It was not until the end of 2015 that I returned to Chengdu to settle down again."
Zhang Yida waved his hand and said it was okay. It was quite uncomfortable to listen to his poor Sichuan dialect, so he simply communicated in Mandarin.
"I heard that Mr. Lai was once a diplomat in the U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs?"
Lai Jingping nodded and said with a smile: "Before this, I worked in a law firm for a year, but later I found that it was not the type of work I liked.
I passed the exam and entered the U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs. At that time, I still dreamed of being sent to China one day.
But because of my Chinese identity, this dream has never been realized.
During his seven years as a diplomat, he traveled to three countries: Malaysia, Canada, and Vietnam.
Later, I founded the website WuXia World and started translating Chinese online novels online, and gradually fell in love with this job.
At the end of 2015, I resolutely quit my job as a diplomat stationed in Vietnam and started running the website "Martial Arts World" full-time."
Zhang Yida felt that this guy was very talkative and had no stage fright when facing a well-known rich man like himself. He was worthy of being a lawyer and a diplomat.
Zhang Yida said with a smile: "I am a little curious, for what reason or opportunity did you start the martial arts world?"
Lai Jingping smiled slightly, "It's a long story. In the summer of 2014, I read the novel "Star Change" by the Chinese Internet writer "I Eat Tomatoes".
At the suggestion of a Vietnamese friend, I started to translate another work of this writer, "Canglong", on the SPET forum.
In the process of translating this novel, I gained a large number of readers from all over the world.
For the first time, I felt that translating these novels was not only a way for me to familiarize myself with Chinese and Chinese culture, but also became an object of discussion and research among readers from all over the world who were constantly "pushing for updates" and giving rewards.
Later, fans would forward the link to Light Novel, a light novel forum on Reddit, a famous American online community, every time after I updated the translation.
The Light Novel forum has always been a forum for discussing Japanese light novels.
Since I started translating Chinese online articles, there have been fewer and fewer posts discussing Japanese novels.
Later, everyone on the forum was informed that any posts related to Chinese online novels would be banned, and only content related to Japanese light novels could be discussed in the forum."
Speaking of this, Lai Jingping smiled and seemed very indifferent.
He shrugged, "Forums can be banned, but people's thoughts cannot be banned. Ever since I opened the door to Chinese online writing to netizens around the world, it has been out of control."
Netizens urge me to update every day!
I very much hope that one day, all online novels can transcend the barriers of countries and ethnic groups, respect each other, and coexist in friendship.
With this idea in mind, I set up a website specifically for "Coiling Dragon" and attracted different translators to jointly build a social network dedicated to translating Chinese online novels.
On December 22, 2014, the Wuxia world website officially started operations.
Every day, different readers from all over the world are waiting for updates from me and other translators. In addition to reading novels, these readers will also discuss with each other in the forum.
They abbreviated "G Dragon" as CD, called each other Fellow Taoist ("fellow Taoist" or "fellow Taoist"), and discussed various artifacts and titles in the novel.
After the reward mechanism matured, the website also entered a profitable state.
While translating online articles, I worked at the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam.
I do my job during the day and translate novels at night."
Zhang Yida laughed and said: "I heard that you work part-time as an online translator. In two years, you were promoted from sixth-class secretary to third-class secretary."
Lai Jingping shook his head and laughed, "It was just my hobby that kept me going, but it was actually very tiring!
Sometimes I have to go to China to discuss copyright matters with major novel websites including China News Group.
After persisting for a year, I couldn't hold on any longer, so I resigned from my position as a diplomat.
I returned to Chengdu and rented a very ordinary apartment, translating novels and running websites full-time.
Because I often ate takeaways and lacked exercise, I gained 30 pounds in three months.”
Having said this, he pointed to his beer belly and shook his head, "I can't help it. The food in my hometown is so delicious that I can't resist the temptation."
Zhang Yida exclaimed: "It turns out that this is how the world of martial arts was born!
But what you are doing is very meaningful. From a certain perspective, this may be China's first mass and grassroots cultural export.
Just like people in China are obsessed with "The Lord of the Rings" and "A Song of Ice and Fire".
This is not promoted by the Confucius Institute, nor is it "Dream of Red Mansions". Lu Xun's novels, which are studied in the university's East Asian library, are real cultural dissemination."
"Actually, it's not that exaggerated. We are just a group of like-minded people doing something meaningful to us."
Although he said this, Lai Jingping was already happy in his heart.
He wasn't particularly sure why Zhang Yida was looking for him, but he guessed it was investment, mergers and acquisitions. Otherwise, would such a busy person have time to drink coffee with him?
Zhang Yida asked again: "Can you talk to me about the specific operating conditions of the martial arts world?"
Lai Jingping was reassured now. He didn't know how the world of martial arts attracted Zhang Yida's attention, but he was definitely attracted by the world of martial arts.
Lai Jingping said: "Martial Arts World has 29 professional translators or translation teams, and the website currently has 50 translated works.
The website's early revenue came from reader donations, but now that we have begun to introduce advertising for commercial monetization, donations have been cancelled.
The website's readers come from more than 100 countries and regions around the world. The top five countries are the United States, Philippines, Canada, Indonesia and the United Kingdom, of which North American readers account for about one-third of the total.
Currently, in the Alexa global ranking, our martial arts world website ranks around 1,000..."
Zhang Yida nodded and asked again: "I heard that Dianniang International has a conflict with you?"
Lai Jingping shook his head, "It's just that we have different ideas. They want to promote the payment mechanism, but I think the time is not mature yet.
At present, the fan base has just been formed, and I don’t think it’s appropriate to kill the goose that lays the eggs.
In addition, Yuewen also wants to control Wuxia World, but I don’t think Wuxia World can be left to them.
They just want to make money, and they will definitely destroy the martial arts world. They will also destroy the foundation of Chinese online literature in the Western world that the martial arts world has finally laid."