Supporters of Marcus Endicott’s Patreon can access weekly or monthly video consultations on this topic.
The province's entry into the virtual beings space arrived instead through the cultural ambitions of its broadcasting sector, when Henan Broadcasting Television (河南广播电视台) staged a Spring Festival Gala performance in February 2021 that would reshape the province's technological identity for the decade that followed. Fourteen dancers costumed as Tang Dynasty palace maids performed amid AR and 5G-generated virtual reconstructions of museum environments in a piece titled "Tang Palace Night Banquet," a production that was neither a digital human in the strict technical sense nor a virtual influencer but that accumulated more than 500 million online views and established Henan as a province capable of fusing deep historical heritage with cutting-edge virtual production. That cultural anchor would inform nearly every subsequent digital human initiative the province undertook.
In April 2021, Henan Broadcasting Television extended this creative framework by introducing a dedicated virtual character for the Qingming Festival installment of its "Chinese Festivals" series. The character was rendered as a 2D animated figure composited into live-action scenes through AR techniques, and her name — Tang Xiaomei (唐小妹) — was determined by public voting. She became a recurring narrative figure across subsequent installments of the series and would continue to evolve into one of the province's most prominent virtual IP figures over the following five years.
The first institutional commitment to digital human technology in Henan's education sector came in February 2022, when Henan Open University launched what it described as the province's first virtual teacher. Named He Kaikai (河开开), the digital human was introduced to conduct regular online and blended teaching for diverse student populations, becoming the first virtual instructor to formally assume teaching duties in Henan's formal educational system.
In August 2022, two parallel developments in Zhengzhou marked the province's first significant infrastructure-level investments in virtual character technology. Henan Museum (河南博物院) launched its Virtual Commune project, creating virtual character images modeled on nine of its signature artifacts and designating these figures as digital cultural relic caretakers, positioning the initiative as the fourth stage of the museum's creative digital development. In the same month, the Zhengzhou Metaverse Industry Park broke ground in Jinshui District, gathering nineteen metaverse companies — among them Baidu Xirang (百度希壤), Feitian Yundong (飞天云动), and Ziweiyun (紫微云) — and establishing a metaverse industry alliance that formalized the city's ambition to become a regional hub for virtual-world technology.
The institutional framework for all subsequent growth arrived in September 2022, when the Henan Provincial Government published its Metaverse Industry Development Action Plan covering the period from 2022 through 2025. The plan set targets of three hundred billion yuan in core metaverse industry output and one trillion yuan in related industry by 2025, organized around a spatial layout centered on Zhengzhou and extending to Luoyang, Nanyang, Xinxiang, Jiaozuo, and Xuchang. Digital humans, digital twins, and XR technology were explicitly listed as priority components, and the plan called for ten backbone enterprises, two hundred specialized small and medium enterprises, five hundred innovative companies, and one hundred demonstration application scenarios across the province.
By December 2022, Henan's first culturally significant digital human deployment had materialized in Anyang, where Anyang Municipal Cultural Tourism Group (安阳市文旅集团) unveiled two ultra-realistic CG digital human characters named An'an (安安) and Yangyang (阳阳) as virtual tourism guides for the Yinxu Archaeological Culture and Tourism Town. Designed to undergo continuous AI training, the project won the ECI Awards Metaverse category Silver Award later that month, giving the province its first internationally recognized digital human achievement.
January 2023 brought the formal launch of Daxiang Yuan (大象元), Henan's first metaverse-themed digital platform, unveiled at the Central China Metaverse High-Level Forum by Henan Broadcasting Television. The platform incorporated holographic projection, 3D production, motion capture, CAVE imaging, and VR/AR/MR technologies, with plans to extend virtual scene production to established programs including the martial arts show "Wulin Feng" and the opera program "Liyuan Chun."
Sometime in mid-2023, Henan Museum deepened its commitment to digital human-guided experiences through a collaboration between Zhengzhou University (郑州大学) and the Qingdao-based company DaoKeYun (道可云). Together they built an AI digital human docent for a metaverse-themed exhibition hall within the museum, constructed on the BlackMirror (黑镜科技) AI platform. The digital human provided guided tours, answered visitor questions, and supported three-dimensional interactive exploration of artifacts including the Jiahu bone flute.
