What is the driving force behind the AI-empowered "three new cultural exports" going global?

"The maturity of AI technology means that the overseas expansion of the "three new cultural products" no longer relies solely on big-budget productions, large-scale manufacturing and leading enterprises." said Zhang Xuyu, a post-90s young director, not long ago at the 2nd 2026 Wenzhou "Three New Cultural Products" Work Promotion Meeting.

So what is the new driving force? This promotion meeting, held in Rui'an, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, gathered representatives from government, enterprises, industry associations and other parties to discuss tapping local culture through small digital breakthroughs, improving the local digital media industry ecosystem, and exploring a new "small, fast and flexible" path for cultural products to go global.

Recently, the scene of the 2nd 2026 Wenzhou "Three New Cultural Products" Work Promotion Meeting. Photo provided by the Publicity Department of Rui'an Municipal Party Committee.

The "three new cultural products" — online literature, web dramas and online games — used to rely on a "heavy industry" model characterized by huge production costs and high investment when expanding to overseas markets.

AI is changing this logic. "It is expected that the film we produced will be released in the second half of this year, which will be one of China's first batch of 'native AI' animated films." Zhang Xiao, chairman of the film production company, introduced at the meeting. Behind the 120-minute full-length film, the "AI + human crew" participated in the whole process of script writing, storyboarding, special effects and other links, which greatly reduced costs while effectively ensuring the production of high-quality content.

AI enables small teams to stand on the big stage, and even allows small places to gather large industries. At present, 10 enterprises engaged in the "three new cultural products" have settled in Rui'an, and the AIGC Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center has produced more than 100 short dramas. In the first half of 2026 alone, the cumulative revenue of above-scale cultural new-format enterprises in Rui'an has reached 154% of the total revenue for the whole of last year.

Different from the market-oriented division of labor, the overseas expansion of AI-empowered "three new cultural products" will reshape the division of labor system around data elements. Taking Rui'an as an example, the local government has launched the full-link "AI Rui'an · Dramatic Fun" initiative, covering the four major links of "creation - research - production - distribution", building a complete lightweight link for the digital cultural industry that benefits more small teams and small and medium-sized enterprises.

For example, Rui'an has jointly built the "HiFan Manju" overseas distribution platform with enterprises, focusing on the overseas distribution of comic dramas, and supporting integrated services including multilingual translation, overseas channel placement and content monetization. In the first half of 2026, the platform has launched 36 short dramas overseas, with the highest number of views exceeding 50 million.

It is worth mentioning that Rui'an has also built a digital cultural asset trading service platform, which collects more than 8,000 copyrighted works and 2,620 high-quality audio-visual products, and builds a full-chain service system of "copyright registration - work evidence preservation - achievement display - transaction conversion".

Empowered by AI, the overseas expansion of the "three new cultural products" also relies on diversified content. Zhuang Zhifan, head of a digital cultural enterprise in Rui'an, said: "We produce 15 overseas-oriented dramas on average every month. The themes have shifted from werewolf stories and wealthy family dramas favored by North American users to local Wenzhou stories about entrepreneurship and overseas Chinese hometowns. These are the real daily life of Rui'an around us, and also the softest resonance point in the hearts of overseas Chinese."

Focusing on content creation, Rui'an also pioneered the "training-driven creation" model relying on the Wenzhou Online Literature Village: the 2026 Creation Training Camp offers two tracks of screenwriting and AIGC, implements small-class teaching, and trainees can independently complete original works upon graduation.

In addition, this promotion meeting intensively released 12 high-quality audio-visual works including AI films, AI short dramas and live-action short dramas, with themes covering historical cultural heritage and overseas Chinese hometown stories, and implemented the new enclave model of "off-site creation, Rui'an transformation" to continuously break down geographical barriers to industrial collaboration.

From a broader perspective, the overseas expansion of Wenzhou's "three new cultural products" is entering the 2.0 stage. In 2025, the above-scale cultural new-format industry in Wenzhou achieved a growth of 209.6%, and maintained a growth rate of 107.7% in the first quarter of 2026.

Source: China News Service