WIPO China: Digital Technologies Bring Chinese Cultural Stories to Life

Shanghai, December 20 – The 2024 Global Cultural IP Industry Development Conference opened at the Shanghai International Resorts. Ms. Liu Hua, Director of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Office in China (WOC), attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech.

Ms. Liu noted that the rapid development of digital technologies is bringing new forms of expression to traditional Chinese culture. 

For example, Black Myth: Wukong has revitalized the classic Journey to the West story using modern gaming technology and artistic techniques, infusing it with fresh vitality and contemporary appeal. The game has sparked global interest, with 22.7 million sales and 1.1 billion US dollars in revenue.

Likewise, the science fiction novel The Three-Body Problem has expanded its influence through diverse formats, including audiobooks, comics, animations and live-action adaptations. With hundreds of brand collaborations, it has created a market for immersive experiences and consumer products valued at over 2 billion Chinese yuan. Globally, The Three-Body Problem has been translated into 35 languages, ranking as the top-selling contemporary Chinese novel overseas and winning the Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Li Ziqi, a social media influencer, brings traditional Chinese craftsmanship to life through her “slow living” videos, demonstrating techniques such as silk reeling, embroidery and lacquer art. With 21.8 million followers and over 3.27 billion views on global video platforms, her work showcases the power of digital media in promoting Chinese cultural heritage.

Similarly, the Hunan Museum has leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) to create a 3D digital avatar of Lady Xin Zhui, offering an immersive exploration of the culture, history and tradition of Han Dynasty. Each year, the Hunan Museum attracts over 4 million visitors, ranking among the world’s top 20 most-visited museums.

The Malanshan Video Cultural and Creative Industrial Park is another example of digital innovation in cultural industries, integrating “culture + technology” and “culture + industry” to develop a comprehensive digital cultural industry chain covering creativity, content production, storage, broadcasting and trading, with over 61,000 creative and technical talents and 124 large-scale cultural and creative enterprises.

These examples not only reflect the richness of Chinese culture but also demonstrate its potential for global dissemination through digital innovation.

According to WIPO’s Global Innovation Index 2024, China ranked first for 12 consecutive years in the proportion of creative goods exports to total trade, showcasing the international influence of Chinese cultural and creative industries. Domestically, the cultural industry and the digital economy have become key drivers of economic growth. In 2022, the added-value of China’s copyright industry amounted 8.97 trillion Chinese yuan, accounting for 7.41% of GDP, while the digital economy expanded to 53.9 trillion Chinese yuan in 2023, accounting for 42.8% of GDP.

Innovation and creativity are essential drivers of growth in the cultural industry. IP, by safeguarding the rights holders and facilitating the translation of ideas into tangible assets, fosters development of the cultural industry.

Ms. Liu outlined four key areas where WIPO supports the cultural industry in leveraging IP to drive innovation and development.   

Telling compelling IP stories

First, explaining the potential of IP through the World IP Day campaign and the WIPO Global Awards program. In recent years, Chinese youth have excelled in the World IP Day Youth Video Competition, with submissions frequently winning or being shortlisted; Five Chinese SMEs have received WIPO Global Awards. In 2025, the World IP Day will focus on the theme of “IP and Music,” and the WIPO Global Awards will launch on January 15 and introduce special nominations for outstanding women and young entrepreneurs.

Strengthening partnerships

Second, enhancing partnerships. In the context of “Digital Age” and “Deep Science” innovation waves, frontier technologies such as AI are revolutionizing the cultural industry while presenting new challenges to existing IP frameworks. To address these developments, WIPO has organized ten editions of Conversations on IP and Frontier Technologies since 2019, focusing on AI, big data, the metaverse and generative AI. These editions have attracted over 10,000 participants from government, academia and industry across more than 170 countries.

Providing high-quality IP services

Third, providing high-quality services. Beyond the international IP registration systems, WIPO offers arbitration and mediation services to resolve IP disputes, including copyright contractual and infringement disputes. WIPO also released a report summarizing key findings on alternative dispute resolution mechanisms for business-to-business digital copyright and content-related disputes. 

Leveraging IP as a powerful policy tool

Fourth, positioning IP as a powerful policy tool for growth and development. In the area of copyright, WIPO provides various public-private partnerships such as WIPO for Creators and CLIP which support creators through awareness raising, WIPO Connect which provides copyright collective management organizations to handle vast amounts of data, and WIPO ALERT which is a database consolidating information on copyright-infringing websites. For SMEs and individual creators, WIPO has launched the free IP Diagnostics tool, which provides tailored solutions for IP protection, management and commercialization through a single platform by completing questionnaires on various IP topics based on the user’s specific circumstances.

As an extension of WIPO in China, the WOC is committed to provide more timely, closer and higher-quality services to support cultural and creative enterprises in seizing opportunities in the digital age, leveraging IP to grow businesses, drive industry development and showcase the charm and vitality of Chinese culture through digital technology.

The 2024 Global Cultural IP Industry Development Conference

The 2024 Global Cultural IP Industry Development Conference, themed “The Power of IP: Innovation and Development in the Cultural IP Industry,” focused on the development of IP and the cultural industry. Mr. Tang Zhaozhi, Deputy Director General of the Copyright Department of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. Cultural and creative enterprises such as Sina, Bilibili, Yuewen and miHoYo participated in the event and set up exhibition booths.