From wuxia games to AI-powered microdramas: China sharpens its soft power playbook

Explore how China leverages AI and digital innovation to enhance its soft power through cultural exports like video games and online literature. Read more at straitstimes.com.

BEIJING – In Where Winds Meet, a Chinese-developed martial arts, or wuxia, video game launched in November 2025, players are not limited to scripted dialogue. They can also engage in free-form conversations powered by AI with non-player characters.

The artificial intelligence chat feature in the game offers a glimpse into how China aims to leverage its growing prowess in innovation and technology to make its cultural exports more engaging and appealing to overseas audiences.

The game, developed by Hangzhou-based Everstone Studio, attracted more than 15 million global players within a month of its overseas launch and topped download charts in over 60 countries and regions.

Both an open-world game – a virtual environment in which a player can approach objectives freely – and a role-playing one, it allows players to customise their characters extensively and explore an ancient China setting.

To expand its global influence, Beijing is increasingly counting on a new generation of digital cultural exports, or what Chinese officials and state media have termed the “new three”. The term refers to online literature, web dramas and video games, particularly when these are paired with advances in AI and platform technologies.

Much like the “new three” in the goods trade – electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar products – that have replaced traditional items such as clothing, home appliances and furniture to become the new pillars of China’s exports, the “new three” cultural exports replace the familiar symbols of dumplings, taiji and the Chinese language.