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Changsha polishes blueprint for tech-culture integration

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BEIJING, Dec. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — A report from China Daily

Innovative approach spurs expansion of tourist industry

Limitless potential for revamping tourism is created when a city melds its dazzling culture with cutting-edge technology. Such is the case in Changsha, capital of Central China’s Hunan province, where a whirlwind of “culture plus technology” is sweeping the city, spurred by concerted efforts to blend industries with culture and shape new paradigms for tourism.

New business modes

Located on the bank of Liuyang River, Changsha’s Malanshan Video Cultural and Creative Industrial Park is home to more than 60,000 professionals who are excelling in the field of audio and video creation and production. With the support of technology, new cultural business modes have emerged there, forming a complete digital cultural industry chain that encompasses links such as content production, creativity, storage, broadcasting and trading.

At Skymedia, a large audio and video multimedia model released by Wondershare at Malanshan park, users can upload a photo and get a dynamic 3D effect video, or input text commands to generate music. The model boasts a wide variety of functions, including text-to-video generation, image-to-video generation and soundtracks, and is in commercial use. With the Skymedia model, creators can complete audio and video content production and editing more efficiently, significantly enhancing both the efficiency and quality of their creations.

As part of another project at Malanshan park, two people far apart don special pairs of “glasses” to become “close neighbors” in a virtual scene. Zou Jun, who is responsible for the project, said: “We define it as the next generation of communication, enabling real-time face-to-face interaction for remote business meetings, family communications and educational activities.”

The deep integration of culture and technology has led to the continuous emergence of new business modes and new scenarios at Malanshan park. According to statistics, over the past two years, more than 60 percent of leading enterprises attracted to the park are engaged in new business modes.

The animation and video game industry has become one of the fastest-growing new cultural sectors in recent years. Thanks to new infrastructure such as a video cloud platform, a supercomputing center and shared production center, Malanshan park has reduced the rendering time and costs for animation and game production by 30 percent. This has led to a strong trend of enterprises clustering together and scaling up capacity in the three-dimensional animation industry.

Currently, Malanshan park focuses on new technologies, new applications and new industries. It has established 16 scientific and technological innovation institutions and attracted 3,000-plus upstream and downstream enterprises.

By deeply applying digital technologies such as panoramic scanning, virtual reality and glasses-free 3D into the field of cultural heritage, other Changsha projects have brought precious historical relics back to life.

In August, Hunan Mango Digital Art Intelligence Technology launched a digital cultural museum application called Shanhai. This platform uses digital technology to present museum relics in a 3D form, allowing people to explore exhibitions anytime and anywhere on their mobile devices. The app offers vast digital collections and integrates functions such as 3D artifact appreciation, AI interaction and personalized museum experiences. It has quickly become popular online.

Digital technology helps relics be “reborn”, allowing audiences to seemingly travel back thousands of years while gaining an immersive understanding of the history and culture behind them. This year, Hunan Museum released a 3D digital image of Lady Xin Zhui, a woman whose remains have been well preserved for more than 2,000 years. Through the integration of advanced AI technology, motion capture technology and multiple disciplines including medicine and archaeology, the “sleeping beauty” has been brought back to life.

Besides relics in the museum, heritage in the wild can be “revived” with the help of high-tech solutions. The Wuxi site of stone tablets in Hunan’s Qiyang city is a large open-air site that preserves stone inscriptions from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), making it a rare treasure trove of calligraphic carvings. Due to natural causes, the surfaces of the inscriptions have experienced varying degrees of weathering, rendering many characters blurred and difficult to discern. The Malanshan cultural digitization innovation center, in collaboration with a team, utilized various digital technologies to rejuvenate the historical and cultural heritage, collecting images of each stele, employing techniques to achieve high-precision digital imaging, and forming a stele database.

Today, the database stores basic information about the inscriptions, which have been made clear and distinguishable, and provides things such as original photos and micro-trace images, as well as calibrating relationships between several hundred steles and hundreds of famous individuals. In the future, it could facilitate secondary creations around the inscriptions by experts, scholars and design teams.

Cultural tourism

Changsha’s innovative integration of culture and technology has given rise to new cultural tourism scenarios and business modes. From traditional real-world sightseeing to immersive experiences that blend the real with the virtual, new technologies can be found in the creation and dissemination of cultural content and interactive methods in cultural tourism, providing visitors with entirely new experiences.