In August 2023, the province's cultural tourism sector recorded its most ambitious digital deployment to date when the Yuan Yu Zhou (元豫宙) metaverse space officially launched at the Henan Smart Cultural Tourism Conference. Built by NetEase Yaotai (网易瑶台) for the Henan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism (河南省文化和旅游厅), the platform was described as China's first ultra-realistic cultural tourism metaverse space, featuring more than ten major Henan tourism properties — including Shaolin Temple, Longmen Grottoes, Laojunshan, and Huangdi Hometown — accessible through VR headsets, PC, and mobile devices with support for more than ten thousand simultaneous users. The same conference launched Henan's first scenic-spot AI guide model platform, introducing a digital guide named Xiao Yu (小宇) deployed at the Yuntaishan scenic area.
In November 2023, the Yinxu archaeological site in Anyang introduced a more sophisticated digital character to the public at a heritage forum. This figure, known as Digital Fu Hao (数字妇好), was modeled on the historical Shang Dynasty military commander and royal consort Fu Hao and was described by its developers as China's first expert-type archaeological digital intelligent person, capable of engaging visitors in substantive discussion of Shang Dynasty history and material culture.
Around December 2023, a digital human named Yunmanman (云曼曼) was created for cultural dissemination of Tai Chi on social platforms, developed in connection with the School of Physical Education at Henan Polytechnic University (河南理工大学). The project represented an early attempt to use a named virtual character as a cultural ambassador for one of the province's most recognized martial heritage traditions.
March 2024 brought two significant advances to Henan's digital human infrastructure. Henan Daxiang Rongmei Group (河南大象融媒集团) established what was described as China's first AIGC Application Research Lab within the national broadcasting system, signaling an institutional commitment to AI-powered content creation, including digital human production. Also in March 2024, New H3C Big Data (新华三大数据技术有限公司) deployed a government services digital human named Gao Xiaoxin (高小新) at the Smart City Experiment Field in Zhengzhou's High-tech Zone. Built on New H3C's Linseer private-domain large model and integrating more than 1.3 million data entries capable of processing more than one million governance events, Gao Xiaoxin was among the most data-rich government digital humans deployed in Henan at that time. A cooperation agreement between the High-tech Zone government and New H3C to build an AI industrial zone called Turing Town had been signed the previous November, providing the institutional basis for the March deployment.
In May 2024, Henan Open University significantly expanded its digital human teaching capabilities under the AI He Kai smart education project. A second digital human, He Fangfang (河方方), was introduced alongside an upgraded He Kaikai, with He Fangfang specifically described as the first digital human in the province's educational system to be connected to a large language model. The expanded system incorporated more than 900 AI agents within a comprehensive instructional architecture and was positioned to serve the province's lifelong learning population across a range of educational contexts.
June 2024 saw Henan Broadcasting Television introduce the Daxiang Yuan AI Creation and Application Platform, characterized by its developers as China's first intelligent creation engine focused on traditional culture. The platform stored thousands of high-precision 3D models in a digital asset library curated around Eastern aesthetic elements and national trend styles, compatible with VR, AR, and XR production workflows. Two VR films — "Tang Palace Night Banquet" and "Secret of Qin Mausoleum" — were produced on the platform, and Henan Broadcasting Television submitted an Eastern standard for virtual reality digital media asset data description for national standard approval.
In August 2024, the Henan Province Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Digitalization Center launched what it called China's first intangible cultural heritage digital human, built on the Baidu Wenxin (百度文心) AI platform. The character drew on the Hua Mulan figure from Yu opera, blending ancient and science-fiction aesthetics, and was trained on 310,000 standardized entries of Henan intangible cultural heritage data. Deployed on Baidu Search, the digital human answered heritage questions, provided event information, and generated AI-assisted paintings incorporating intangible cultural heritage elements.
