Yun Jin’s opera singing has received mixed reviews from western fans, but many of them have no idea what it even was to begin with.
During the Genshin Impact 2.4 update preview stream, miHoYo chose to show off the newest four-star character coming to Genshin Impact. Yun Jin is a polearm-user with a geo vision. She works as an opera singer in the
China-inspired nation of Liyue. As a traditional singer, Yun Jin’s preview came with a sample of her singing voice. For many fans, excitement immediately turned to confusion.
Genshin Impact’s English dub is almost entirely in American English with only a few exceptions for fictional languages. Since Yun Jin represents such an important part of Chinese culture, she is the first character to have two voice actors. Judy Alice Lee voices her normal lines, while traditional Beijing opera singer Yang Yang provides her singing voice. Genshin Impact characters usually have anime-inspired voice acting with bright and clear tones. Many fans were caught off guard by this drastically different sound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ8uV3BKSuU
Fans immediately reacted to the voice lines with mixed opinions. Many found it fascinating, while others immediately made pointed comments about the singing. Yun Jin’s voice has become a major point of controversy in the Genshin Impact community, though many don’t know the true story behind the character.
Why does Yun Jin sing like that?
In Genshin Impact lore, Yun Jin is an opera singer at Heyu Tea House. Her character is meant to represent the classical art of Chinese opera. Often called Beijing or Peking opera, the distinct singing style is an important part of traditional Chinese theater. The art makes use of elaborate costumes with deep symbolism to represent character archetypes. The closest comparison is traditional Greek theater or Japanese kabuki.
Beijing opera includes several elements including stagecraft, music, fight scenes, and opera singing. Each aspect has evolved over hundreds of years into what it is today. Yun Jin represents only a small part of the art, but more Chinese theater-themed Genshin Impact characters could come out in the future.
miHoYo has decided to keep Yang Yang’s traditional singing for all versions of the game. Most characters have different voice actors for different languages, but Yun Jin is an exception. There’s no easy way to translate her operatic singing to other languages while maintaining its cultural accuracy.
No matter what language you play in, expect to hear more of Yun Jin’s singing when they become available in Genshin Impact 2.4.
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