A new wave of AI-generated short dramas is producing fictional stars with real followings, real music releases and real brand deals. One virtual idol, Shen Zhi from the series NOVA, has drawn tens of thousands of followers and a cosmetics sponsorship without a human ever appearing on screen.
Kodak's signature yellow has moved from film boxes to hoodies and plush toys, drawing queues in Seoul and photo crowds in Shanghai. A licensing-driven revival shows how an old imaging brand can sell nostalgia without making a single roll of film.
Chinese streetwear label Jikaos Industrial has released a 10-item collaboration with Phantom Blade Zero, the kung-fu-punk action game, timed to its unlock. The tie-up shows how Chinese game studios now treat merch as part of a launch, not an afterthought.
A new Mango TV reality show reunites two 2006 Super Girl contestants whose friendship collapsed years ago, and the on-camera confrontation has become the season's most talked-about moment. It is a window into how China's first talent-show generation has aged.
Rehearsals for Hebei's sixth ethnic minority arts festival are turning museum artefacts — Zhongshan script patterns, Warring States drums and a Han dynasty palace lamp — into costumes and props, as a regional variety show rebuilds itself around heritage.
Hongguo, China's top short-drama app, will shut down its coin-reward feature by year-end even as users watch about 151 minutes a day. The move signals a shift from paying for attention to keeping viewers healthy and loyal.
A Chinese essay revisits a Michigan psychology idea: switching to your own name in a tense moment can cool you down and sharpen your view of the problem. It links the trick to the 2016 anime hit Your Name and the broader self-help boom.
A veteran Tianjin crosstalk performer lashed out at a heckler during a headline set, then saw a 3.74 million yuan court debt record resurface the next day. The twin blows have turned a local comedy scene's internal feud into a national talking point about fame, money and accountability.
Hengdian, China's largest film studio complex, is renting idle backlot sets to ordinary tourists for 388 yuan a day, letting visitors star in their own short films. The pivot comes as the number of short-drama crews filming there has fallen sharply year on year.
A portrait-rights lawsuit between producer Xinpai Media and a star of its 2019 hit The Untamed exposes how Chinese long-form drama's blockbuster-or-bust model has cracked, with major projects missing expectations and shows airing with no sponsor at all.
The Three-Body Problem spin-off prequel Sanxingdui: Future Past is the first AI-generated feature to get a Chinese theatrical release certificate and sell tickets. Made by Bona Film Group's AI studio on a self-built platform, it shows how far synthetic filmmaking has come and where it still falls short.
Jet Li, the martial-arts star who once flew across cinema screens, says he has told his wife Li Zhi he wants no tombstone and no funeral, with tree burial or sea burial both fine. At 63, the actor frames the plan as the calm conclusion of a life that nearly ended several times.
WeChat has put ten serialized public-account novels in front of short-drama producers, letting them negotiate adaptation rights directly and publish the results inside its own video ecosystem. It is a quiet bid to feed China's insatiable micro-drama machine from WeChat's own archive rather than from outside platforms.
Ant Group's health assistant Afu sponsored the medical season of China's hit reality show An Exciting Offer, timed to a global recruitment drive for doctors to train medical AI. The pairing backfired as viewers questioned whether a brand was using young doctors' struggles to sell a chatbot.
The cast of The First Half of My Life reunited a decade after the drama aired, prompting fans to revisit its story of a betrayed wife. The moment also highlights how Chinese dramas keep returning to cheating plots, with a new twist each season.
Veteran Chinese actor Li Xuejian, now unable to hear or speak, performed a silent role in a televised gala on October 22 — with an AI-generated voice supplying his narration. The detail has turned a tribute into a debate about technology, dignity and craft.
Tropical-storm rain soaked Vogue's Suzhou gala on October 23, turning a colour-themed red carpet into a test of improvisation. With 18 roaming cameras and no fixed marks, stars competed on gestures rather than gowns.
