Empowering Chinese Cultural Trade with Digital Intelligence: Transitioning from Followers to Leaders
2025-07-09
Black Myth: Wukong has attracted a large number of overseas game players, Nezha's Devil Boy in the Sea has created a global box office miracle, Chinese mini dramas have kept overseas audiences busy, and Chinese popular game brands continue to be popular overseas... In these successful cultural samples, there is no lack of the blessing of digital intelligence technology. In the field of digital cultural trade, we have established a certain level of global competitiveness and formed a group of cultural enterprises, products, and brands with international influence. According to statistics, the total amount of cultural trade in China will reach 1.4 trillion yuan in 2024, of which the total amount of cultural trade with digital elements such as online audio-visual will exceed 370 billion yuan, accounting for 25.8% of cultural trade. At the recently held 2025 Cultural Power Construction Summit Forum on Empowering Cultural Trade with Intelligence, the attendees reached a consensus that China has a 5000 year civilization accumulation, coupled with the innovation of digital technology and its widespread application in the domestic environment, we are fully capable of promoting high-quality development of cultural trade and helping to achieve the goal of building a cultural power. Content structure transformation: giving birth to various new forms of going global. China's cultural trade is undergoing unprecedented structural transformation. At the scale level, it has achieved a leap from scattered breakthroughs to comprehensive overseas expansion; At the level of form, the transition from traditional cultural forms to new forms of digital culture has been completed. The "new three types" of cultural globalization, represented by online literature, online micro dramas, and online games, continue to release surging momentum. Moreover, with the deep empowerment of digital technology, new forms such as immersive exhibitions and virtual large space experiences continue to emerge. These products not only carry advanced digital intelligence genes, but also carry the core of excellent traditional Chinese culture, which can effectively break down communication barriers and open digital windows for overseas audiences to perceive Chinese culture in three dimensions. Digital technology has not only given birth to new forms of cultural globalization, but also activated the modern vitality of traditional Chinese cultural resources. The Palace Museum has been deeply involved in the construction of the "Digital Palace Museum" for more than 20 years, and has achieved the digital transformation of 52% of its collection of cultural relics. It is steadily advancing at a rate of 70000 pieces per year, revitalizing dormant treasures in the cloud. The power of technology also lies in reproducing intangible history, such as Henan Radio and Television's "Tang Palace Banquet", which successfully upgraded from a dance art that "exploded" in 2021 to a VR movie that won the first "dragon logo" in Chinese VR cinema. The audience can immerse themselves in the first perspective, cross thousands of years of time, and empathize with the characters of the prosperous Tang court. At the same time, a batch of digital cultural products based on games are achieving innovative expression of excellent traditional Chinese cultural content on the world stage. Game products such as "Black Myth: Wukong" have won the love and praise of overseas players, achieving effective dissemination of traditional culture in interactive entertainment. However, carrying a profound cultural core is only the first step. To truly make the global audience pay for it, cultural products must be centered around the audience and actively cross regional cultural divides. Digital intelligence technology is the key force in achieving this localized grammar transformation. This requires us not only to meticulously translate the language, but also to deeply understand and integrate the user preferences and cultural habits of the target market throughout the entire development and design process, so that Chinese stories can truly enter the hearts of overseas users in the "world voice". Upgrading the overseas mode: Highlighting the new advantages of international competition and promoting cultural overseas expansion from point breakthroughs to global expansion, the key lies in the systematic upgrading of trade modes. Nowadays, a new characteristic has been formed from IP to platform, and then to the internationalization of the industrial chain. The three are gradually advancing and supporting each other, jointly weaving a new ecology for Chinese culture to go global. At the beginning of this year, the domestic animated film "Ne Zha: The Magic Children Roar in the Sea" topped the global animated film box office chart with a box office revenue of over 10 billion yuan, becoming a phenomenal cultural IP. This series of films not only created huge economic value through box office and derivative products, but also demonstrated the long-term development potential of cultural IP through the construction of the "Ne Zha Universe". Classic IPs have released tremendous market appeal and extensive international influence, inspiring new momentum for Chinese culture to go global. A good IP is a cultural ambassador that transcends mountains and seas. A classic IP can generate a variety of cultural and creative products across media, opening up broader space for cultural trade. Chinese online literature has entered a new stage of global IP co creation, with representative works such as "Celebrating More Years", "My Son in Law", "Da Feng Da Geng Ren", "Full time Master", and "Douluo Dalu" showing a collaborative approach from original works to IP adaptations, forming a cross media IP ecosystem that covers physical publishing, audio, animation, film and television, games, derivatives, and more. In addition, with technologies such as virtual reality and AI generation, cultural IP can break through traditional media boundaries and expand in a larger space. In the field of China-Chic, Bubble Mart demonstrated the long-term vitality of IP with LABUBU: after six years of signing, it finally became the "top stream" of millions of TikTok discussions, driving the four major IPs of Bubble Mart to generate more than 1 billion yuan in revenue in 2024. The dissemination power of IP across time and space has