In Shenzhen, a recent series of advertisements displayed on subway screens has placed ordinary people in the spotlight, featuring scenes like someone playing with a cat at home or enjoying a walk outdoors—all without celebrities or heavy retouching. The common element in these images is a stringless guitar held in their hands.
When people think of Shenzhen, they often recall the efficiency of Nanshan District, where robot parts can be sourced within 15 minutes, or the office lights that never go out in the tech parks. The city has long been associated with "hardcore" technology, but subtle, softer transformations are unfolding amid the bustling subway crowds and at events like the annual Cultural Industries Fair.
At the 22nd Cultural Industries Fair, products such as stringless guitars and air drum kits are using technology to lower the barriers to artistic creation, allowing musical expression to flourish without being constrained by technical skill. Meanwhile, databases for cultural relics and artworks, along with VR spaces like "Six Centuries of Jin State Dominance," are making history tangible and accessible, injecting new vitality into the preservation and revitalization of regional culture.
"Technology enables us to move faster, but content determines how far we go," said Zhu Dianjun, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Tencent Group. Shenzhen is leveraging cutting-edge technology to bridge the gap between the public and high culture, as well as between tradition and modernity. At the heart of its hardcore tech lies profound humanistic innovation.
**Technology Democratizes, Creativity Advances**
Featuring ordinary individuals on subway screens is a special initiative by LiberLive, a Shenzhen-based music technology brand and pioneer of the stringless guitar, to mark its third anniversary. A similar narrative unfolded at the Nanshan District exhibition area of the Cultural Industries Fair, where visitors with no prior musical knowledge played the entire song "Rice Fragrance"—a nostalgic tune for the post-90s generation—in just five minutes, guided by chord pads, light indicators, and an interactive app.
Li Jiaxin, LiberLive's brand public relations head, explained that learning traditional guitar often requires months of practice, which can be daunting for busy urban dwellers. "The stringless guitar allows people to reconnect with their childhood musical dreams and express their emotions through music more easily," she said.
However, ease of use does not mean the technology is simple. LiberLive was incubated by Li Zexiang, known as the "Godfather of DJI," and founded by Tang Wenxuan, a former algorithm engineer at DJI. The team boasts strong capabilities in hardware engineering, intelligent interaction, and sound algorithms.
Adjacent to LiberLive's booth was Ganyin Technology, the innovator behind the "third-generation drum kit." Together, these two products can form a simple band. Traditional drum kits are often difficult to learn, noisy, and cumbersome to move. In contrast, Ganyin's "air drum kit" consists of two air drumsticks, two pedals, and a Bluetooth speaker, making it portable and adjustable in volume. Enhanced by aerospace flight control technology, the kit offers precise spatial positioning, allowing different drum sounds to be produced by striking different areas in the air, with motion capture latency as low as 2 milliseconds.
Ganyin's team is equally impressive, with core members hailing from leading companies like Huawei, Midea, and Inovance, as well as top universities such as Peking University, Zhejiang University, Harbin Institute of Technology, and The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Founder Ling Xiaojun has noted that Nanshan District's ecosystem—from top universities and research institutions to tech giants—makes it easier to attract top talent in fields like algorithms and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS).
In Shenzhen, the lowering of barriers extends beyond music. As the core hub of the city's fashion industry, Nanyou area is home to over 8,000 production and operation units and more than 2,000 original designer brands. It is also a source of inspiration for Zhong Chao, founder of Basic Operations. After extensive research and collaboration with designers and suppliers, his team developed LOOK AI, a real-time AI fashion design tool, and recently launched its intelligent agent product, LOOK AI Agent.
For professional designers, LOOK AI revolutionizes workflows by enabling rapid validation of ideas. With a simple sketch, the AI generates high-fidelity garment visuals, complete with fabric and color details. To date, LOOK AI has facilitated nearly 10 million AI collaborations, serving nearly 200,000 users across 190 countries and regions.
For fashion enthusiasts, LOOK AI offers a gateway to design with zero prior experience. Whether it's a seashell picked up on the beach or a flower encountered in a park, a quick photo allows the AI to extract patterns and color elements, generating practical design effects based on texture logic.
"Artificial intelligence is becoming a new engine for the cultural industry. The question is no longer whether to use AI, but how to use it effectively," Zhu Dianjun remarked. "In practice, we see AI significantly shortening the cycle from idea to finished product while expanding creative possibilities."
According to an iMedia Consulting report, China's AI comic-drama market is projected to reach 18.98 billion yuan in 2025, a staggering 276.3% increase from 2024, with expectations to exceed 85 billion yuan by 2030. Over the past year, China Literature's comic-drama division has produced nearly a thousand works, with over a hundred exceeding 10 million views and 12 titles, such as "The Ming Dynasty's Son-in-Law" and "Demoness Betrayal," surpassing 100 million views.
