In July 2022, early city-brand and cultural-tourism use cases in Qingdao were crystallised through a municipal “city recommendation officer” digital person, Qingdao Xiaoman, built by Shandong Jindong Digital Creative Co., Ltd. (山东金东数字创意股份有限公司). In the same July framing of Shandong’s ecosystem, a core commercial anchor was identified as Shandong Digihuman Technology Co., Ltd. (山东数字人科技股份有限公司), described as headquartered in Jinan High-Tech Zone and specialising in high-resolution digital-human systems for medical education, virtual anatomy, and AI broadcasting, with market presence repeatedly linked to health-education and clinical-training applications.
In September 2022, Shandong’s early experimentation expanded beyond a single city-brand character into multiple public and industry-facing demonstrations, including a showcase where dozens of companies presented AI applications featuring customised virtual-human avatars and an “intelligent sign-language translator” format. During the same month, a cultural-tech demonstration at the “Shandong Handmade” exhibition and experience centre used face-recognition-based reconstruction to “restore” the appearance of Li Qingzhao, reinforcing an early pattern in which heritage storytelling was paired with human-likeness technologies. Also in September 2022, museum-sector live-content formats showed how digital humans could be embedded into on-camera explainers and interactive livestreaming when a “Wenbo Digital Live Room” built by Wenbo Circle (文博圈) together with Guangzhou Frontop Digital Creative Technology Co., Ltd. (广州凡拓数字创意科技股份有限公司) featured a digital-human character, Ban Zhao, at a museum expo hosted in Zhengzhou, demonstrating Shandong-linked alignment between cultural interpretation and livestream distribution even when the event itself was out of province.
In November 2022, Shandong’s trajectory was framed against a wider national consolidation of “digital human” exhibition formats when the Internet Society of China staged a “Digital Human Boutique Show” at a metaverse-themed expo event. Although this was not presented as a Shandong-hosted deployment, it was treated as an industry signal that Shandong actors would later mirror through province-branded platforms and public exhibitions.
In December 2022, broadcast and institutional scaffolding was strengthened when Shandong Radio and Television Station initiated establishment of a “Metaverse Innovation Laboratory” together with Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University. This was presented as infrastructure formation rather than a single avatar launch, but it was positioned as important because later Shandong pipelines repeatedly used broadcaster-led labs as conduits for digital hosts and public-facing interactive demonstrations.
In April 2023, Shandong’s film-and-television ecosystem added a client-facing pattern by launching a virtual digital-human recommendation officer, Xianyi, at a film-and-television week in Qingdao West Coast New District. The deployment framed a digital human as a promotional “officer” within an event economy, a configuration later echoed in cultural-tourism ambassadors and “recommendation” characters associated with Shandong’s broader content and media brands.
In June 2023, Shandong’s storyline incorporated a staff-like “digital employees” framing through a flagship demonstration by Zhou Hongyi, founder of 360 (三六零), during a World Internet Conference dialogue located in Shandong. Although this was characterised as a demonstrative showcase rather than a Shandong procurement, it was treated as relevant context because later Shandong deployments repeatedly framed digital humans as staff-like agents—hosts, counsellors, and doctors—rather than purely entertainment characters.
In September 2023, mainstream cultural awareness was signalled when digital humans including Xu Anyi and Liu Yexi were described as gaining popularity at a national digital-economy expo, alongside attention to Shandong University (山东大学) for its digital-human research. The pairing of viral virtual celebrities with research-institution credibility was presented as foreshadowing Shandong’s later split pathway of content-facing cultural avatars and enterprise-facing medical and training systems.
In May 2024, Shandong’s tourism sector was described as moving from experimental promotion into on-site navigation and service delivery when the Qufu Three Confucius Sites launched an “AI tour guide” function providing digital-human navigation capabilities. This was positioned as a transition from general “virtual spokesperson” concepts to an operational, visitor-facing guide embedded in a heritage site’s service flow, aligning digital-human deployment with the province’s cultural-heritage economy.
In July 2024, book and publishing contexts in Jinan were presented as a showcase environment for historically themed virtual beings when an AI-driven digital human version of Li Qingzhao, designed by DCG Digital Group (DCG数字集团), attracted attention at a national book trade fair hosted in the city. The use case was framed as evidence that Shandong’s cultural institutions and fairs increasingly treated digital humans as interpretive or promotional media objects capable of reintroducing canonical cultural figures as interactive contemporary presences.