become the core competitiveness of enterprises' overseas development. If IP is the engine, then the platform is the highway for global cultural circulation. The platformization of Chinese enterprises is demonstrating their hard power. In recent years, a group of Chinese companies have taken the lead in entering overseas markets to establish their own platforms, continuously optimizing product and service quality, and meeting the diverse needs of overseas users with high-level technology and innovation. At present, Chinese digital platform enterprises are performing well in cross-border e-commerce, gaming, film and television, social media, and cloud services. The platform can deeply bind users, far surpassing scattered content delivery. Especially in the micro drama field, according to relevant data statistics, as of March 2025, the number of applications launched in China's overseas short drama market has reached 237, with a global cumulative download volume of over 270 million in the first quarter. It is forming a dissemination pattern mainly in North America, radiating to vast markets such as Europe, Japan and South Korea, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Just as content going global requires consideration of cultural differences with the local market, platforms must also think about how to do well in localized operations after going global, which is the key to enhancing the competitiveness of Chinese digital platform enterprises in overseas markets. The platform needs to have a clear understanding of the usage and consumption habits of local users, and provide content and services that are suitable for them. For micro dramas, the core bottleneck for future market development remains content supply. Although a large number of platforms have already settled in, how to graft Chinese scripts into overseas cultural contexts and create a stronger sense of immersion for local users requires joint efforts from government and enterprises to solve the problem. The attempt to export the industrial chain is becoming an attempt by some Chinese cultural enterprises to cultivate a global cultural ecology. When China's "Boonie Bears" theme park is exported as a complete set to the Middle East and the overall design is completed in Ukraine and Nigeria, its output is no longer a single product, but the full industry chain capability of "creative research and development+technical standards+operation system". The trend of IP development, platform building, and collaborative development of industrial chains marks the transition of China's cultural trade from "selling products" to "selling ecology". When technology empowers the entire chain of creation, dissemination, and consumption, China not only exports cultural content, but also exports "standard setting power+ecological construction power". Breakthrough in Communication Efficiency: Creating a New Future for Cultural Trade. Cultural trade has achieved significant results, but in order to further enhance cultural communication efficiency and expand cultural influence, it is still necessary to continue to strengthen technological empowerment and form a brand matrix. At the same time, it is also necessary to fill the gaps in resources and solve the problems of digital corpus deficiencies, so as to better move towards a new pattern of cultural trade. Digital technology and artificial intelligence technology have become the indicators of the global cultural trade market. Whoever occupies the technological advantage has the potential to lead the future global market. At this point, China has demonstrated strong competitiveness in the international market. In the field of big models, DeepSeek, which will be launched in January 2025, shows global users the powerful power of China's AI. In addition, all major domestic video platforms have launched AIGC application models, such as Kwai Kering, Tiktok Jimeng, Migu Tongzhou, etc. At present, China has achieved a leading international position in the field of large models, and in the future, large models can empower more industries and unlock unlimited creative possibilities. There are also technological changes happening in the audio-visual field. Migu uses cutting-edge AI technology in sports event broadcasting, entertainment, and documentary products. For example, in related competitions, Migu has launched a digital twin game, allowing fans to become digital clones of star players and immerse themselves in the metaverse space to experience every exciting moment of sports. This' black technology experience 'subverts the traditional viewing format and fully demonstrates the potential for business growth driven by technology. Digital technology is changing various industries, and manufacturing is no exception. Even the seemingly small process of making "colorful lights" is a stage where artificial intelligence plays a role. In recent years, Zigong lanterns have achieved significant results in reconstructing lantern creative design through digital intelligence empowerment and AI technology. The phenomenon level internet red light group "Qingcheng Shuangshu" at this year's Zigong Lantern Festival analyzed more than 700 pieces of opera makeup data through AI algorithms, and finally finalized the appearance of "Bai Suzhen" and "Xiao Qing" that integrated Song Dynasty three white makeup with modern comic aesthetics. It can be said that the integration of AI technology has become the core competitiveness of Zigong lanterns. Last year, Zigong exhibited 104 lantern festivals overseas throughout the year, achieving an export value of 77.46 million US dollars. Whether it is the Internet or manufacturing industry, enterprises are the main application and innovation subjects of digital intelligence technology. In the future, Chinese enterprises need to continue to strengthen technological empowerment, fully introduce digital technology in various aspects such as design, production, and marketing, and further enhance China's technological core competitiveness in the international cultural trade market. Technology is not only a tool, but also a new language for cultural globalization narrative. Under the empowerment of digital intelligence, China's cultural trade is constantly undergoing structural transformation, mode upgrading, and efficiency breakthroughs, gradually achieving a leap from "followers" to "leaders". (New Society)
Edit:Momo Responsible editor:Chen zhaozhao
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