This ability to produce hits at scale is becoming more accessible. At this year's Cultural Industries Fair, Tencent showcased "Yuewen Comic-Drama Assistant," the industry's first one-stop AI comic-drama creation platform. Even novice creators can complete the entire production process—from novel adaptation and scriptwriting to storyboarding and final output—with a single click.
From music and fashion to comic-dramas, the Cultural Industries Fair resembles a world of "cultural democratization" illuminated by AI, where previously suppressed creative demands are unleashed, fostering a larger and more diverse creative ecosystem. As for concerns about AI replacing human roles, Zhu Dianjun believes the core competitiveness of cultural products always lies with people. "For example, the recently popular 'Love Letter to Grandma' isn't technically advanced, but it resonates deeply with many. Technology helps us move faster, but content determines how far we go," he said.
**AI Revitalizes, Stepping into the Picture**
The "cultural democratization" effect is not limited to the creation side; it is also transforming consumption. Across the Cultural Industries Fair, the most popular exhibits are those offering immersive and interactive experiences. With VR devices and simple gestures, visitors can stroll through the bustling streets of the Tang Dynasty, examine the precious murals of the Longmen Grottoes up close, and transition from passive observers to active participants in historical narratives through multi-sensory interactions involving sight, sound, and touch.
"Many precious cultural relics, such as Tang Dynasty tomb murals, cannot be viewed up close due to conservation needs," explained Zhang Qian, Public Affairs Director of Yuanxiang Technology. "Using AI-powered high-precision 3D reconstruction and 12K ultra-clear sampling, we digitally preserve these fragile heritage sites with high accuracy, allowing audiences to 'step into the painting' in VR spaces."
Yuanxiang Technology was founded by Yao Xing, former Vice President of Tencent and founder of Tencent AI Lab and Robotics X Laboratory. Leveraging Tencent's expertise and Shenzhen's strengths in AI and hard technology, Yuanxiang develops its large models, 3D engines, and VR interaction technologies in the city.
In recent years, Yuanxiang has released a series of historical and cultural works, including "Beyond the Murals Lies the Tang Dynasty," "The Eternal Tang Dynasty," and "The Chu Songs of Shouchun." Its VR spaces have been deployed in over 140 cities worldwide. "The Eternal Tang Dynasty" gained particular acclaim, earning praise and shares from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs' official social media accounts and being showcased in countries like Finland and France.
At this year's Cultural Industries Fair, Yuanxiang signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanxi Cultural Heritage Group to create an immersive VR space titled "Six Centuries of Jin State Dominance." In this experience, audiences will assume the role of "attendants to the Jin State historian," traversing locations such as the Zhou Palace, Quwo City, the Battle of Chengpu, the Jin capital Xintian, and the court where the partition of Jin occurred. They will witness key historical events like Duke Wen of Jin's rise to hegemony, the Battle of Chengpu, and the partition of Jin, experiencing the grandeur of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods and the fate of historical figures.
It is evident that, revitalized by AI, cultural consumption is shifting from standardized products to personalized experiences. This trend places higher demands on the foundational data for art. At the Artron sub-venue of the Cultural Industries Fair, the "Chinese Artwork Database" continuously updates core data on artworks, artists, and art auctions. The database already contains over 50 million entries and contributes to the development of industry technology and service standards.
"Artron provides professional services to more than 180,000 artists, establishing detailed digital archives for 70,000 of them and creating China's only and the world's largest artwork database," revealed Li Caijun, President of Artron Culture Group. "In the digitization of cultural heritage, Artron has partnered with over 300 institutions, including the Palace Museum and the Potala Palace, completing the digitization of nearly 400,000 cultural relics."
Additionally, using advanced technologies like the 510-megapixel CRUSE mobile scanner and professional color calibration systems, Artron creates high-precision digital twins of precious Chinese and foreign paintings. With micron-level accuracy, it replicates the brushstrokes, textures, and colors of original works, enabling millennia-old artworks to transcend museum walls and reach the public.
Previously, netizens joked that "other museums have cultural relics, while Shenzhen Museum has miscellaneous items." In reality, Shenzhen is not content with merely collecting artifacts; it uses tangible technology to give voice to cultural relics and history. Last year, the "Great Achievement of Dunhuang—Dunhuang Culture and Art Exhibition" debuted at the Nanshan Museum, featuring six 1:1 replicas of specially protected caves meticulously crafted using high-definition digital technology.
Zhang Xiaogang, Deputy Director of the Dunhuang Academy, noted that Shenzhen-based tech companies like Tencent have deeply engaged in the digitization, preservation, and promotion of Dunhuang culture. As a result, this millennia-old civilization has "flown" out of the vast desert, reaching the Greater Bay Area 3,500 kilometers away and becoming a shared treasure for the world.
In this blend of virtual and real, the young city of Shenzhen is breathing new life into traditional culture, exploring a unique paradigm of cultural consumption that transcends time and space, and reimagining the possibilities for the continuation of civilization.
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