In August 2024, province-level media and red-culture storytelling were explicitly linked to named digital humans when a metaverse and AI innovation lab associated with the provincial broadcaster introduced Ya Ru as a virtual representative of Dezhou’s red culture. This was described as a clear Shandong-based cultural application in which a broadcaster-originated lab positioned a digital human as a sustained representative character rather than a single-event animation.
In October 2024, platform building and technical tooling for province-wide production became prominent through the launch of an upgraded “digital human intelligent production platform” branded Haiying 2.0 by Shandong Dazhong Information Industry Co., Ltd. (山东大众信息产业有限公司). The upgrade was presented as expanding the ability to generate and customise digital human images, supporting richer interaction and livestream-compatible use across multiple sectors, and signalling a shift toward repeatable production infrastructure serving many downstream clients. Also in October 2024, technical maturity was underlined when Haikan Network Technology (Shandong) Co., Ltd. (海看网络科技（山东）股份有限公司) received a patent for a method and system for generating 3D digital human animation, while Shandong’s academic contribution was represented by prize recognition for Shandong University of Art & Design at an education-focused digital-human competition in Beijing, treated as validation via out-of-province benchmarking.
In November 2024, the broadcaster-lab pathway surfaced again in a campus-facing interaction scenario when students at Shandong Media Vocational College engaged with an AI digital host, Hailan, associated with the provincial broadcaster. The episode was framed as important because it showed digital humans being used not only as public-facing mascots but also as artefacts to familiarise students with high-tech video production and AI-presenter workflows, strengthening Shandong’s human-capital pipeline for future deployments.
In December 2024, Shandong’s development was described as shifting into formalised cultural-ambassador branding and a broader set of professional-service uses when the province introduced its first digital cultural ambassadors, Qifeng and Luyun, in Jinan at a research-tour setting and then used Luyun as a holographic presence at a major biennale opening. During the same month, province branding expanded into sports-event identity through the unveiling of a “Good Luck Shandong” digital human named Good Luck, and professional-services adoption expanded when Beijing Deheheng Law Offices (北京德和衡律师事务所) and Shandong Deheng Law Offices (山东德衡律师事务所) rolled out an AI virtual digital-human programme framed around legal marketing and public legal-education content, extending digital-human use into client-acquisition and knowledge-dissemination workflows.
In January 2025, Shandong’s education sector continued to treat embodied virtual beings as institutional artefacts when Shandong Electronics Vocational College unveiled two digital humans, Xiao Shan and Xiao Dian, within an AIGC-linked cultural innovation exhibition. In the same month, the province’s political-communications landscape crossed a symbolic threshold when Luyun was described as co-hosting the Jinan Two Sessions, presented as the first instance of a digital human co-hosting a major political event in that context, while health communications also advanced when the Health Shandong Cloud Platform introduced a first province-level digital human doctor built around the knowledge and persona of an identifiable physician, Jiang Shaobo, framing a digital human as an expert proxy for health education and consultation-like scenarios. Also within the same “two sessions” media environment, a Shandong media outlet described using a 3D, ultra-realistic digital host, also branded as a Qilu culture recommendation IP, to join interactive livestream reporting and interpretation around Jinan Two Sessions topics, indicating that political periods became high-frequency testbeds for digital presenters in public information formats.
In May 2025, Shandong-linked medical digital-human practice was described as extending beyond the province geographically while remaining culturally coded when Ge Junbo of Zhongshan Hospital unveiled an AI-powered digital avatar at a cardiology congress hosted in Shanghai. The avatar was characterised by Shandong-accented speech, presented as evidence that dialect and identity localisation were being treated as product features for expert digital avatars even in out-of-province congress settings.
In June 2025, Shandong’s client-facing and service-oriented uses expanded in higher education and entertainment-adjacent contexts when Jinan Vocational College deployed AI digital-human services for job-search coaching, interview preparation, and employer matching, positioning embodied, human-presenting virtual counsellors as scalable career-services labour inside a Shandong institution. In parallel, a Shandong-developed ultra-realistic digital human presented as “Qifeng” was highlighted for cross-domain use as both a culturally flavoured guide and a high-fidelity avatar for interactive social and gameplay contexts, marking a pivot from institutional service delivery toward entertainment-style embodiment and identity extension.
