{"id":673803,"date":"2026-09-05T11:19:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T11:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/673803\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T11:19:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T11:19:53","slug":"new-reality-for-chinas-entertainment-sector-as-ai-drama-goes-prime-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/673803\/","title":{"rendered":"New reality for China\u2019s entertainment sector as AI drama goes prime time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From low-quality \u201cslop\u201d such as soap operas starring humanlike cats and dating shows featuring anthropomorphic fruit, to increasingly slick productions realistic enough to pass for live action, <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/tech\/tech-trends\/article\/3365605\/china-leverages-short-video-ecosystem-lower-costs-carve-out-lead-ai-video?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">artificial intelligence-generated video dramas<\/a> have become almost inescapable on Chinese social media feeds.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">This week, the format graduated to prime time. A fully AI-generated adaptation of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West debuted on Hunan Satellite Television, a major state-owned broadcaster known for its hit entertainment programming and its streaming platform Mango TV.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The 30-episode series, with each instalment running about 40 minutes, went from commission to broadcast in just three months. Production is still ongoing \u2013 the director told local media that later episodes would be continuously refined based on audience feedback.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The premiere delivered a sharp jolt to China\u2019s long-depressed media and entertainment sector. Shares in Mango Excellent Media, the listed unit of the Hunan broadcaster, hit their 20 per cent daily trading limit twice this week before paring gains. The surge added more than 13 billion yuan (US$1.9 billion) to its market value, signalling a strong return of investor enthusiasm.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThis sends a clear signal of policy support,\u201d said Guo Guo, a Beijing-based producer at a leading film and television company. \u201cAI drama is going mainstream.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From low-quality \u201cslop\u201d such as soap operas starring humanlike cats and dating shows featuring anthropomorphic fruit, to increasingly&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[261],"tags":[291,284798,24778,289,290,8473,381,160803,18,284802,284804,19,124920,17,284803,284801,284799,159571,82,284800],"class_list":["post-673803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-ai-drama","tag-aigc","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-bytedance","tag-china","tag-douyin","tag-eire","tag-hongguo","tag-hunan-satellite-television","tag-ie","tag-iqiyi","tag-ireland","tag-journey-to-the-west","tag-mango-excellent-media","tag-mango-tv","tag-seedance","tag-technology","tag-tencent-video"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117218169783256119","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}