Tourism authorities in several provincial-level regions have vied to promote their areas as the "real birthplace" of the Ne Zha character, hoping to ride the wave of popularity of the hit blockbuster, attract more tourists and boost economic growth.

多个省级地区的旅游部门争相将本地宣传为哪吒的“真正诞生地”，希望借助这部热门大片的浪潮吸引更多游客并推动经济增长。

tourism authorities 旅游部门

real birthplace 真正诞生地

ride the wave of popularity 借助热潮

boost economic growth 推动经济增长

However, experts have called for some restraint as the fervor over the mythical character has gone beyond expectations.然而，专家呼吁保持克制，因为对这一神话角色的狂热已经超出预期。

fervor 狂热

mythical character 神话角色

The animated film Ne Zha 2, or Ne Zha: Demon Child Conquers the Sea, has become China's highest-grossing movie of all time, with over 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in ticket sales since its opening on Jan 29 during the Spring Festival holiday.动画电影《哪吒2》（又名《哪吒：魔童闹海》）自1月29日春节档上映以来，票房已突破100亿元人民币（约合14亿美元），成为中国影史票房最高的电影。

highest-grossing movie 票房最高的电影

ticket sales 票房

The box-office sensation is adapted from Chinese mythology and loosely based on the novel Fengshen Yanyi, or The Investiture of the Gods, which was written during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).这部票房奇迹改编自中国神话，并部分借鉴了明代（1368-1644年）小说《封神演义》。

box-office sensation 票房奇迹

loosely based on 部分借鉴

In the film, a boy named Ne Zha, who was born with a demonic destiny and mighty power, fights against his fate and takes down villains with his best friend Ao Bing.在电影中，一个名叫哪吒的男孩天生背负魔童命运并拥有强大力量，他与好友敖丙一起反抗命运并击败反派。

demonic destiny 魔童命运

mighty power 强大力量

take down villains 击败反派

According to the novel, Ne Zha was born in Chentang Pass during the Shang Dynasty (c.16th century-11th century BC). However, the location of Chentang Pass in real life remains controversial, causing a "bidding war" for Ne Zha's birthplace online.根据小说，哪吒出生于商代（约公元前16世纪至公元前11世纪）的陈塘关。然而，现实中的陈塘关位置仍存在争议，引发了网上对哪吒诞生地的“争夺战”。

Chentang Pass 陈塘关

bidding war 争夺战

Yibin, a city in the southwestern province of Sichuan, said that it has over 20 places, relics and natural sites closely related to the folklore around Ne Zha.四川省西南部的宜宾市表示，该市有20多处与哪吒传说密切相关的地点、遗迹和自然景观。

folklore 传说

relics 遗迹

Other cities and provincial-level regions such as Tianjin, Henan and Anhui are also claiming to be Ne Zha's birthplace based on their folk tales or historical relics.其他城市和省级地区，如天津、河南和安徽，也根据民间传说或历史遗迹声称自己是哪吒的诞生地。

folk tales 民间传说

historical relics 历史遗迹

Experts said that it is still difficult to determine the real locations depicted in Ne Zha's story, as the character is a fictitious one, though it is loosely modeled on a real person in history.专家表示，由于哪吒是一个虚构角色（尽管部分借鉴了历史人物），因此很难确定故事中的真实地点。

fictitious 虚构的

loosely modeled on 部分借鉴

The fact that Chinese regions are vying to be known as the character's birthplace shows that local authorities are trying to benefit from the in-vogue film to boost their tourism and economies, they said.专家称，中国各地争相成为哪吒诞生地的事实表明，地方政府正试图借助这部热门电影推动旅游业和经济发展。

in-vogue 热门的

boost tourism 推动旅游业

Figures from travel portals appear to support this claim. According to online travel agency LY.com, the number of Yibin hotel room bookings and the average price of the rooms both grew 30 percent year-on-year from Feb 1 to Feb 9.旅游门户网站的数据似乎支持这一说法。根据在线旅游平台同程艺龙的数据，2月1日至2月9日期间，宜宾酒店预订量和平均房价同比均增长30%。

travel portals 旅游门户网站

year-on-year 同比

Travel portal Qunar also reported that during the Spring Festival holiday from Jan 28 to Feb 4, hotel bookings in Yibin rose 50 percent year-on-year on its platform.旅游平台去哪儿网也报告称，1月28日至2月4日春节期间，宜宾酒店预订量同比增长50%。

