December 2017 provides the institutional anchor for many of these Hunan deployments through the establishment of Malanshan Video Cultural and Creative Industrial Park (马栏山视频文创产业园) in Changsha, which has been repeatedly described in authoritative reporting as a key provincial platform for culture-and-technology industrialization. Its later role as a convening hub for museum-linked digitization initiatives and media production ecosystems aligns with the subsequent clustering of digital-human, virtual-presenter, and cultural-heritage digital-human projects around Changsha-based institutions and Malanshan-connected firms and programs.
June 2020 documented an early Changsha municipal broadcast deployment of AI-driven sign-language presentation in live news, with Changsha Broadcasting and Television Station (长沙市广播电视台) reporting the activation of an AI sign-language translation and virtual on-screen presence in the live broadcast of “Changsha News” (长沙新闻). Subsequent reporting in Hunan also described this as a collaborative development with Changsha Qianbo Information Technology (长沙千博信息技术有限公司), aligning the project with the province’s longer-running accessibility and public-service digital-human track.
January 2022 marked the start of a widely reported Hunan entertainment-media deployment of a human-like virtual host, with Hunan Satellite TV (湖南卫视) and Mango TV (芒果TV) variety programming coverage describing the virtual host “Xiao Yang” (小漾) appearing as an “intern” presenter on “Hello Saturday” (你好星期六) when the show began airing. The same reporting connected the character to Hunan’s broader media experimentation with human-like virtual presenters in mainstream variety formats alongside established human hosts.
September 2022 recorded a publicly described use case for the sign-language digital human “Qianyan” (千言) from Changsha Qianbo Information Technology (长沙千博信息技术有限公司), reported in Changsha-focused local media coverage as demonstrating standardized sign-language expression and interactive translation functions in disability-support contexts. This period’s reporting reinforced that Changsha’s Malanshan-linked accessibility work was being presented not as a concept demo but as a deployable digital-human product line designed for public communication needs.
November 2023 included an official evaluation milestone at the provincial regulator level, with the Hunan Provincial Radio and Television Administration (湖南省广播电视局) describing expert testing of a third-generation AI sign-language broadcasting system that included the sign-language digital humans “Xinyu” (心语) and “Qianyan” (千言) associated with the Changsha “Changguang Qianbo” (长广千博) development line. The same official account described the assessment as covering accuracy, readability, response time, and applicability against an identified test specification, and it treated the system as meeting an application-and-promotion threshold for practical deployment scenarios.
December 2023 added a verified iteration point for Changsha’s accessibility-focused digital humans, with Hunan Daily’s New Hunan (湖南日报·新湖南) reporting that Changsha Qianbo Information Technology (长沙千博信息技术有限公司) delivered a third-generation virtual sign-language digital human “Xinyu” (心语) that went on duty in the Changsha Broadcasting and Television Station (长沙市广播电视台) news program “Changsha News” (长沙新闻). The same reporting explicitly positioned “Xinyu” (心语) as a continuation of the earlier sign-language digital human line associated with “Qianyan” (千言), keeping the focus on detailed hand articulation and facial expressivity for broadcast accessibility use.
January 2024 established the formal “Digital Han Life” (数字汉生活) initiative as a Hunan Museum (湖南博物院) and Malanshan (马栏山) collaboration anchored in Changsha’s Malanshan Video Cultural and Creative Industrial Park (马栏山视频文创产业园) ecosystem, with contracts and authorizations described as enabling broader creative development around Mawangdui (马王堆) cultural resources. Public reporting described the arrangement as including the opening of museum brand and Mawangdui-related digital resource authorizations to Hunan higher-education institutions and a first group of provincial enterprises, while also positioning Malanshan’s cultural-digitization entities as the convening mechanism for building a wider “Digital Han Life” content-and-product pipeline.
March 2024 saw Hunan Broadcasting System (湖南广播电视台) bring an AI “assistant director” character named “Ai Mang” (爱芒, AIM) into a Hunan Satellite TV (湖南卫视) and Mango TV (芒果TV) variety program context via “We Men Sa” (我们仨), with the project publicly framed as an on-screen, production-participating AI role rather than a behind-the-scenes tool. Public reporting tied the program’s start of broadcast on the dual platforms to late March 2024 and described Ai Mang’s on-program function in assistant-director capacity, positioning it as a prominent Hunan media experiment in integrating an AI persona into mainstream entertainment production workflows.