October 2024 produced three events that illustrated the range of organizations now investing in digital human technology within and around the province. The Beijing-based company APUS (麒麟合盛) developed an AI digital human modeled on the legendary Yu opera performer Chang Xiangyu, using AI reconstruction to reproduce her classic performance artistry, with the project presented publicly by APUS founder Li Tao in collaboration with Henan Broadcasting Television and Elephant News. Separately, the Jinshui District market supervision authorities in Zhengzhou unveiled a digital human named Zheng Biaozhun (郑标准) at a World Standards Day event, describing it as the first case in China of creating an AI digital human avatar from a government official's likeness, intended for policy interpretation and public service communications. The same month, Zhengzhou Sias University (郑州西亚斯学院) formally launched a campus-wide digital human system alongside specialized curriculum in digital human production and practical applications at its School of Journalism and Communication, establishing one of the province's first dedicated academic programs in the field.
The opening weeks of 2025 demonstrated how rapidly the province's digital human infrastructure had matured. At the Henan Spring Festival Gala broadcast on January 26, a virtual band called Heavenly Court Trendy Sound (天庭潮音) performed to a national audience of nearly 21 million viewers. Described as China's first Chinese mythology virtual band, its four 3D-rendered characters were each modeled on one of the Four Heavenly Kings from Buddhist iconography, with each figure's instruments and visual design derived from traditional religious imagery. The performance fused traditional opera with ethnic rock and generated enthusiastic public demand for a standalone concert. Tang Xiaomei also made a confirmed appearance in the gala's pre-show programming, continuing her evolution from a simple animated composite character into a durable virtual IP for the province's broadcasting output.
February 2025 saw Henan Broadcasting Television's Livelihood Channel (民生频道) commit to AI anchors for daily broadcast operations at a scale unprecedented in the province. A digital human anchor named Xiao Ge (笑歌) debuted on February 13 on the 45-minute flagship program "Xiao Li Helps," followed by Cai Zhixin (蔡志鑫) on February 24 on the 45-minute program "Da Cankao." Together the two anchors assumed responsibility for ninety minutes of automated daily news broadcasting, a deployment that followed a system-wide reform initiative formally launched at a January 6 seminar on new quality production forces. In the same month, China Mobile Henan (中国移动河南公司) launched 5G New Calling DC friendly-user recruitment in the province in partnership with Huawei (华为), subsequently releasing what was described as the world's first 5G New Calling DC application. The deployment integrated digital human technology directly into the calling interface, including an AI digital human video customer service function and AI-assisted translation subtitles. Concurrently, the China Mobile Research Institute and Nanjing University jointly developed a high-fidelity 2D digital human speech-driving system featuring seven-emotion control, designed to support applications within the 5G calling framework.
On February 28, 2025, the Zhongyuan District Administrative Approval and Government Information Bureau in Zhengzhou launched a government services digital human named Xiao Yuan Bangban (小源帮办) in partnership with China Unicom Zhengzhou (中国联通郑州). Built using DeepSeek large model technology and deployed on the Zhongyuan Fabu WeChat public account, the system processed more than one thousand queries per day, achieved a problem recognition accuracy rate of 95.3 percent, responded within eight seconds, and maintained a public satisfaction rate of 99.2 percent — one of the most precisely documented performance profiles of any government digital human deployed in the province.
In March 2025, the province's digital human applications reached a domain previously untouched when a digital human named Xinsheng (新生) appeared at an ecological burial ceremony on March 29 at Henan Fushouyuan cemetery in Zhengzhou. The ceremony, hosted by the Zhengzhou Civil Affairs Bureau (郑州市民政局), the Zhengzhou Civilization Office, and the Zhengzhou Forestry Bureau, honored 189 deceased individuals who had chosen eco-burial. Xinsheng appeared on a large screen and addressed attendees in the voice of a pioneer of ecological burial, delivering a message about the natural cycle of life — marking the province's first deployment of a digital human in a funerary or memorial context.
April 2025 illustrated the breadth of digital human adoption across Henan's institutions in two consecutive events. On April 15, four companies signed strategic cooperation agreements at a Jinshui District digital technology ecosystem event covering smart parks, AI digital humans, and cultural IP research and development, with China Telecom (中国电信) presenting AI digital human technology for commercial metaverse applications. On April 26 and 27, Zhengzhou Sias University and Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute (黄河水利职业技术学院) co-organized the second Education Digital Human Competition, Zhengzhou station, under the joint auspices of the China Educational Technology Association (中国教育技术协会) and the Henan Provincial Educational Informatization Association (河南省教育信息化协会). Themed around human-machine harmonious coexistence and the optimization of digital-smart education, the competition offered six tracks covering teaching, learning, management, assessment, research, and service assistant applications, along with a supplementary track for intelligent agent and hardware integration.
