The ongoing 21st China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair has seen a slew of artificial intelligence (AI)-integrated photographic robotic arms and virtual reality (VR) systems brought by Chinese film tech firms.
More than 120,000 cultural products are on display, and over 4,000 investment and financing projects in the cultural industries are showcased and traded at the event.
Industry players at the event highlight AI's penetration across the filmmaking chain, from pre-visualization to post-production.
The AI filmmaking replaces green screens with real-time AI-generated environments visible to actors and directors during filming, and enables elaborate shots without costly rehearsals, according to exhibitors.
A domestically developed robotic camera arm drew attention for enabling precise, synchronized cinematography. The system executes complex shots -- such as a 10-second multi-actor tracking sequence -- with millisecond accuracy while feeding footage directly into AI-generated environments.
"It is through our software that I get to convert the virtual paths and the real-life footage into hardware, so as to achieve the most complex scenes. For example, a one-shot, a long shot or shot-switching between multiple objects and multiple actors. If you use real people you need multiple departments to rehearse. (This robotic arm) can perfectly use the data in AI to reproduce it," said Meng Juntao, an exhibitor.
The fair also debuts what developers claim the world's first XR-powered 'seated VR cinema' system.
Using head-mounted displays with 8K Ultra High-Definition resolution and ultra-wide fields of view, the technology transports viewers into hyper-realistic scenarios, from oceanic depths to interstellar travel, while requiring minimal physical infrastructure.
"The seated VR cinema can be brought into scenic areas and other public place. In the past, our traditional movies always had a picture frame. The audience used to be a bystander of the story, but now by using the VR technology, we can make the audience a witness of the story," said Wang Jixuan, deputy general manager of Xi 'an Film Studio Co., Ltd.
A total of 6,280 government delegations, cultural institutions, and enterprises are participating in the event either online or offline, an increase of 265 over the previous session, welcomed by 3,300 exhibitors at the fair.
AI-powered film technologies highlighted at Cultural Industries Fair
China will continuously build a robust domestic market to bolster its economy and counter external challenges in accordance with the requirements and arrangement from the annual Central Economic Work Conference, which put domestic demand at the forefront of eight key tasks for next year's economic work, according to experts.
The tone-setting conference was held in Beijing from Wednesday to Thursday in which the Chinese leadership decided priorities for the economic work in 2026.
Over the past four years, domestic demand has contributed an average of 86.4 percent to China's economic growth, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner.
"The top priority is to expand domestic demand as the key reason for this is that our demand is relatively weak. The first step here is figuring out how to increase consumption," said Chen Binkai, vice president of Central University of Finance and Economics.
Consumption has continued to play a leading role in the country's economic growth this year. In the first three quarters, final consumption expenditure contributed 53.5 percent to economic growth, an increase of 9 percentage points compared to the whole of last year.
The annual Central Economic Work Conference proposed that in 2026, a special campaign to boost consumption will be implemented in depth, the supply of high-quality goods and services will be expanded, policies on new and emerging industries will be optimized, unreasonable restrictions in the consumption field will be eliminated, and the potential of service consumption will be unleashed.
"Previously, much of the consumption we have encouraged is for manufactured goods. However, the growth rate of our service sector is not as ideal as that of the manufacturing sector. Therefore, increasing some investment to encourage consumption in the service sector may play a better role in stabilizing growth and expanding domestic demand," said Huang Qunhui, a researcher of the Institute of Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Experts said that income is the primary factor determining consumption, and only by increasing residents' disposable income, can their consumption capacity be improved.
They also said that the conference, while emphasizing the promotion of consumption, also clearly pointed out the need to formulate and implement a plan to increase the income of urban and rural residents.
"The Third Plenary Session [of the 20th CPC Central Committee] mentioned the need to increase the proportion of residents' income, specifically the proportion of labor compensation within that income. The Fourth Plenary Session [of the 20th CPC Central Committee] further proposed implementing a specific income-increasing plan for urban and rural residents. Of course, consumption is not solely an income issue. We need to strengthen basic public services and improve our social security fund. If these issues are further improved and optimized, and residents have higher incomes, they will be more willing to spend more on consumption, especially on development-oriented consumption," said Huang.
Expanding domestic demand remains top priority for China's economic work in 2026: experts
