- AI video and digital-content startups fuel rapid industry growth
- Eastern Chinese city pushes beyond tourism image into next-generation audiovisual tech
Jiaxing, a city better known for rice dumplings and historic canal towns, is rapidly emerging as a hub for AI-powered audiovisual technology as local authorities push to build what they call a 100-billion-yuan ($14.75 billion) digital media cluster.
The city’s large-scale audiovisual sector generated 16.28 billion yuan in revenue in the first quarter of 2026, up 15.9% from a year earlier.
Jiaxing is now home to 282 major audiovisual companies, with full-year 2025 industry revenue reaching 59.74 billion yuan, among the highest in Zhejiang Province.
Broader ecosystem
Advances in generative AI have become a key driver behind the sector’s growth.
Sharing Wonderful Network Technology, a local media and entertainment startup, has developed an AI translation agent that can produce a Thai-language version of a Chinese film in about two hours, complete with synchronized lip movements, voice cloning and facial expressions.
“The same workload previously required about 20 people working for at least half a day,” Chairman Li Yuanmin said, adding that the company now has more than 10 million monthly paying active users.
Jiaxing has also accelerated efforts to build a broader AI content ecosystem. Since 2025, the city has formed an audiovisual technology alliance linking major companies, universities and research institutes to develop vertical AI models and applications focused on digital humans and rapid 3D scene generation.
Enhancing efficiency with AI
Inside the Canal Bay Digital Culture Industrial Park in Jiaxing’s Xiuzhou District, AI animation startup Haohao Jianghua Culture Technology is working with the Yangtze River Delta Research Institute of Beijing Institute of Technology to reduce motion distortion in AI-generated drama characters.
The company said the collaboration cut production costs by 25% and shortened project cycles by 30%. “I plan to produce 300 short dramas over the next five years,” founder Jiang Hua, a writer born in the 1990s, said.
Another tenant in the same park, Lingji Yidong Culture Media, is targeting the fast-growing AI comic-drama market.
General manager Ding Zhixuan said a 60-minute AI-generated series can now be delivered in roughly two weeks if a script is already prepared, far faster than conventional live-action production.
More than 110 audiovisual and digital media companies, including Tencent Music Entertainment and Qiniu Cloud, have established operations in the park.
Supportive measures
Local authorities have rolled out new subsidies to attract startups and independent AI creators. In April, Jiaxing launched the Shuangxihu AIGC audiovisual OPC community, which offers qualifying companies up to 2 million yuan in annual computing-power subsidies and innovation vouchers worth as much as 200,000 yuan.
Under the city’s latest AI development measures, Jiaxing plans to establish several specialized OPC communities focused on AI services, cross-border e-commerce, software development and audiovisual content production.
The city said occupancy at the Nanhu Audiovisual Valley startup zone has already reached 80%, while the Canal Bay industrial park continues to expand.
Industrial parks are also filling up elsewhere in Jiaxing, as the city moves to build an integrated chain spanning AI infrastructure, content production and platform services.
Action plan
To support this expansion, Jiaxing has stepped up policy coordination to guide the industry’s next stage of growth.
On August 29, 2025, the municipal government issued a three-year action plan (2025–2027) to accelerate high-quality development of its audiovisual industry.
The plan sets a target of a 100-billion-yuan audiovisual industry by 2027. It also calls for building one national-level and two provincial-level industry parks, and cultivating 50 provincial-level key audiovisual firms.
Under the action plan, the city will support original content production and convert literary works into audiovisual formats, while fostering new businesses such as animation, gaming, esports operations and digital content creation.
It also encourages overseas expansion for Jiaxing-made short dramas and other cultural products. For example, Jiaxing-based ShortMax, an overseas short-drama platform, already reaches more than 200 countries and regions, local media reported.
