A scene of the Black Myth: Wukong Photo: IC

China's National Radio and Television Administration has revealed the third recommended play list for its "Travel with Micro-drama" project,MKS sports bringing the total number of selected works to 31. 

The selected works span a diverse range of subjects, from urban professional life and pastoral living to local cuisine, intangible cultural heritage, anti-fraud campaigns, inspirational youth stories, rural entrepreneurship, and fantasy time-travel narratives. Among these, the time-travel genre stands out as particularly captivating.

A prime example is Hello, Su Dongpo, which is set against the historical backdrop of Chinese renowned poet Su Shi (Su Dongpo)'s tenure as the prefect of Dingzhou in North China's Hebei Province. 

The series narrates his accidental journey to the year 2024, where he explores Dingzhou alongside contemporary high school students. 

This micro-drama not only integrates numerous facets of Dingzhou's cultural and tourism landscape but also vividly showcases the city's historical depth, cultural charm, and local customs as a "city of Chinese poetry."

Among the selected works, six have already been broadcast, including the first AIGC science fiction short series Sanxingdui: Future Revelation. Despite the nascent stage of AI technology in the series, it has garnered over 55.15 million views alone on Douyin, China' version of TikTok, with a total of over 100 million views across the internet. 

Capitalizing on this success, the production company has collaborated with the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism to release a creative AI short film featuring giant pandas, further promoting Sichuan's cultural and tourism industry.

These themes not only carry forward the fine traditions of micro-dramas but also closely integrate with cultural and tourism elements, using a narrative language to form effective communication. 

The micro-drama is not alone in this endeavor as many games and film and television works have also been contributing to the integration of culture and tourism. 

For instance, the highly anticipated domestic game Black Myth: Wukonghas been integrated with the cultural tourism of Shanxi. 

The Cultural and Tourism Department of Shanxi Province has issued an early notice for the event "Traveling with Wukong [Monkey King] in Shanxi," preparing to customize exclusive travel routes and pass documents.

In addition, the domestic animated film White Snake: Afloathas been integrated with the cultural tourism of West Lake in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, under the promotion of the local tourism authority.

Among the three "cultural tourism plus" models, games and movies are essentially products that rely on traditional market rules, with cultural tourism being just an additional element. 

However, the "micro-drama plus cultural tourism" model is both low cost and flexible. Coupled with the dual opportunities of micro-dramas and cultural tourism, it can be considered the most promising category for a breakthrough.

Although the period of unbridled growth for micro-dramas has passed, ushering in a period of stricter regulation, they still hold significant advantages over traditional dramas when it comes to subject selection and project cycles.

The emergence of cultural and tourism micro-dramas has, to some extent, resolved a long-standing challenge for local cultural and tourism industries. 

In the past, localities considered leveraging historical figures to promote their cultural and tourism resources, but the operational complexity and policy risks associated with television dramas were too high, and the market considerations for movies often led to a situation where there was much talk but little action. 

The lightweight micro-drama has put an end to these troubles, achieving both the leveraging of fame and deep integration with the tourism industry.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. [email protected]