Liang Yi, a former Hunan TV host paralysed for 22 years, has publicly sought a husband with one stated requirement: someone who can push her wheelchair. The phrase hides a round-the-clock care burden few suitors have been willing to take on.
A wave of new titles lands in Chinese cinemas, led by the romance drama 去你的岛 at 7.5 and the ensemble film 活色生香 at 7.0. The slate mixes mainland animation, British imports and a Keanu Reeves re-release.
Li Yuchun, the 2005 champion chosen by 3.52 million text-message votes, has stayed on top of Chinese pop for two decades. A new wave of online rumors about her private life shows how fame built on public voting invites endless speculation.
The Bashu China Annual Gala brought Yang Mi, Luo Jin and a dozen other stars to Jiangyin on October 21, turning a county-level city into a red-carpet stage. The night showed how fashion events now double as celebrity rumor control.
Singer Zhang Liangying closed her 21-stop world tour in Macau with three hours of live vocals, but the next day's trending topic was her stage outfit, not her singing. The episode has revived a familiar debate about how Chinese social media judges female performers.
A bowl of noodles shared with a younger model put 52-year-old Hawick Lau back in the spotlight, just as ex-wife Yang Mi was commanding Milan Fashion Week. Eight years after their split, Hong Kong paparazzi turned a quiet reunion into a referendum on two very different lives.
Chinese streaming giant iQIYI is suing car rental shops, computer sellers and road-rescue firms over alleged piracy, with critics calling it a 'fishing' campaign. The cases have sparked a debate about who really pays when platforms enforce copyright.
An old interview with Zhao Liying resurfaces, in which she calls kissing scenes 'just work.' Yang Mi's garlic trick offers a very different answer to the same awkward question.
Fanqie Novel, China's largest free-to-read fiction platform, has raised the bar for new authors by restricting contract options for lower-level writers, a move that signals the end of a generous newcomer bonus era and could reshape how millions of aspiring novelists earn online.
A viral Chinese essay asks where once-ubiquitous stars go when the spotlight moves on, using actor Hu Yitian's reported 673 days without a shoot as its centerpiece. It's a window into how fast fame arrives and fades in China's entertainment industry.
Chinese actress Zhao Lusi has released her first short-form drama as investor and producer, drawing millions of views while her online store reportedly clears 50 million yuan a month. Can her commercial instincts outlast the hype?
The 2026 China Open drew over 450,000 visitors and record revenue as Zheng Qinwen won the title, highlighting the rapid commercial growth of China's tennis season. The event's success reflects a broader boom in sports entertainment across the country.
At the 35th Feitian Awards, polished speeches by winners like Wang Renjun and Song Jia stood in contrast to viral clips of stars misreading characters and mangling interviews, reviving a CCTV commentary that asked whether 'desperate illiterates' can act.
Within days of musician Liu Huan's death,短视频 accounts posing as his widow and son flooded platforms with AI-voiced clips. Actress Wu Yue says she was targeted too, prompting state media to call out a booming impersonation racket.
Chinese short-video platforms are flooded with accounts impersonating celebrities and their families, from a fake 'D刀郎' clan to bogus widows of the late singer Liu Huan, prompting official media to step in.
Currie Barker's low-budget horror film Obsession, an original script that became one of the decade's biggest original theatrical hits, arrives on Netflix on November 17 after grossing over $500 million worldwide.
Veteran Chinese actress Zhou Xun shared the best actress prize at the 31st Busan International Film Festival, days before her 52nd birthday. The tearful acceptance speech became one of the most-shared entertainment moments of the week in China.
A Fujian singer with nearly two million followers is accused of fraud over 25 million yuan in livestream gifts. The case has dragged on four years and exposed the darker side of China's tipping culture.
A short story from a Song Dynasty bestseller follows a Quanzhou trader who grew rich in overseas commerce, then watched fortune curdle into violence. It survives as a vivid window into China's medieval maritime trade.