May 2024 was the month when Hunan Museum (湖南博物院) publicly advanced its “Xin Zhui” (辛追夫人) digital-human program from static reconstruction to high-visibility public installation in Changsha’s transit space, with the “Xin Zhui 3D digital human” (辛追夫人3D数字人) described as appearing in dynamic form at Wenchangge Metro Station (文昌阁地铁站). Reporting specified that the reconstructed depiction presented Xin Zhui at roughly 35 years of age and drew on historical head X-ray materials from the 1970s alongside contemporary craniofacial reconstruction expertise, with Changsha Digital Whale Technology (长沙数字鲸科技有限公司) credited for producing the published 3D digital figure imagery. In the same May 2024 reporting window, the Wenchangge deployment was described as using glasses-free 3D presentation for public viewing, reinforcing Changsha’s use of high-footfall media environments to distribute museum-grade human-like digital representations.
July 2024 included Changsha’s cultural-technology venue “Lantianxin Digital Intelligence Huxiang Museum” (揽天心数智湖湘馆) presenting a human-like digital figure of the Song-dynasty scholar Zhu Xi (朱熹), publicly described as part of a culture-and-technology fusion effort linked to the National Supercomputing Center in Changsha (国家超级计算长沙中心) and Hunan University (湖南大学). This deployment was framed as an interactive cultural experience in which a historically themed digital human supports public-facing interpretation and engagement within a Changsha urban heritage context.
September 2024 featured Changsha hosting the 2024 Internet Yuelu Summit (互联网岳麓峰会) where the event’s dedicated AI digital human “Xiao Lu” (小麓) appeared publicly, with visual design credited to Shenman Culture (神漫文化) and production and technical support credited to Wondershare Technology (万兴科技). In the same month, Hengyang (衡阳) advanced a culture-and-tourism deployment on Dongzhou Island (东洲岛) at the “Digital Chuanshan Academy” (数字船山书院), where the Ming–Qing-era thinker Wang Fuzhi (王夫之, “Chuanshan” 船山) was presented to visitors in a human-like “digital human” form for on-site interpretive interaction, in a project publicly associated with Hunan Electric Broadcasting Media (湖南电广传媒股份有限公司). September 2024 also sat alongside continuing Changsha activity around historically themed human-like digital characters, reinforcing the province’s pattern of deploying human-appearing virtual beings as interpretive layers for events and cultural venues.
May 2025 brought further publicly reported progress around the Mawangdui (马王堆) digitization pipeline associated with Hunan Museum (湖南博物院) and the “Digital Han Life” (数字汉生活) direction, including the release of named digital outputs tied to Mawangdui-derived visual and pattern resources under a broader “Digital Han Life” collaboration context. This period’s reporting continued to treat the Mawangdui data-and-content stack as a foundation for downstream cultural products, reinforcing the role of Changsha’s Malanshan ecosystem in enabling cultural digitization at scale.
July 2025 added a municipal media update from Changsha Broadcasting and Television Station (长沙市广播电视台) via its published social responsibility reporting, which described the deployment of a virtual political-news anchor “Chang Xiaoxing” (常小星) in the flagship news program “Changsha News” (长沙新闻). The same report described “Two Sessions AI Answers” (两会AI回答) as an interactive feature during the Two Sessions coverage window, and it also referenced additional AI-driven virtual presenters and assistants connected to Changsha’s local media and the “My Changsha” (我的长沙) app ecosystem.
January 2026 expanded the Hunan Museum (湖南博物院) thread beyond a single digital figure into a broader, institutionalized digital-innovation program, again using “Xin Zhui’s Dinner Party” (辛追夫人的晚宴) as a concrete, publicly described interactive experience that lets visitors engage a dramatized Western Han (西汉) life setting through digital means. The same reporting positioned this work as part of a sustained museum-led push in digitization and applied public access, tying the museum’s digital innovation team to ongoing platform development and audience-facing digital products.
February 2026 saw Hunan’s cultural-and-tech narrative continue to foreground digitally embodied, human-like virtual beings through Hunan Museum (湖南博物院) and the wider Changsha (长沙) “Digital Han Life” (数字汉生活) ecosystem, with “Xin Zhui” (辛追夫人) repeatedly referenced in provincial cultural reporting as a flagship example of Hunan’s digitally mediated heritage storytelling. Within this framing, the “Xin Zhui’s Dinner Party” (辛追夫人的晚宴) experience was cited as part of the province’s ongoing effort to make Han-era culture accessible through interactive, immersive formats anchored in human-like digital representations.