In July 2025, medical-education commercialisation became more explicit when the Jinan-based medical digital-human firm won a contract to deploy its medical education stack, described as bringing digital anatomy and clinical-visualisation systems into hospitals and classrooms. In the same month, the text distinguished Shandong branding in subject matter from Shandong provincial deployment when SenseTime (商汤科技) executive Shang Hailong used a self-created digital human broadcaster to deliver an immersive report about the aircraft carrier “Shandong,” and it also linked memorialisation to embodied guidance through the refresh of Online Shandong Anti-Japanese War Memorial, described as rolling out interactive, virtual-human–guided remembrance to deepen public engagement. Taken together, the July cluster was framed as Shandong digital humans operating simultaneously as commercial medical-training products, media-reporting presentation layers, and guided public-history interfaces.
In August 2025, Shandong’s ecosystem showed signs of organisational scaling and industrialisation through both R&D collaboration and platform announcements, including collaboration between the Jinan-based medical digital-human firm and Shandong University on medical-AI and virtual-human work for teaching and clinical support. In the same month, Shandong Mixed Reality Digital Industry Development Co., Ltd. (山东省混合现实数字产业发展有限公司) announced a full-stack virtual-human platform aimed at industrialising and operationalising avatar services, while Qilu Talent (齐鲁人才) continued using virtual anchors in livestream job fairs, framed as normalising digital humans inside hiring pipelines and routine recruitment communications. August 2025 also added a listed-company disclosure layer, describing continued use of publicly raised funds for a “high-definition digital human body” R&D and industrialisation project with mid-year usage figures and governance context, explicitly situating core banking and supervision arrangements in Jinan and treating the build as a defined, financed, multi-year project rather than an ad hoc iteration.
In September 2025, Shandong’s digital humans were described as simultaneously deepening in medical training and broadening in cultural engagement as the Jinan-based medical digital-human firm showcased an anatomy education and clinical-training stack spanning classroom dissection-style systems, procedural skills simulation, and hospital scenario modelling, while also piloting virtual presenters for museum wayfinding and public education. In the same month, Shandong Digital Culture Group Co., Ltd. (山东数字文化集团有限公司) advanced a “Qilu culture digital recommendation officer” digital human, explicitly describing it as a 3D ultra-realistic figure built on its “Yidian Tiancheng” digital-human platform and grounded in its Qilu culture large model, with the model-and-avatar stack framed as an operational cultural-interpretation interface rather than only a content-creation capability.
In October 2025, the province’s cultural digital-human pipeline was presented as moving into higher-profile national and region-facing showcase contexts when the digital-culture group exhibited its digital-cultural technology portfolio at a national copyright expo hosted in Qingdao. In the same month, it also presented at an ASEAN+3-oriented AI industry development forum in Jinan, framing digital humans and associated platforms as deployable products for cultural communication and immersive experience, with the combined October activities explicitly interpreted as in-province showcases designed to attract institutional partners and downstream clients.
In November 2025, Shandong’s smart-city exhibition circuit provided an example of an embodied, human-presenting guide integrated into government-facing “digital Shandong” demonstrations when a Shandong-developed digital human named Xiaoshen was described as serving as a guide in a “Digital Shandong” experience centre environment during observation activities associated with a smart-city development innovation conference hosted in Jinan. In the same month, Jinan’s municipal communications adopted a format of animated digital spokespeople when a seminar-style press-hall format introduced Qingxiaozhao and Quanxiaobao as “anime spokespersons” for public information, treating character-driven explanations as a standing component of official communications rhythm, while the Jinan-based medical digital-human firm’s outward-facing commercial posture was also highlighted through participation in a major trade fair in Guangzhou where it presented a high-definition digital-human virtual anatomy table and associated product lines within a “smart healthcare” zone and framed the event as a channel for international cooperation intentions and provincial-level recognition.
