AI-Generated Chinese Short Film Goes Viral on Bilibili
An artificial intelligence-generated animated short film titled “Yaoyi Bu: Wen Cangsheng” (The Book of Strange Tales: Ask About the People) has surged to the top of the general ranking on Bilibili, pulling in more than 14.5 million views by Tuesday afternoon. The 26-minute project explores a fictional historian documenting mythical monsters known as yaoguai, only to discover they are ordinary people pushed to the margins by famine and forced labor. The viral success has sparked intense online debate across China regarding the balance between dazzling synthetic visual effects and substance-driven storytelling in digital media production.
The Production Footprint and Technological Stack
Created by “Qingguadan,” the project relies on a multi-platform generative workflow rather than traditional animation pipelines. The production utilized ByteDance’s Seedance 2.5 video generation model, OpenAI’s GPT Image, and Jimeng AI, a domestic platform specializing in text-to-image and text-to-video services. This combination allowed the creator to maintain consistent character designs across ancient settings, lowering the traditional barriers to entry for independent creators handling complex visual effects.
Shifting Public Discourse from Pixels to Narrative
As viewership climbed past 14.5 million, public discussion shifted away from pure technological novelty toward the narrative core of the film. The story centers on an ethical dilemma faced by the protagonist: whether to record the literal truth about the oppressed populace and place them in greater danger, or to document them as monsters to obscure their identities and save their lives. The short concludes with a poignant message: “When generations future read about monsters, don’t ask about ghosts and gods; ask about common people.”
Industry observers note that visual fidelity alone no longer guarantees audience retention in the competitive streaming market. Li Baile, a postgraduate student at Sichuan University and AI minidrama enthusiast, told the Global Times that viewers demand emotional resonance. Li emphasized that the film succeeds because it poses timeless questions regarding who holds the power to define history, whose voices are preserved, and whose suffering is ultimately remembered.
Industry Implications for Digital Content Production
The rapid rise of “Yaoyi Bu: Wen Cangsheng” illustrates how generative platforms are reshaping the pre-production and concept-testing phases for independent creators. Zhao Yafeng, a Beijing-based AI minidrama director and former short-form drama screenwriter, explained to the Global Times that while automation handles visual planning and scene layout, creators must invest heavily in core storytelling.
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