In September, a digital exhibition hall, located next to Tianxin Pavilion, officially opened. The hall houses a vast collection of relics related to figures from Hunan history and also offers an immersive cultural experience via new digital and intelligent technologies. In one example, a digital image of Zhu Xi, a renowned philosopher from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), appears on a screen and can answer questions asked by visitors. The “digital human” Zhu Xi was created based on national supercomputing. Through AI technology, the great scholar’s attire, expressions and movements have been interpreted and he can engage in precise conversations with visitors. They can ask him abstract questions such as the meaning of “seeking truth from facts”, as well as trendy enquiries like “What are some of the best foods in Changsha?” or “What drinks did people in the Song Dynasty enjoy?”

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SOURCE China Daily

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XCMG XCA4000 Achieves Milestone with Installation of World’s Tallest Hybrid Tower Wind Turbine

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ORDOS, China, Dec. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — A new chapter in green energy is unfolding in Inner Mongolia as XCMG’s independently developed 4,000-ton all-terrain crane, the XCA4000, takes center stage at the construction site of the Ordos Zero-Carbon Industrial Park. This enormous crane has become an integral part of the park’s 500MW integrated wind-solar-storage demonstration project, reinforcing its role in pioneering sustainable infrastructure.

The Ordos Zero-Carbon Industrial Park is a joint venture between the Ordos Municipal Government and Envision Technology Group, and stands as the world’s first fully operational zero-carbon industrial zone. It boasts a 100% green electricity supply, with 80% of the energy coming directly from clean sources such as wind, solar, and storage, and the remaining 20% sourced through grid-purchased green power.

The introduction of XCMG’s 4,000-ton crane marks a significant milestone in global energy transition. The XCA4000 is designed primarily for the installation of large wind turbines with hub heights of up to 190 meters tall and maximum power output of up to 15 MW. Powering the crane is a 566 kW Weichai diesel engine, and to help with maneuverability, all 11 axles on the 29.7-meter-long carrier are steered, with eight of them also driven. 

In its most recent operation, the XCA4000 lifted a 117-ton nacelle and drive train, along with 35-ton blades measuring 118 meters in length, to a height of 190 meters—the equivalent of a 60-story building. The XCA4000 performed flawlessly in executing each step of the process: lifting, rotating, aligning, and positioning, with remarkable efficiency and precision, earning acclaim from both the project owner and contractors.

“The 4,000-ton crane is easy to operate despite its 11-axle length,” said Mr. Yang, the crane’s operator who marveled at the crane’s flexible steering. “The multiple driving modes make steering exceptionally flexible. During installation of a 12.5 MW hybrid tower wind turbine, currently the tallest on land, it completed the two lifts in just over twenty minutes each.”

XCMG’s 4,000-ton crane is a testament to the company’s commitment to high-end, intelligent, and green solutions that serve the international market. By tackling the challenges of installing ultra-high-power wind turbines, XCMG continues to support the growing global green energy sector and demonstrates China’s dedication to environmental progress.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2587778/XCMG_XCA4000_Achieves_Milestone_with_Installation_of_World_s_Tallest_Hybrid_Tower_Wind_Turbine.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/xcmg-xca4000-achieves-milestone-with-installation-of-worlds-tallest-hybrid-tower-wind-turbine-302339236.html

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iQIYI leads genre-specific storytelling with the return of its trend-setting ‘Light On Theater,’ featuring seven new suspense dramas

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Five years on, the pioneering drama brand remains the benchmark for suspense

BEIJING, Dec. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — iQIYI, China’s leading online entertainment platform, announced this month the return of its acclaimed “Light On Theater,” celebrating the fifth anniversary of this suspense-themed drama brand. Featuring seven new titles with star-studded casts and renowned production teams, the lineup is set to reinforce iQIYI’s leadership in suspense storytelling and highlight the success of its genre-driven model.

The new slate follows the distinctive style of “Light On Theater” with gripping narratives and rich character development as a lens to explore the depth of human nature. Highlights include the drama “Low IQ Crime,” which brings a fresh dark comedy element to the genre, and “Let Wind Goes By,” which premiered on Dec. 26 and breaks new ground as one of the first suspense series set in Northwest China as it follows two generations of police officers entangled in a complex web of relationships. The lineup also features “A Life for a Life,” a compelling prison drama exploring the dynamic between a detention officer and an escaped convict. Other anticipated titles include “Drifting Away,” “Dead End,” “Breaking the Shadows” and “Justifiable Defense.”

Since its launch in 2020, “Light On Theater” has emerged as one of China’s first and most influential drama brands, offering a curated collection of premium suspense series. The label’s breakout hit “The Bad Kids” debuted that same year and quickly became a cultural phenomenon. The series earned critical acclaim and dominated social media conversations, setting a new benchmark for Chinese suspense storytelling with its masterful pacing and nuanced exploration of social issues. This pioneering success has sparked a surge in high-quality suspense productions across the industry that continues today, helping establish suspense as one of the most sought-after genres in Chinese entertainment.