Spring Festival holiday 春节假期

It is not the first time that a Chinese folklore or film or entertainment product based on mythology has intrigued people's interest in Chinese traditional culture and prompted hordes of enthusiasts to visit certain regions.这并非中国神话、电影或娱乐产品首次引发人们对中国传统文化的兴趣，并促使大批爱好者前往特定地区。

intrigued people's interest 引发兴趣

hordes of enthusiasts 大批爱好者

The Chinese video game Black Myth: Wukong, based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, was all the rage worldwide after being released last year.基于中国经典小说《西游记》的中国电子游戏《黑神话：悟空》去年发布后在全球掀起热潮。

all the rage 掀起热潮

A large number of gamers and fans have flocked to Shanxi province, which is home to 27 of 36 scenes in the game, with most of the scenes closely related to Buddhist culture and Taoism.大量玩家和粉丝涌入山西省，该省是游戏中36个场景中的27个所在地，其中大部分场景与佛教文化和道教密切相关。

flocked to 涌入

Buddhist culture 佛教文化

Taoism 道教

Tang Yezhe, a 32-year-old engineer in Beijing, said he's a fan of the Ne Zha films and Black Myth: Wukong.32岁的北京工程师唐烨哲（音译）表示，他是《哪吒》系列电影和《黑神话：悟空》的粉丝。

fan 粉丝

"Ne Zha 2 is really stunning. The story, the characters and the special effects of the film are all exciting and vivid. I watched the film twice with my wife," he said.他说：“《哪吒2》非常震撼。电影的剧情、角色和特效都令人兴奋且生动。我和妻子看了两遍。”

stunning 震撼的

special effects 特效

He added that he traveled to Datong, Shanxi, in October with his family to see sites associated with the Black Myth: Wukong game.他补充说，10月他与家人前往山西大同，参观了与《黑神话：悟空》游戏相关的景点。

sites associated with 相关景点

"I've heard about the online birthplace contention of Ne Zha. I think it's hard to define where exactly Ne Zha comes from as he is a mythical figure," Tang said. "Sichuan and Tianjin are so far the two strongest candidates, and I may pay a visit to Sichuan's Yibin city to see the relics about Ne Zha."“我听说过网上关于哪吒诞生地的争论。我认为很难确定哪吒到底来自哪里，因为他是一个神话人物。”唐烨哲说，“四川和天津是目前最有力的两个候选地，我可能会去四川宜宾看看与哪吒相关的遗迹。”

birthplace contention 诞生地争论

mythical figure 神话人物

Wang Peng, an associate researcher from the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said in a recent interview with news outlet CQCB.com that Ne Zha is one of China's most popular mythical figures and has boosted short-term public attention to destinations concerning Ne Zha's story.北京市社会科学院副研究员王鹏近日在接受《重庆晨报》采访时表示，哪吒是中国最受欢迎的神话人物之一，并短期内提升了与哪吒故事相关目的地的公众关注度。

associate researcher 副研究员

boosted short-term attention 提升短期关注度

He suggested local authorities combine their own cultural and tourism advantages with the influence of Ne Zha to ensure more sustainable tourism development, rather than blindly jumping on the bandwagon or ignoring their local tourism resources.他建议地方政府将自身的文化和旅游优势与哪吒的影响力结合起来，以确保更可持续的旅游发展，而不是盲目跟风或忽视本地旅游资源。

sustainable tourism development 可持续旅游发展

jumping on the bandwagon 盲目跟风