In December 2025, Shandong’s cultural digital-human ecosystem gained an institutional capability signal when the digital-culture group was reported as approved to lead construction of a provincial culture-and-tourism key laboratory focused on integration of culture and tourism with applied innovation, with stated emphasis on large-model R&D, digital reconstruction, and intelligent interaction mapped directly to upstream capabilities enabling interactive virtual guides and cultural spokesperson characters. In the same month, the Jinan-based medical digital-human firm continued to demonstrate market expansion through international medical-technology exhibitions hosted outside the province, including product-line showcases at MEDICA in Düsseldorf and at a healthcare week event in Moscow, presenting digital-human anatomy tables, digital anatomy teaching terminals, and 3D-printed anatomy models as exportable training systems and positioning its products as internationally distributable infrastructure for medical education rather than solely domestic deployments.
In January 2026, Shandong’s provincial-level political communications incorporated digital-human broadcasting explicitly in “two sessions” coverage when a major Shandong media outlet launched an explanatory series described as being delivered through digital-human presenters, using the digital human as the visible “anchor” layer for policy-communication narratives during the annual political cycle. In the same month, Jinan’s animated spokespersons were described as appearing on local metro and bus screens, marking a shift from press-hall presentation to public-space communications and citizen-facing distribution, while the Jinan-based medical digital-human firm also reported participation at a global medical simulation event hosted in San Antonio as another out-of-province channel for presenting Shandong-developed digital-human anatomy systems to institutional buyers and educators.
In February 2026, Shandong’s storyline combined capital-market industrialisation milestones with city-scale media demonstration when the Jinan-based medical digital-human firm announced that its fundraising-supported “high-definition digital human body” R&D and industrialisation project had reached a usable state, enabling closure of the project and conversion of remaining funds to permanent working-capital support as part of formal listed-company governance processes. During the same month, Jinan’s public communications and broadcaster-led digital humans converged in a high-visibility production when Qingxiaozhao and Quanxiaobao were reported as appearing on outdoor screens across central districts and “crossing over” into hosting roles for an AI-generated New Year gala, appearing alongside Beichen and Sixuan from the provincial broadcaster to form a coherent city-scale “virtual talent” lineup that fused municipal branding characters with broadcaster-operated digital hosts.
[Feb 2026]
2025
In September 2025, Shandong’s virtual-being work centered on medical education and cultural engagement. Shandong Digital Human Technology Co., Ltd. (山东数字人科技有限公司) showcased and promoted its anatomy education and clinical-training stack, highlighting use from classroom dissection tables to procedural-skills simulation and hospital scenario modeling, and piloted virtual presenters for museum wayfinding and public education. Shandong Digital Culture Group (山东数字文化集团) advanced its cultural-recommendation avatar “Luyun” (built on a provincial digital-human platform and culture model) and fielded the 3D guide “Qiqi,” which appeared at a major service-trade fair as a cultural ambassador. Additional province-linked deployments touched public service campaigns (e.g., AI-hosted health/blood-donation activations) and media demos using persistent, high-fidelity digital anchors.
In August 2025, Shandong’s virtual-being scene leaned into healthcare, industry, and public education: Digital Human Technology Co., Ltd. (山东数字人科技有限公司) collaborated with Shandong University (山东大学) on medical-AI/virtual-human work for teaching and clinical support; Shandong Mixed Reality (山东混合现实，译名) announced a full-stack virtual-human platform aimed at the industrialization and day-to-day operation of avatar services; and province-level outreach used themed digital humans in museums and military-history education to blend storytelling with interactive guidance; on the workforce side, Qilu Talent (齐鲁人才，译名) continued using virtual anchors for livestream job fairs, signaling Shandong’s push to apply digital humans beyond entertainment—into hiring pipelines, classrooms, clinics, and culture.
In July 2025, Shandong’s virtual-being activity clustered around healthcare, media, and memory: Shandong Digital Human Technology Co., Ltd. (山东数字人科技有限公司) won a contract to deploy its medical education stack—bringing digital anatomy/clinical visualization systems into hospitals and classrooms—while SenseTime (商汤科技) executive and Hong Kong legislator Shang Hailong used a self-created digital human broadcaster to deliver an immersive report about the aircraft carrier Shandong, showcasing newsroom-style avatar reporting; meanwhile, a refreshed Online Shandong Anti-Japanese War Memorial rolled out interactive, virtual-human–guided remembrance to deepen public engagement with provincial wartime history.