In May 2025, SenseTime (商汤科技) unveiled what its developers described as China's first Laozi digital human at Hangu Pass in Sanmenxia, during the 30th Sanmenxia Yellow River Cultural Tourism Festival running from May 17 to 25. The figure was built with more than two million polygons of high-precision three-dimensional modeling, dressed in Spring-and-Autumn-period costumes reconstructed from authoritative historical texts, and rendered with multiple distinct facial expressions. Visitors at the site could interact with the digital Laozi through smart terminals to explore Daoist philosophy. The simultaneous inauguration of the Hangu Pass Base of the Global Laozi Thought Dissemination Research Center of East China Normal University anchored the deployment within a formal academic heritage framework, and a professor from that university described it as the nation's first such figure.
In June 2025, the Yinxu archaeological site in Anyang continued to develop its Digital Fu Hao figure, which had been deployed at the site's night tourism events during the Spring Festival 2025 period and was described as capable of moving toward visitors and performing dance sequences alongside a digital rendering of King Wu Ding. The deployment extended the province's practice of using expert-type digital characters to animate archaeological heritage in ways that combined scholarship with immersive tourism experience.
November 2025 brought a large-scale talent development facility to the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone, when a major AI-plus smart talent training base was unveiled on November 27 at the Henan Airport Smart Computing Center. Built by Henan Airport Digital City Company (河南机场数字城市公司) and Beijing Bohai Di Information Technology (北京渤海谛信息技术有限公司) at a total investment of 120 million yuan, the facility projected an annual training capacity of more than 30,000 professionals across fields including AI, big data, and cloud computing. It incorporated an AI examination center, a talent service center, and an innovation exhibition hall, providing institutional support for the digital human and AI workforce the province had been building toward since 2022.
January 2026 recorded developments that positioned Zhengzhou as a center for commercially scaled digital human applications driven by local enterprise. Duoguan Group (夺冠集团), formerly operating as Henan Canzan Network Technology and based at the China Zhengzhou Live E-commerce Industry Base — an ecosystem that achieved more than 40 billion yuan in gross merchandise value during 2024, with more than 200 MCN companies in operation — developed a product called Xiaomoui AI Digital Human (小魔推AI数字人). Integrating DeepSeek technology, the product allowed users to generate a personalized AI digital human from thirty seconds of video and voice data in under three minutes, and within three months of launch it had attracted more than 60,000 users and completed more than five million computation cycles. Also that month, iFlytek (科大讯飞) demonstrated a virtual digital human named Zhang Tengyue (张腾跃) with multilingual capability including Henan dialect recitation of classical poetry, and attention was drawn to the company's role in leading the development of two ITU international standards for digital human technology — connecting Henan's local deployment activity to the global standards framework emerging around the field.
The trajectory of the preceding five years reached its most contested moment in February 2026, when Henan Broadcasting Television broadcast a Spring Festival Gala that became the first provincial-level Spring Festival production to replace all human hosts and hosts entirely with AI-generated virtual characters and to stage all performance environments in digitally constructed space. Tang Xiaomei and Luoshen — the Goddess of the Luo River, a virtual IP drawn from the province's classical literary heritage — handled all program transitions throughout the broadcast. Zhiyuan robots performed Shaolin kung fu alongside human monks in sequences that blurred the boundary between physical and virtual performance, and Alibaba's Qianwen AI (阿里通义千问) served as the exclusive title sponsor as part of a 30 billion yuan Spring Festival marketing campaign. The audience and critical reaction was sharply negative. Commentators described the production as electronic pre-cooked food and reported difficulty distinguishing performances from sponsored content, with advertising reportedly occupying approximately 40 percent of total airtime. AI-generated backgrounds were criticized as visually artificial, transitions were characterized as mechanical and emotionally disconnected, and many observers drew pointed comparisons to the 2021 Tang Palace Night Banquet — arguing that the 2026 gala had abandoned the cultural authenticity and human warmth that gave that earlier production its power, trading them for a demonstration of technological capability that left audiences feeling alienated from the very cultural traditions the province had staked its virtual identity on.
[Mar 2026]