[Feb 2026]
2025
May 24, 2025: Guangdong Southern Telecom Planning and Design Institute applied for a patent for a 5G system using big data and AI to create emotionally realistic digital humans with natural facial expressions and adaptive group interactions.
February 19, 2025: Hunan Happy Sunshine Interactive Entertainment Media Co., Ltd. was granted a patent for “real-time generation method and device for digital characters” with application filed in November 2024.
January 29, 2025: Wondershare Technology (Hunan) Co., Ltd. filed a patent for AI-powered lip-sync technology to improve the realism of virtual broadcasts through mouth movement adjustments.
2024
October 13, 2024: Henan Province advanced AI digital humans across multiple sectors including live streaming, cultural heritage, education, and public services.
September 22, 2024: Hunan Broadcasting Media Group digitally recreated historical figure Wang Fuzhi using AR and AI for the Dongzhou Island cultural tourism project.
September 21, 2024: Digital human version of philosopher Zhu Xi debuted at Changsha Lantianxin Digital Intelligence Huxiang Museum explaining “seeking truth from facts.”
September 17, 2024: Leyard Group expanded digital human technology through Virtual DotPoint subsidiary, creating “Xiao Yang” for Hunan TV and corporate event avatars.
September 8, 2024: Official AI digital human “Xiao Lu” was unveiled at the 2024 Internet Yuelu Summit, designed by Shenman Culture and produced by Wondershare Technology.
July 17, 2024: Study found affective pedagogical agents in online learning environments improved student motivation and understanding, with virtual characters outperforming human video instructors.
July 16, 2024: Digital human Zhu Xi was set to interact with visitors at Changsha Lantianxin Digital Intelligence Huxiang Pavilion, developed by Hunan University team.
June 24, 2024: Changsha Broadcasting and Television Station developed AI-powered virtual sign language anchors with detailed hand movements and realistic facial expressions.
May 25, 2024: Dynamic 3D Digital Figure of Madame Xin Zhifu was unveiled at Wenchangge Metro Station using AI and craniofacial reconstruction expertise.
May 18, 2024: Hunan Museum revealed 3D digital human image of Lady Xin Zhui showcasing her appearance at 35 years old based on 1970s X-ray scans.
May 18, 2024: Digital humans “Ai Wenwen” and “Tong Gujin” were featured at the 20th Cultural Industries Fair in Shenzhen enhancing cultural heritage presentation.
May 13, 2024: Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County introduced the first Dong ethnic digital human at a Beijing cultural tourism promotion event.
May 11, 2024: Li Wei from Malanshan Video Advanced Technology Research Institute discussed creating interactive digital humans that can sing and dance through 3D modeling.
April 23, 2024: China’s Hunan Broadcasting System introduced “Ai Mang,” the country’s first AI director on variety show “The Three of Us.”
March 9, 2024: Hunan Museum partnered with Malanshan Video and Cultural Creative Industrial Park to launch “Digital Han Life” IP brand using digital technology for cultural relics.
2023
December 28, 2023: Huawei Cloud‘s MetaStudio technology enhanced Hunan TV variety shows with virtual humans bringing new life to programming.
October 31, 2023: Digital human “Xiao Mo” from Hua Sheng acted as a story recommender during the “Postal Cup” 2023 Hunan Daily Reading Aloud themed event in Changsha.
November 6, 2023: Hunan Design’s second Technology Conference utilized AI technology and digital human hosts, including a digital avatar of the company’s chairman delivering speeches.
January 1, 2023: Hunan Cultural Tourism’s digital virtual human promoted “five business cards” for the first time at the 18th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industry Expo.
2022
November 18, 2022: Hunan Radio and Television launched the national style virtual person “Orange Shuangshuang” on Kuaishou APP as the first member of a virtual family after the success of “Xiao Yang.”
May 25, 2022: Changsha Qianbo Information Technology Co., Ltd. in Malanshan Park developed the third-generation sign language digital human “Qianyan” for special education and public services.
June 1, 2022: Leyard (300296) confirmed their virtual human business included creating “Xiao Yang,” the virtual host for Hunan Satellite TV’s “Hello Saturday” program.
April 2022: Hunan Satellite TV introduced virtual digital human “Xiao Yang” who co-hosted with He Jiong, marking the arrival of the metaverse digital people era.