I am based in Malanshan, Changsha, focusing on the global expansion of AI-produced manhua dramas.

In June 2026, the series *After Rebirth, No One Pretends to Be a Rich Second Generation* was launched on Hongguo Short Drama. There are no real human actors or live-action shots in the drama, and all characters, scenes and dubbing are generated by AI. At present, the series has been updated for 12 seasons, 6 of which have entered the top 10 of the must-watch list of Hongguo AI manhua dramas.

The producer Hunan Weixu Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Weixu Network") is located in Malanshan Video Cultural and Creative Industrial Park (hereinafter referred to as "the Video Park") in Changsha. An employee of Weixu Network introduced that with the help of the "Zhima Manying" creation platform provided by the park, the team can complete a short drama in about 8 days.

At Guanghe Xingmeng (Changsha) Cultural Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Guanghe Xingmeng"), which is dozens of meters away from Weixu Network, dozens of young people are also making manhua dramas in front of computers in the open office area. The difference is that Weixu Network mainly targets the domestic market, while most of Guanghe Xingmeng's orders come from overseas short drama platforms.

The industry refers to this type of short drama dominated by AI-generated images as manhua dramas, which includes both animation forms and works close to real human images. Producers convert scripts into storyboards, use AI to complete character modeling, scene generation and dubbing, and then edit them into episodes. A lot of work that used to be done on the set is now moved to computers.

The Video Park was officially established in 2017. Its core area includes the Golden Eagle City area where the headquarters of Hunan Broadcasting System is located and the Yazipu area, which are generally collectively referred to as "Malanshan". Relying on Hunan Broadcasting System, a large number of variety show, film and television drama and short drama production enterprises have gathered here; in the past year, a large number of AI manhua drama production enterprises have gathered here.

Wei Lian, General Manager of Guanghe Xingmeng, told *The Economic Observer* that at its peak, Malanshan once gathered more than 40 manhua drama production enterprises. The Hunan Provincial Government website disclosed in September 2026 that the Malanshan AIGC-OPC incubation space has incubated about 300 entities and launched 349 original works.

Similar to the short drama industry, after the rapid expansion of the manhua drama industry, it has also entered a reshuffling stage. A number of people engaged in manhua drama production in Malanshan told *The Economic Observer* that some enterprises in the park have now turned to high-quality manhua dramas or other businesses.

From Traditional Film and Television to AI Manhua Drama

Wei Lian, General Manager of Guanghe Xingmeng, first applied AI to the film crew in 2023.

At that time, Wei Lian took the team to shoot at Duyun Film City in Guizhou. AI video generation tools were not yet mature, but the newly added "Generative Fill" function of Photoshop left a deep impression on him. After the team shot a panorama, they used AI to replace the scenery outside the window, and then tracked and synthesized it through After Effects, and the effect was good. Since then, he has tried to apply AI to more production links.

Wei Lian studied acting, worked as a director at Hunan TV from 2010 to 2014, and later cooperated with iQiyi to shoot TV dramas. He recalled that in the early days when he participated in the production of online movies, he once got returns with relatively low investment, but after the competition intensified, business became more and more difficult.

In 2021, Wei Lian founded Guanghe Xingmeng in Shenzhen, continuing to engage in traditional film and television production. However, it was difficult to recruit people in Shenzhen and the labor cost was high. In 2024, he moved the company back to Changsha from Shenzhen. He has worked and lived in Changsha for many years and is familiar with the local film and television circle. "Hangzhou is the most concentrated place for AI, but I am not familiar with Hangzhou."

The reserve of film and television talents in Changsha has become the basis for Guanghe Xingmeng to form its team. The three core members of the team all have backgrounds in Hunan Broadcasting System. Huang Ying, Deputy General Manager, once participated in programs such as *Super Girl*, *Super Boy*, *I Am a Singer*, and Zhan Yali, a senior producer, once served as Senior Director of the Micro Short Drama Department of Mango TV.

