Scenes of the 3D animation, Beyond the Ocean, which follows Jianwen, a timid crown prince in a fictional dynasty, who's haunted by his fear of being killed. He undertakes an adventure with a group of whale riders in search of a lost Buddhist island. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Of course, he is accompanied by several maverick friends of different nationalities. He grows stronger through the long voyage, just like Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise or Monkey D. Luffy in the Japanese manga series, One Piece.

"Ancient China is traditionally known as a terrestrial civilization, which has led to many legends about our oceans being marginalized in our culture," Ma says. "I wrote the story because I wanted to create a chemistry between our terrestrial and maritime civilizations."

Internet origins

It will come as no surprise that the story translated readily into an online animated franchise, given that it was originally launched on the internet. Beyond the Ocean was initially released on Sina Weibo in 2016. It wasn't published in print until 2017.

The franchise has attracted more than 200 million clicks on the social-network platform to date.

"Chinese people are able to not only play supporting roles in Pirates of the Caribbean (like Sao Feng and Mistress Ching)," Ma says. "They can be heroes, who lead their own adventures."

When it comes to developing his ideas, Ma was keen to borrow any interesting cultural elements he could conceive of-whether from China or abroad, ancient or futuristic-to create the myriad hybrid worlds that occupy his books.

In his previous novels, he sent a fleet from China's Shang Dynasty (c.16th-11th century BC) to a rendezvous with the Mayan people of South America. He also playfully saw to it that the ancient Chinese inhabitants of Chang'an (today's Xi'an in Shaanxi province) rode underground dragons as part of their daily commute, just like taking the subway.

His unrestrained imagination has earned him a strong fan base among younger generations. An analysis of search engine Baidu's results shows that more than 40 percent of Ma's fans are ages 15 to 24.