China News Service, Shenyang, October 17 (Reporter Li Hu) "The drama relies on AI three-dimensional modeling to highly restore the historical features of Shenyang: the century-old streets have clear texture of blue bricks, and the guise of old shops sway in the wind..." Zhang Yitian, president of the Shenyang Intelligent Application Association and head of the Shenyang Artificial Intelligence Industry-Education Integration Innovation Base, recently showed reporters scenes from the Northeast's first AI cultural and tourism interactive drama "He Zhixuan Travels".
In 2026, China's AI short drama market is going through a period of structural adjustment. Data released by the China Network Audiovisual Association shows that in the first half of the year, a total of 367,000 micro-short dramas were launched on various platforms, of which AI short dramas accounted for more than 74%. On average, more than 1,500 new AI dramas flooded into the market every day. However, Kuangbiao's AI short dramas are in profit trouble. The "AI Comic Drama Data Report for the First Half of 2026" released by DataEye Research Institute shows that only 1.3% of AI comic dramas have reached the break-even line, and 98.7% cannot recoup their costs. At a turning point in the industry, a batch of AI cultural and tourism interactive dramas rooted in cultural heritage have become a breakthrough direction.
Zhang Yitian introduced that unlike traditional traffic short dramas, AI cultural and tourism interactive dramas are based on local history and culture, city landmarks, intangible cultural heritage and other cultural and tourism resources, and integrate interactive narrative modes. Audiences can customize the names and identities of characters in the dramas, triggering different plot branches, realizing a real-life immersive drama viewing experience with thousands of people, and transforming urban culture from one-way communication into new digital content that can be experienced, interacted and shared.
At present, many places in China have laid out AI cultural and tourism interactive drama tracks: Chengdu's "Shu Shows the World" connects Sanxingdui, Dujiangyan, Wuhou Temple and other well-known cultural and tourism landmarks in Bashu; Quanzhou relies on AI scripted tours to revitalize the resources of ancient world heritage cities; Zhejiang Yunhe Terraces launches exclusive AI short dramas customized for tourists. Practice in various places has confirmed that the deep integration of AI and local cultural tourism is becoming a mainstream trend in improving the quality and upgrading of digital cultural creation.
Based on Shenyang's local cultural context, Zhang Yitian's team teamed up with Shenyang Heping District to create the Northeast's first AI cultural and tourism interactive drama "He Zhi Xuan's Travels". The series takes the local historical heritage and urban landscape as the creative background, relies on local exclusive digital people, and deeply integrates urban humanistic stories, historical changes and AI film and television technology. By independently participating in plot decisions, the audience can immerse themselves in reading the century-old cultural context of Shengjing, allowing the rich northern history and culture to be widely disseminated in a younger and more interesting way.
"Most AI short dramas on the market can be completed in three to five days, relying on batch generation of templates to quickly harvest traffic." Zhang Yitian said bluntly that the technology to generate pictures is very simple, but cultural accumulation cannot be achieved quickly. "Our goal for this drama is to create an AI cultural and tourism masterpiece that has historical research, urban warmth, and can be circulated for a long time."
"The future of AI film and television does not lie in infinitely increasing the output speed. The core competitiveness is the profound cultural accumulation." Zhang Yitian said that since the project was established in July this year, his team has abandoned the logic of fast-food creation and has delved deeply into libraries, archives, cultural and museum venues and century-old neighborhoods. At the same time, we have deeply linked up with Northeastern University, Shenyang University, and Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts to build a collaborative system of "hard technology + soft algorithm + artistic creation" to protect the quality of the series.
Zhang Yitian judged that AI short dramas will eventually shift from "strengthening production capacity" to "strengthening high-quality products", and short-term traffic fast food will eventually be eliminated by the market. Only works that are rooted in local culture, respect historical facts, and carefully polish narratives can survive for a long time.
Currently, China's AI cultural and tourism interactive dramas have entered large-scale implementation from the concept verification stage, producing quantifiable practical results in terms of tourist participation, revenue generation, and industry awards.
Zhang Yitian said that he hopes to use the rich local culture as the foundation to create AI content with Chinese urban heritage, so that digital cultural creation can have the power to travel through time. (over)
