My shoulders tensed and I clenched my teeth. So when I saw Yun Jin’s video for the first time, I was one of those viewers whose reaction was negative.

Unlike other Chinese cultural exports such as food and fashion, the shrill sounds of the opera seemed impossible to make tasty for an American audience. Growing up, every time I heard opera on my grandmother’s television, I hoped my American friends would never find out. January 13th, the official Genshin impact YouTube account posted a video about Yun Jin, who made it clear that the developers created the character with a genuine love of opera as an art form.

But that’s not really what I want to talk about. Some fans pointed out that it is a kind of laugh to laugh at a traditional Asian art form lorte at best and racist at worst, especially for a game that has focused on incorporating non-Western cultural touchstone through all of its updates.

Some fans distress Yun Jin sings while others reacted negatively to how she sang “Oh, Maestro” in a loud voice (including a popular one Genshin streamer, who would later make one sorry video). These aspects of Chinese opera have been at the center in recent times Genshin impact voice performances.

Genshin chinese opera