The "New Three Cultural Exports" Go Global, Hangzhou Aims to Lead

　China News Service, Hangzhou, January 24th (Bao Mengni) In 2026, Hangzhou will build itself into a leading area for the high-quality development of the country's "new three cultural categories" and a demonstration area for their overseas expansion.

　　The Sixth Session of the 14th Hangzhou People's Congress is being held here. Hangzhou Mayor Yao Gaoyuan made the above statement when delivering the government work report.

       The Sixth Session of the 14th Hangzhou People's Congress opens. Photo by Fa Xin

　　In recent years, the "new three cultural categories" represented by online literature, online movies and TV dramas, and online games have become important carriers for Chinese culture to go global. In the beginning year of the 15th Five-Year Plan, Hangzhou put forward the above goals, and the words "leading" and "demonstration" clearly show its intention to take the lead in the planning.

　　Hangzhou has had many glorious moments in the achievements of its cultural "new three categories".

　　In 2024, the game "Black Myth: Wukong" became a global phenomenon.

　　In 2025, the movie and TV drama "The Legend of Hidden Sea" went global and was launched in 190 countries and regions overseas.

　　In 2026, the micro-short drama "Summer Fendra" was written into the Zhejiang Provincial Government Work Report due to its outstanding performance.

　　Statistics show that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, 31 enterprises (times) and 9 projects in Hangzhou were selected as the national key enterprises and projects for cultural exports, with the cumulative totals reaching 95 enterprises (times) and 54 projects respectively, ranking first among similar cities in the country. At the same time, 688 online movies and TV dramas produced in Hangzhou obtained distribution licenses, including 491 online animations produced in Hangzhou, accounting for 31% of the country's total and ranking first among similar cities in the country. Currently, the cultural "new three categories" originating from Hangzhou cover more than 1 billion overseas users.

        On January 23rd, the "Black Myth: Wukong" IP attracted a large number of tourists to visit. Photo by Wu Junyi

　　However, just seeking quantity is not enough. Driven by the in-depth development of digital technology, the overseas expansion of the cultural "new three categories" is shifting from scale expansion to quality improvement, which also makes Hangzhou prioritize "high quality".

　　Science and technology are undoubtedly an important engine for promoting cultural innovation.

　　Recently, the "National Color Big Model" of Zhejiang Huace Film and TV Co., Ltd. was included in the list of the first batch of key models and application scenarios of "Artificial Intelligence + Culture" in Zhejiang Province. This model can quickly extract the content of movie and TV works, complete translation and generate content in the target language, realize the rapid editing and production of movie and TV content, cover more than a dozen mainstream languages and various minority languages, and greatly improve the efficiency of overseas distribution.

　　"Compared with the pure manual translation process, the combination of AI big model translation and manual proofreading reduces the cost by 50%-60% and greatly improves the efficiency at the same time," said Fu Binxing, the president of Huace Group.

　　While some enterprises are exploring ahead, cultural barriers, compliance risks, and difficulties in local operation have become invisible thresholds for most enterprises to go global, which requires the government to provide support in terms of capital, platforms, policies, and other aspects.

　　Not long ago, the Audio-Visual Industry Service Center for the Overseas Expansion of Hangzhou's Cultural "New Three Categories" was launched. This center constructs a trinity service system of "technical support + cross-border service + copyright protection", aiming at the pain points such as language and cultural barriers, short - boards in cross - border services, and difficulties in overseas rights protection on the way of enterprises going global.

　　A few days earlier, Hangzhou issued the "Several Measures to Promote the Overseas Expansion of Online Literature, Online Movies and TV Dramas, and Online Games", constructing a full - industrial - chain support system with five major actions and 18 measures.

        In Hangzhou, Zhejiang, readers experience the VR of "Douluo Continent: Time Travel". Photo by Sun Linru

　　Not only at the municipal level, but also all districts and counties in the city are competing in this field based on their existing advantages, presenting a flourishing scene.

　　Linping District has the country's first computing power town with abundant computing power resources. Relying on a 400 - million - yuan computing power fund and a 100 - million - yuan cultural and creative fund, the Fengshouhu Cultural and Technological Integration Industrial Agglomeration Area has been established in this district. Focusing on industries such as AI micro - short dramas, digital games, and interactive movies and games, its goal is to drive content creation, scene construction, and model innovation with AIGC, and to connect the whole chain of "content + platform + channel + distribution + promotion".

　　As the location of Zhejiang University and Westlake University, Xihu District has a complete innovation chain and powerful large models such as Tongyi Qianwen to support content creation. Aiming at AI comic dramas, the district has launched "six one" measures such as "building a characteristic industrial park", "holding a script competition", and "cultivating a group of professional talents" to create the best industrial ecosystem and business environment.

　　Yuhang District is the high - ground of Hangzhou's digital economy and the location of the Liangzhu Site, which proves the 5,000 - year history of Chinese civilization. At the end of last year, the Liangzhu Xinyun Film and TV Base, known as the "dream factory" for micro - short drama creation in the district, was officially launched. It has built a domestically leading metaverse production studio with all kinds of real shooting scenes. Its 260,000 - square - meter space can accommodate more than 20 film crews for 24 - hour non - stop shooting at the same time.

　　At the two sessions of Hangzhou in 2026, many deputies and committee members also turned their attention to how to promote the high - quality overseas expansion of culture.

　　Pan Yimei, a member of the Standing Committee of the Hangzhou People's Congress, the person in charge of public affairs of the Hangzhou Convention and Exhibition Group, and a national - level first - class English translator, believes that international exhibitions play a connecting role between "bringing in" and "going out". She suggests holding overseas cultural and creative industry exchange activities and accelerating the cultivation and growth of a talent team proficient in international languages and international narratives to make the cultural "new three categories" going global more in line with local cultures, customs, taboos, and laws and regulations.

　　Liu Qiong, a member of the Standing Committee of the Hangzhou Political Consultative Conference, a member of the China National Democratic Construction Association, and the chairman of Hangzhou Miluoxing Technology (Group) Co., Ltd., suggests providing pre - creation subsidies at the script stage of online short dramas and opening a "green review channel". Through the combined policy of "subsidy + fast review", it can effectively reduce the financial pressure and startup threshold of creative teams, especially small and medium - sized enterprises, and promote the implementation of more original short dramas with Chinese cultural characteristics for international communication.

　　Many industry insiders said in interviews with China News Service that the development of the cultural "new three categories" industry is changing rapidly, and policy support needs to keep up with the times.

　　According to the Hangzhou government work report, in 2026, Hangzhou will strengthen cultural platforms such as the National Cultural and Technological Integration Demonstration Base and the National (Hangzhou) Short Video Base, strengthen the cultural industry guidance fund, and guide and standardize the healthy development of new cultural forms such as online literature, online games, online movies and TV dramas, and e - sports.

（Source: China News Service  Editor: Zhang Ziyi）