The National Data Administration (国家数据局) is China’s central data-governance authority under the National Development and Reform Commission, established at vice-ministerial level to coordinate the country’s data strategy rather than operate as a narrow technical regulator. Its official remit includes advancing the planning and construction of Digital China, the digital economy, and the digital society; organizing the national big data strategy; building the basic institutions for data property rights, circulation, distribution, and governance; promoting public data development and cross-sector interoperability; planning digital infrastructure; supporting major data-related technology efforts; and participating in international digital-governance rulemaking. In practical terms, it sits at the intersection of state planning, data-market institution building, public-sector data integration, and broader industrial digital transformation, which makes it one of the key agencies shaping how data is turned into an economic and administrative resource in China.
With respect to digital humans, the National Data Administration is best understood as an enabler and curator of application ecosystems rather than the direct builder of avatars or virtual people. Its own published case materials show digital humans being framed as data-driven service interfaces in culture, tourism, accessibility, and public service. In a National Data Administration case on Tongcheng Network Technology Co., Ltd. (同程网络科技股份有限公司), the company’s “Chengxin” travel model supports AI digital humans for government and enterprise partners, alongside travel-data forecasting and digital cultural-tourism dashboards, with the digital-human component used to improve tourism question answering across pre-trip, in-trip, and post-trip service flows. In another National Data Administration case, China National Aero-Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Group Co., Ltd. (中煤航测遥感集团有限公司) uses digital humans together with virtual-space 3D engines and GIS to mine cultural-tourism data in Shaanxi, build reusable cultural-resource databases, reconstruct heritage scenes, and support immersive experiences and virtual embodiments across public culture, tourism, education, industrial, and exhibition contexts. In related government-backed practice highlighted in official materials, Tianjin Jingyan Technology Co., Ltd. (天津鲸言科技有限公司) built a high-quality sign-language training resource platform whose data supports sign-language digital humans and smart service terminals in settings such as the Winter Olympics and medical-insurance service halls, while Suzhou reporting on nationally selected metaverse cases shows Wuzhangai Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. (无障碍科技（苏州）有限公司) deploying the sign-language digital human “Xiaoyi” for real-time voice-sign conversion in meetings, public events, websites, and wayfinding. Taken together, these cases show the agency’s digital-human relevance lying in how it promotes data infrastructure, standards, training resources, and demonstrator projects that let digital humans function as service delivery tools in tourism, heritage interpretation, and accessibility services rather than as entertainment novelties alone.