Eight years after a Shandong woman traveled to Thailand for IVF using a British sperm donor, her story resurfaces online. Now 37 and a single mother of triplets, she faces renewed debate over choice and consequence.
Resident Evil: Night of the Outbreak, a live-action film adapted from the survival-horror video game series, has passed 304 million yuan at the Chinese box office in its first ten days. It blends game lore with a distinctly Chinese setting.
Chen Sicheng's crime thriller The Trace, starring Zhang Yi and Ma Li, is drawing strong reviews in Chinese cinemas. It arrives as a wave of revived crime franchises tests how far a familiar title can stretch.
Playing one of Chinese literature's most seductive villains made Gan Tingting famous — and then trapped her, as rumors about private photos and backers followed her for a decade. Chinese entertainment still struggles to separate an actor from a role.
At the 17th Japan Teen Pageant final in Harajuku, a 17-year-old high schooler from Gifu won after the crown slid off her head mid-ceremony. She beat 5,518 applicants for one of 14 finalist spots.
Two decades after a Taiwanese variety show pressured her into a humiliating game, Chen Qiaoen has become one of the Chinese-speaking world's most bankable leading women — and now she chooses her own projects.
Former Boy'z member Steven Cheung vanished from Hong Kong entertainment after a 2019 marriage scandal. At 41, reports say he is doing manual labor, deep in debt, and still hoping to return to the stage.
At the 35th Feitian Awards in Yantai, little-known stage actor Wang Renjun beat frontrunners to win Best Actor for a drama role. His unpolished acceptance speech about craft over celebrity became the night's most-discussed moment.
Zhang Ziyi arrived in Lyon expecting to say one line. Instead, the Cannes president handed her the Lumière Festival's first-ever honorary achievement award, and 5,000 people stood up.
A Chinese-born vlogger in Denmark flew her late husband's parents to Qingdao, where a restored family photograph moved viewers to tears. Her story shows how grief, in-laws and a camera can build something like family.
Longtime CCTV faces like Kang Hui, Sa Beining and Dong Qing are appearing less on screen as younger presenters take over the country's flagship broadcasts, marking a generational handover at China's biggest broadcaster.
While China's award-season red carpets fill with costume changes and热搜 battles, actress Tan Songyun published a short creative essay in the overseas edition of People's Daily — and its gentle critique of image-building landed harder than any red-carpet moment.
A new wave of Chinese modern romance dramas is leaning on kiss scenes and sexual suggestion to win viewers, as short video culture rewrites what audiences expect from love stories. Trailers for several upcoming shows are already sparking debate.
At 76, Zhang Yimou still delivers China's biggest holiday films, while 75-year-old Zhang Jizhong keeps working on camera. A viral essay asks what fame and fortune actually bought them.
The former star of China's beloved period drama 'Huan Zhu Ge Ge' says he has no home and eats one meal a day. His story has set off a wider conversation about fame, solitude and what happens to child stars when the cameras stop.
A street singer who drew millions to a shuttered railway station has disbanded his team and gone back to running a barbecue stall in his hometown. His quiet exit says a lot about how fast Chinese internet fame burns out.
Liu Yifei, one of China's best-known actresses, drew huge online attention at a Bobbi Brown event in Shanghai, where fan-shot photos triggered the usual mix of praise and scrutiny over her appearance.
A viral clip shows singer Mao Ning, once a fixture of China's biggest New Year gala, performing on a makeshift platform for a few hundred older fans. The contrast with his 1990s fame has become a talking point about how fast pop careers fade.
Canadian poet and classicist Anne Carson has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature for work that reinvents literary form through dialogue with the classics. Chinese readers and critics say her themes of solitude and desire speak directly to modern loneliness.
Paramount has closed its roughly $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, creating a studio giant called Skydance that now carries a heavy debt load. The bet: blockbuster franchises must generate enough cash to fund both repayment and the next wave of shows.
