Telling Chinese Stories in the Chinese Way, the "New Three Varieties" of Culture Set Sail for the Global Market

“Practicing Tai Chi, making dumplings, and learning Chinese” were once the “old three” ways to spread Chinese culture. Today, the “new three” - online literature, online movies and TV shows, and online games - are rapidly going global and becoming the main force in China's cultural export. From Chinese moral principles to the artistic conception of Chinese ink painting, from historical epics to modern stories, overseas audiences not only see Chinese cultural symbols but also feel the spiritual temperament and innovative vitality in the process of binge - watching, reading, and gaming. These products are becoming a new window for the world to understand China and witnessing the profound transformation of Chinese cultural dissemination from “going out” to “going in.”

Recently, the 22nd China International Animation Festival was held in Hangzhou. At the entrance of the main exhibition hall, the theme exhibition of the “new three” cultural exports occupied a prominent position. Three sections of online literature, online dramas, and online games were presented together, and dozens of high - quality overseas - bound works made a collective appearance. From *The King's Avatar* to *Sixteen Sounds of Yanyun*, from *Sword Comes* to *A Peaceful Year*, these Chinese stories in the digital age not only attract domestic audiences but also draw fans from different countries to come and check them out.

Maria from Russia and her friends deliberately dressed up as characters from *Sixteen Sounds of Yanyun* and *Qin's Moon*. Like her, many foreign audiences are fascinated not only by Chinese games, dramas, and online literature themselves but also by the beautiful costumes and profound cultural heritage in them.

Why did this animation festival specially set up a “theme exhibition on the achievements of the 'new three' cultural exports”?

Huang Haifeng, Member of the Standing Committee of the Hangzhou Municipal Party Committee and Head of the Publicity Department: This animation festival happens to be the one in the first year of the 15th Five - Year Plan. It is also a practical action to implement the national strategy. Second, with the development of the times, the content of animation has been continuously expanding. Now it has extended to online literature, online dramas, and online games. Through such a special exhibition, the latest achievements of the “new three” cultural exports are aggregated, making the animation festival an important platform for Chinese culture to go global.

The 15th Five - Year Plan Outline specially sets up a chapter to deploy “stimulating the cultural innovation and creativity of the whole nation,” clearly proposing to develop new cultural formats such as short - form dramas, guiding and standardizing the healthy development of online literature, online games, and online audio - visual content, and promoting the export of high - quality content.

In the process of the “new three” cultural exports, online movies and TV shows have shown particularly strong growth momentum. From the copyright export of traditional long - form dramas to the large - scale export of short - form dramas, Chinese film and TV works are entering the global audience's view in a more flexible way.

This year, a historical drama *A Peaceful Year* has even set off a storm in the overseas market.

In January 2026, *A Peaceful Year* was premiered simultaneously on the prime - time slot of CCTV - 1 and global overseas platforms. The work focuses on the event of “offering the land to the Song Dynasty” by the Wuyue Kingdom, telling the story of China's peaceful reunification and spreading the wisdom of “harmony and coexistence” in Chinese civilization. The drama's distribution network covers 73 countries and regions, and it has been translated into nearly 20 languages and launched online, reaching nearly 400 million audiences globally. It topped the list of overseas dramas on the leading platform in Vietnam and scored as high as 9.3 on a professional platform in North America.

Zhao Yifang, Producer of *A Peaceful Year* and Chairperson of Huace Group: The theme has grasped the common language of the world. Everyone prays for peace, tranquility, and development, and hopes to live a good and peaceful life. This is the most important thing. We have spent a lot of effort on expressing and presenting it in a language and stories that the world can understand. Our screenwriters, directors, and all the creative staff can not only capture the essence of Chinese historical dramas but also highlight the visual aesthetics of Chinese historical culture.

To preserve the “essence” and “beauty” of history, the production team spent ten years polishing the script and built a real - life set of more than 30,000 square meters in Hengdian.

In the past, most film and TV dramas mainly focused on the domestic market when being planned. Now, from the very beginning of the planning of online movies and TV shows, the production team needs to take global and cross - border dissemination into consideration. They not only need to predict the acceptance of audiences with different cultural backgrounds at the script stage but also actively carry out secondary creation in the post - production editing and translation stages, creating differentiated content versions for audiences in different countries and regions through appropriate local translation and editing.

While high - quality long - form dramas are going global, short - form dramas have emerged as a new highlight in the export of online movies and TV shows. With their short and compact plots, fast - paced rhythms, and frequent reversals, short - form dramas precisely meet the fragmented viewing needs of global mobile Internet users.

Data from the National Radio and Television Think Tank shows that the overseas market scale of short - form dramas has increased from 600 million US dollars in 2023 to 3.6 billion US dollars in 2025, with an annual growth rate of more than five times. In the first quarter of 2026, the overseas revenue of Chinese short - form dramas was about 1 billion US dollars, a year - on - year increase of 43%.