“Our dedication to premium suspense content has created an incredibly engaged viewer base, with high-quality productions driving strong user retention,” says Ying DAI, iQIYI senior vice president and head of “Light On Theater.” “We continuously innovate our content possibilities and boldly push the boundaries of storytelling within the genre, consistently surpassing audience expectations.”

Building on the success of “Light On Theater,” iQIYI has expanded its genre-based approach with “Love On Theater” for romance and “Laugh On Theater” for comedy series, both of which have been well-received by audiences. This year’s launch of “Dajia Theater,” meaning “master of literature,” and “Weichen Theater,” meaning “tiny dust,” which focus on literary adaptations and innovative mini-series respectively, further demonstrates iQIYI’s commitment to serving diverse audience preferences while maintaining premium production standards across genres.

Global recognition

“Light On Theater” has also gained overseas recognition for its premium content, becoming increasingly popular among global audiences in addition to traditional genres like fantasy period dramas.

Standout series “The Bad Kids” and “The Long Night” won consecutive awards at the Asia Contents Awards (ACA) of the Busan International Film Festival, while “Why Try to Change Me Now” marked a milestone last year as the first Chinese-language series to be selected for the Berlinale Series.

The strong reception in overseas markets demonstrates how iQIYI’s meticulously crafted stories resonate with audiences through their universal themes of human nature. Notably, “The Bad Kids” was adapted into a local version in Japan in 2024, highlighting its widespread appeal.

CONTACT: iQIYI Press, press@qiyi.com

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SOURCE iQIYI

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Japan Global Innovators’ Forum 2025

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The annual meeting is returning for its second year after a successful inaugural event in 2024

TOKYO, Dec. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Tokyo-based global media agency Pacific Bridge Media and Consulting Inc. (PBMC) is pleased to announce that the 2nd annual Japan Global Innovators’ Forum (JGIF) will be held in March 2025. PBMC’s solutions-focused multilingual news service J-Stories will co-host the event with the Mainichi national daily’s startup accelerator, Mainichi Future Creation Lab.

Innovative Japanese and international startups with global ambitions will gather in the heart of Tokyo on March 13, showcasing the solutions they offer to address the world’s biggest social and environmental challenges. A panel of industry experts will assess their growth potential both in Japan and abroad at the cross-border pitch event.

Participating startups in the 2025 event will include not only Japanese startups aiming to expand into global markets, but also ambitious inbound Asian startups that are taking on the challenge of solving some of Japan’s critical problems — such as its aging population and rural depopulation.

The categories to be focused on are Age Tech, Health Tech, Mobility, and Green Energy. There will also be special sessions featuring East Asian startups as well as Japan’s regional startups.

Organizers hope that the event will provide practical opportunities for participating entrepreneurs to meet potential partners and supporters in Japan and overseas, including venture capitalists and corporate venture capitalists, among other startup ecosystem players.

Details of the event will be unveiled on a special page in J-Stories by the end of January.

The inaugural Japan Global Innovators’ Forum, a pioneering English-language startup event that promoted dialogue between innovators in Japan and their potential supporters overseas, was held in March of this year at the Tokyo Innovation Base in central Tokyo and live-streamed globally. The event highlighted Japan-based social entrepreneurs aiming to scale globally while offering solutions to social and environmental challenges commonly shared across the world.

Event report: https://jstories.media/article/jgif-event-release

[Event Overview]

“2nd Japan Global Innovators’ Forum”

Date: Thursday, March 13, 2025

Time: 1-6 p.m. (Subject to change), followed by a networking event

Venue: Mainichi Hall (Located on a basement floor of Palaceside Building in Takebashi, Tokyo)

https://www.mai-b.co.jp/index-en.html

Language: English 

Organizers: J-Stories/Pacific Bridge Media and Consulting; Mainichi Future Creation Lab

Focus Categories (Expected) :

Age TechHealth TechMobilityGreen EnergySpecial sessions (featuring Japan’s regional startups and East Asian startups) 

CONTACT:
PACIFIC BRIDGE MEDIA AND CONSULTING
Editorial department:Toshi Maeda (Executive Editor)・Takanori Isshiki (Deputy Executive Editor)・Anita De Michele (Editorial Coordinator)
Email:info@pacificbridge.jp
Phone:+81- 50-5527-0955

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/japan-global-innovators-forum-2025-302339237.html

SOURCE PACIFIC BRIDGE MEDIA AND CONSULTING

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