Technology transforming creativity

Inside a studio at the Malanshan Video Cultural and Creative Industrial Park in Changsha, Central China's Hunan province, rows of screens glow with Arabic, Spanish, Thai and French scripts, in stark contrast to the almost entirely Mandarin-speaking environment. On another monitor, a character speaks in fluent English, though the original footage was shot in Mandarin just hours earlier.

Here at the park, artificial intelligence is quietly reshaping the global journey of Chinese micro-dramas.

In April 2025, China's first large-scale intelligent translation and production center for short dramas was launched at the Malanshan Audio and Video Laboratory, a key research platform within the park. The system integrates large language models, speech recognition, voice cloning and synthesis, enabling automated translation, dubbing and subtitle generation in multiple languages.

"In the past, manually translating a two-hour micro-drama could take one to two weeks. Now it can be completed in just a few hours," said Tu Yongfeng, the director of the lab.

The efficiency gains are accelerating overseas reach. The laboratory has rolled out more than 3,000 works, drawing tens of millions of overseas viewers, while significantly reducing production costs, Tu noted.

Such developments reflect a broader national push to integrate culture and technology, a priority repeatedly emphasized by President Xi Jinping.

In September 2020, during an inspection tour in Changsha, Xi reviewed exhibitions of cultural and creative products, and spoke with young professionals working in the sector.

Xi highlighted the distinctive character of Hunan's cultural and creative sector, describing culture as a sunrise industry. He stressed that deep integration of culture and technology is driving rapid growth, and that the sector is not only economically dynamic but also a vast reservoir of talent deserving sustained support.

Since that visit, the ideas he outlined have steadily taken concrete shape at Malanshan.

Often dubbed "China's V Valley", the park is now home to more than 4,000 culture and technology enterprises and over 64,000 professionals across the audio-video sector. More than 20 research and innovation platforms have been established, including the Malanshan Audio and Video Laboratory, where technologies such as AI and ultra-high-definition video are being developed and applied.

From 2020 to 2024, companies in the park generated a combined revenue of 277.1 billion yuan ($38.5 billion), with annual growth averaging over 11 percent, while tax contributions grew at an average annual rate of 17 percent.

The Malanshan Audio and Video Laboratory has emerged as a core engine driving technological transformation.

Established as a high-level research platform, the lab focuses on core technologies across the entire audio-video chain, from production and editing to transmission and display. Its work spans AI-empowered content creation, home and in-car audio-video equipment, and professional audio-video testing systems.

In one demonstration area, a set-top box no larger than a USB drive delivers 4K ultra-high-definition images and immersive audio, transforming an ordinary living room into a cinema-like space. Nearby, an AI dual-lens livestreaming camera responds to hand gestures, simulates cinematic depth of field and automatically removes backgrounds, enabling a single creator to produce studio-quality broadcasts from almost anywhere.

"We aim to build a full technological ecosystem covering the entire audio-video pipeline, from capture and editing to transmission and display, while aligning with both international frontiers and domestic industrial needs," Tu said.

The research team has filed more than 200 patent applications and plans to develop the facility into a leading national center for audio-video technology within the next five years.

As AI tools continue to mature, Tu said the lab expects both accuracy and efficiency to improve further, providing Chinese cultural products a faster and more natural pathway to global audiences.

What is unfolding at Malanshan mirrors a broader national policy direction.

In 2024, the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China called for exploring effective mechanisms to integrate culture with science and technology and for accelerating the development of new cultural business forms.

During a group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in October 2024, Xi stressed the need to explore effective mechanisms for integrating culture and technology, promote digital empowerment and information-based transformation in cultural development, and turn China's rich cultural resources into development advantages.

Xu Guobao, vice-president of the China Culture Administration Association, said deeper integration requires not only new technologies, but also effective institutional mechanisms.

He noted that reforms are needed to improve the allocation of innovation resources, allowing talent, capital, data and technology to flow more efficiently in cultural production. Such changes can stimulate creativity and accelerate the emergence of new cultural business models, he explained.

Developing such models is strategically important, he said, for building a strong cultural sector, as it can promote high-quality economic growth, meet the demand for immersive cultural experiences, strengthen the preservation of traditional culture through digital tools, and enhance China's cultural soft power globally.

Meanwhile, across the country, the integration of culture and technology is becoming tangible, particularly in major cultural institutions.

At the Palace Museum in Beijing, digital transformation has become central to public engagement. Since the launch of the digital Palace Museum mini-program in 2020, millions of users have explored the former Chinese imperial palace through panoramic tours, livestreamed seasonal scenes and interactive exhibitions. Online ticketing, smart navigation, visitor comfort indices, as well as accessibility features for elderly and visually impaired users have further enhanced the experience.

In October, the Palace Museum further expanded its digital collections, bringing the number of high-definition digitized artifacts to more than 150,000, according to the museum authorities.

At the Mogao Caves in Gansu province, advanced scanning and rendering technologies recreated the famed Library Cave in digital form in 2023. Once housing tens of thousands of Silk Road manuscripts, the chamber can now be explored virtually.

The project was a joint effort between the Dunhuang Academy and Tencent, carried out under the guidance of the National Cultural Heritage Administration. It enables visitors to explore a virtual reconstruction of the historic chamber and its manuscript treasures.

The Digital Library Cave project received the Star of Outstanding Award from UNESCO's Global Awards for World Heritage Education Innovative Cases for 2023, and an international version was launched in Europe in 2024, offering English and French interfaces to overseas users.

In northern Shanxi province, the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda — the world's tallest surviving all-wooden structure — has gained a digital "avatar" in recent years through the collaboration between Lenovo and Tsinghua University's School of Architecture.

Using spatial computing and AI-generated content, researchers reconstructed the pagoda's structure and historical evolution, enabling long-term monitoring and immersive public experiences without physical intervention.

These projects demonstrate how digital technology is extending the life of cultural heritage while broadening its audience, experts said.

Digital cultural resources are increasingly being transformed into consumer products, rather than remaining traditional souvenirs. Cultural symbols drawn from classical paintings or historical motifs now appear on food packaging, clothing, watches and household goods.

According to market consultancy iiMedia Research, China's guochao, or China-chic, economy surpassed 2.2 trillion yuan in 2024. Cultural elements are becoming part of daily consumption on the strength of technology rather than confined to niche or ceremonial contexts.

Zhou Dan, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Philosophy, said the integration of culture and technology is central to building a strong socialist culture in the new era.

Quoting President Xi, he noted that the quality of cultural development should not be measured solely by economic returns, but by whether it provides cultural products that both meet people's needs and strengthen their spirit.

As new technologies such as generative AI emerge, development and security must be balanced. Digital tools are expanding creative space and enriching cultural experiences, but they also bring risks that require improved governance, ethical oversight and content regulation, Zhou emphasized.

He added that digital innovation should offer new means of expression for history and tradition, not rewrite or distort them.

Contact the writers at yangfeiyue@chinadaily.com.cn