Actress Li Yitong changed her Weibo handle to promote a drama, then found her old name permanently taken. She is now asking fans to help rename her.
Dong Qing, once the polished face of CCTV's cultural programming, was photographed at a Beijing art museum with her husband and father, quietly dismissing years of divorce speculation. The story is less about gossip than about a famous woman choosing an ordinary life.
State broadcaster CCTV has reshuffled its flagship news presenters, promoting two veterans to anchor roles while a familiar host steps away from daily broadcasts. The changes highlight how China's most-watched channel is quietly remaking its on-air lineup.
Chinese film fans spent the 2026 National Day holiday rating a crowded slate of new releases on Douban, from a Hong Kong action thriller starring Louis Koo to a Peppa Pig holiday special and an Egyptian drama.
A Chinese crime film pulled out of theaters five days after release with under 4.5 million yuan earned. It's part of a quiet pattern: dozens of post-release withdrawals in four years, and only one that ever came back.
A low-budget Chaoshan-dialect movie about overseas Chinese letters became an unexpected hit, sending visitors to Shantou's heritage sites and museums. The film shows how a small regional story can become a city's cultural asset.
Two years after the sudden death of Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu, her family marked what would have been her 48th birthday at her graveside with pink flowers, champagne and her favourite foods.
Chinese writer Can Xue tops the bookmaker odds for the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, announced Thursday in Stockholm. Her experimental fiction has made her a perennial favorite without a win.
Zach Cregger's new Resident Evil film has crossed $250 million worldwide in under three weeks, built around an original character instead of the games' famous heroes. Its budget was roughly $75-80 million.
Taiwanese TV host Kevin Tsai appeared at a campaign event for a politician blacklisted by Beijing, and mainland brands and magazines moved fast to cut ties. The episode shows how quickly commercial fortunes can turn on a single photograph.
China's National Day variety gala still booked its biggest pop names, but the evening's backbone was researchers, grassroots workers and soldiers. Commentators read the lineup as a quiet recalibration of what counts as a national-stage star.
At 51, Taiwanese model and actress Lin Chi-ling lands her 16th Vogue Taiwan cover, setting a 30-year record for the magazine. The stripped-back styling has set Chinese social media talking about age, beauty and second acts.
For nearly two decades, Chinese TV host Wang Guan was dogged by online rumors of affairs and a CCTV firing. In October 2024, a single WeChat Moments post announcing her marriage silenced them.
After nearly two decades in Hong Kong and a decade of renting, former TVB actress Wang Junxin has bought her first home. She credits motherhood and a cooler property market for the move.
Six new films opened across China for the National Day holiday, from a husband-and-wife comedy to a Hong Kong crime drama starring Louis Koo. The crowded slate shows how studios chase the year's biggest box-office window.
An animated film about the Eight Immortals, a classic Chinese folk tale, has crossed 2 billion yuan and may become this year's top-grossing animated release, prompting debate about whether Chinese animation leans too heavily on mythology.
Two veteran stars' health struggles in the same week have renewed debate about grueling hours in China's entertainment industry. Fans are asking whether the business can protect the people who make it shine.
A 2020 interview clip of actress Zheng Shuang explaining why she barely eats has resurfaced, sparking fresh debate about body standards in China's entertainment industry and the punishing schedules behind them.
A Hong Kong actress-host sit-down with TVB actor Ng Fu Kiu and his wealthy wife has reignited debate about money, trust and marriage in the city's entertainment industry.
Once the breakout star of Tiny Times, 35-year-old actor Chen Xuedong has seen 11 of his film and TV titles pulled from streaming and four surgeries in two years. Now he needs help with simple daily tasks.
A short-drama actor's account of an unwanted on-screen kiss has revived a broader conversation in China about consent and power on film sets, from micro-dramas to big-budget television.
A Japanese manga about a young woman who keeps blowing up her trading account has become a cult favorite among Chinese readers, who see their own market losses in her story. Its author funded his comeback with the very leverage that kept ruining him.
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