From high - quality long - form dramas to short - form dramas sweeping the globe, domestic online movies and TV shows are continuously expanding their overseas dissemination territory. As the source of the IP industry chain, online literature has also achieved remarkable results.

The newly released *2025 Research Report on the Development of Chinese Online Literature* shows that in 2025, the overseas market revenue of Chinese online literature reached 5.64 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 11.2%. The number of overseas active users was nearly 200 million, covering more than 200 countries and regions.

During the animation festival, the Chinese Online Writers' Village signed a cooperation agreement on the co - construction of the IP economic ecosystem with a local Hangzhou enterprise. In the future, the two sides will integrate high - quality online literature IP resources and derivative development technologies to build a full - chain industrial ecosystem from content creation to product implementation.

The Chinese Online Writers' Village, this “small village” gathering 379 outstanding national online writers, has become an important platform for the high - quality export of the “new three” cultural products in Zhejiang. A large number of online literature works have been translated into various languages and published overseas.

Online literature provides the “source of stories,” online movies and TV shows bring the stories to life, and online games, as an important pillar of the “new three” cultural products, are also expanding their overseas market.

From relying on agency operations in the early days to achieving independent R & D and global distribution today, the international competitiveness of Chinese games has been increasing. Blockbuster games such as *Black Myth: Wukong*, *Genshin Impact*, and *Honor of Kings* have successfully attracted global players. According to statistics, in 2025, the actual overseas sales revenue of Chinese self - developed games reached 20.455 billion US dollars, approximately 146.4 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 10.23%.

The prosperity of content cannot be separated from the support of technology. Whether it is the real - time translation of online literature, the rapid production of short - form dramas, or the immersive experience of online games, all rely on the empowerment of digital technology. Behind the export of the “new three” cultural products is a profound transformation driven by digital technology.

In the best - selling list of an overseas platform of an online literature enterprise, more than 80% of the works are translated by AI.

Wu Xuemei, Overseas Content Director of Yuewen Group: Relying on large - scale models at home and abroad, we add our own training appropriately on the basis of these models. For example, online literature has various terminologies and languages with Chinese cultural characteristics. We conduct terminology translation and tell the AI what the translated terms are, and then the AI does the translation.

Artificial intelligence technology has reduced the overall translation cost by 90% and increased the efficiency by nearly 100 times. AI technology has also deeply empowered the online game and film and television industries.

AI intelligent technology has not only greatly improved the creative efficiency but also reshaped the entire production process of the film and television industry. The integrated imaging platform developed by this local Hangzhou enterprise covers all links from planning, storyboarding, text - to - video generation, to post - production synthesis. Creators input their ideas, and the system can disassemble the script, generate the shooting script, etc., and quickly produce videos.

In addition to breakthroughs in technology and content, the “new three” cultural products have also achieved an important model upgrade in the dissemination platform - from “riding on others' boats to go out to sea” to “building our own boats to go out to sea.”

A company focusing on short - form drama business used to rely on mature overseas platforms for promotion. Now, they have self - developed an overseas short - form drama platform, covering more than 200 countries and regions and supporting 15 language switches.

This is a vivid example of the transformation of the “new three” cultural products going global. Like this company, more and more cultural enterprises are now choosing to build their own overseas platforms and independently control the entire chain of platform operation, content distribution, and user operation.

The industrial chain layout is also being iteratively upgraded. Many leading enterprises of the “new three” have set up overseas branches, forming an integrated and coordinated development pattern of content creation, technology R & D, and global distribution.

Zhang Yiwu, Director of the Cultural Resources Research Center of Peking University: This industrial chain is a rich one centered in China and connected globally. As the engine of the creative industry, China continuously transmits new impetus to all parts of the world. The export of the “new three” cultural products provides very good support for the dissemination of Chinese culture and the shaping of China's new image, and also offers a very good new path for the real reach of communication power and influence.

The “new three” cultural products are setting sail overseas, not by the single - handed efforts of a single entity but by the coordinated efforts of the entire industrial ecosystem. Currently, policy support is being continuously strengthened across the country, with empowerment from the national to the local levels. At the national level, departments such as the Ministry of Commerce are continuously updating the catalogs of key national cultural export enterprises and key projects. Local governments have also introduced supporting measures. Recently, Hangzhou has launched a cultural fund focusing on the “new three” cultural products, with a scale of 1 billion yuan. In 2025, the revenue of Hangzhou's规上 enterprises in the “new three” cultural products reached 201.1 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 11.5%.

The influence scope of “Made in China” is constantly expanding, and its “circle of friends” is continuously growing. From “riding on others' boats to go out to sea” to “building our own boats to go out to sea,” from product export to value resonance, the “new three” cultural products are telling Chinese stories in a Chinese way and conveying Chinese wisdom in a global language, becoming a new medium for China's cultural exchange with the world. Facing the future, we should continuously iterate in terms of quality, technology, etc., so that more Chinese stories can be heard and seen more widely and loved by more people.

Source: CCTV News Client