In June 2025, Shandong showed two clear “virtual being” moves: first, Jinan Vocational College rolled out AI digital-human services to coach students on job search, interview prep, and employer matching—positioning virtual counselors as scalable career-services staff for graduates; second, an ultra-realistic digital human named “齐风” (developed by a Shandong team) was highlighted for cross-domain use, doubling as a culturally flavored guide and a high-fidelity avatar that can act as a player’s extension in social and competitive gameplay—signaling Shandong’s push from classroom assistance into entertainment and interactive experiences.
May 30, 2025: Professor Ge Junbo from Fudan University’s Zhongshan Hospital unveiled his AI-powered digital avatar with Shandong-accented speech at the 19th Oriental Congress of Cardiology in Shanghai.
January 19, 2025: The 3D digital human host “Lu Yun” co-hosted the 2025 Jinan Two Sessions, marking the first instance of a digital human co-hosting a major political event.
January 27, 2025: Shandong launched its first digital human doctor integrating Dr. Jiang’s medical knowledge with advanced AI technology on the Health Shandong Cloud Platform.
January 10, 2025: Shandong Electronics Vocational College unveiled two digital humans, “Xiao Shan” and “Xiao Dian,” at their “Flash” Digital Human Launch and AIGC Cultural Innovation Exhibition.
2024
December 16, 2024: “Luyun” the Qilu Digital Culture Ambassador debuted through a holographic installation at the third Jinan International Biennale opening.
December 11, 2024: DeHeng Law Offices and Shandong DeHeng Law Firm launched an “AI Virtual Digital Human Program” for legal marketing and education.
December 8, 2024: The “Good Luck Shandong” digital human named “Good Luck” was unveiled during the 2024 Shandong Marathon City League Awards Ceremony.
December 2, 2024: Shandong’s first digital cultural ambassadors, “Qifeng” and “Luyun,” made their debut at the “Deep Reform in Shandong” research tour in Jinan.
November 10, 2024: Students from Shandong Media Vocational College interacted with “Hailan,” an AI digital host from Shandong Radio and Television.
October 31, 2024: Haikan Network Technology (Shandong) Co., Ltd. received a patent for a “method and system for generating 3D digital human animation.”
October 12, 2024: Shandong University of Art & Design achieved two second prizes, one third prize in the first Education Digital Human Competition in Beijing.
October 11, 2024: China’s Shandong Province emerged as a significant player in digital human technology implementation across multiple sectors including healthcare.
October 1, 2024: Shandong Dazhong Information Industry Co Ltd. launched the upgraded Haiying Digital Human Intelligent Production Platform 2.0.
August 11, 2024: Shandong Radio and Television Metaverse and AI Innovation Lab introduced digital human “Ya Ru” as a virtual representative of Dezhou’s red culture.
July 28, 2024: AI-driven digital human “Li Qingzhao,” designed by DCG Digital Group, attracted attention at the 32nd National Book Trade Fair in Jinan.
May 11, 2024: The Qufu Three Confucius Sites scenic area launched an “AI tour guide” function with digital human navigation capabilities.
2023
September 9, 2023: Digital humans like “Xu Anyi” and “Liu Yexi” gained popularity at the 2023 China International Digital Economy Expo, with Shandong University’s Digital Human Research highlighted.
June 27, 2023: Zhou Hongyi, founder of 360, demonstrated “digital employees” at the World Internet Conference Digital Civilization Nishan Dialogue in Shandong.
April 9, 2023: The virtual digital human recommendation officer “Xianyi” was launched at the 2023 Qingdao Film and Television Week in Qingdao West Coast New District.
2022
December 11, 2022: Shandong Radio and Television Station initiated the establishment of “Shandong Radio and Television Metaverse Innovation Laboratory” with Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University.
November 25, 2022: The Internet Society of China’s “Digital Human Boutique Show” appeared at the iDWF Mutual Expo “Metaverse Starlight Ceremony.”
September 30, 2022: 45 companies gathered to showcase AI applications including customized virtual human avatars and intelligent sign language “translators.”
September 20, 2022: Black technology “restored” Li Qingzhao’s real appearance using face recognition technology at the “Shandong Handmade” Exhibition and Experience Center.
September 8, 2022: The “Wenbo Digital Live Room” built by Wenbo Circle and Fantuo Shuchuang featured digital human “Ban Zhao” at the 9th China Museum expo in Zhengzhou.
July 24, 2022: Qingdao city recommendation official digital person “Qingdao Xiaoman” was officially launched, built by Shandong Jindong Digital Creative Co., Ltd.