Wei Lian believes that the accumulation of traditional film and television talents in narrative and editing is still valuable. People who have made high-quality content know "what to show in the first three seconds and where to pause in the 20th second", but the rhythm of long dramas and short dramas is different, and some transformed teams still follow the narrative method of long dramas, which is difficult to adapt to the rhythm of short dramas.

Wei Lian introduced that from 2023 to 2024, he participated in AI creation competitions, and then participated in the video generation test of Dreamina, testing camera movement, performance and scheduling for three months, and providing prompt materials. "At that time, I thought this was the future."

Nowadays, Guanghe Xingmeng still starts production from the script. The director first determines the character's position, emotion and camera scheduling, then writes the requirements into the storyboard and annotations, and hands them over to the producers to generate images. The judgments that used to be completed on the set are advanced to before the image generation, and the editing, dubbing and soundtrack links are entered only after the camera is approved.

"The positions are actually similar to those of short dramas, and directors, screenwriters and editors are all here." Wei Lian said that AI has not replaced the director's judgment, but only changed the production method. AI can convert the script into prompts for making manhua dramas, and the director still needs to adjust them one by one. "AI has too many ideas. If you don't restrain it, it will make trouble." If the generated result does not meet the requirements, it is necessary to check the camera language and character emotions, modify the instructions and regenerate.

Guanghe Xingmeng's works include the first AI manhua drama *Muye Guishi* directed by the writer Tianxi Bazhang, *Arcade Dinosaur: Cross-Border Destiny Man* co-produced with Mango TV and Fengmang Media, which was selected as an excellent work in the short video unit of the 16th Beijing International Film Festival, as well as overseas manhua dramas such as *Return, Queen of Capital*, *Gate of the Abyss*, *The Lost Mermaid Princess*.

To produce a short drama, Guanghe Xingmeng usually requires five or six people to cooperate, and it takes about one month from the script to delivery, with the finished film lasting 60 to 120 minutes. There is no need to coordinate actor schedules, lighting, props and venues, and producers mainly complete the work in front of computers.

The report of Guoyuan Securities shows that the production cost per minute of live-action short dramas is about 3,000 yuan, and that of AI production is about 800 yuan; the cost per minute of traditional animation ranges from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan.

While the costs of actors and venues are reduced, the expenditure on computing power has increased. Wei Lian calculated that generating a video takes about 1.5 yuan to 1.6 yuan per second, and generating a 15-second shot costs 20 to 30 yuan at a time. If the effect is unqualified, it has to be regenerated. "Running for 30 seconds is enough to treat two people to a meal."

IP, Production and Distribution

The reason why Wei Lian chose to move Guanghe Xingmeng to Changsha is that on the one hand, he once worked in Changsha and is familiar with the local film and television circle; on the other hand, Malanshan has a complete industrial chain from traditional film and television to manhua drama production, and the living cost and labor cost in Changsha are relatively low, which is more in line with the needs of start-up companies.

The upstream of manhua dramas are scripts and IP, and online literature platforms such as Yuewen, Fanqie and Yanyan Story are important sources. According to the December 2025 report of Guoyuan Securities, IP authorization usually adopts the method of "guaranteed minimum plus revenue sharing", the copyright purchase fee is about 10,000 to 50,000 yuan, and the adaptation fee is about 10,000 to 100,000 yuan.

In October 2025, Mango TV released the "Thousand Short Dramas IP Joint Creation Ecological Plan" in Malanshan. The first batch of partners include Yuewen Group, Qimao Chinese Website, Migu Digital Media, Ximalaya, etc. The plan promotes the adaptation of literature, film and television, animation and game IP into short dramas through investment, traffic support and revenue sharing incentives.

The "Micro Short Drama + AIGC Creation Plan" released at the same event proposed to open 120 copyrighted scripts and the "Shanhai AIGC Platform", and provide creators with graded investments ranging from 100,000 yuan to 1 million yuan. The copyright owner provides the story, the production team is responsible for adaptation, the broadcast platform participates in investment and distribution, and small and medium-sized teams have the opportunity to obtain copyright, funds and broadcast channels through cooperation.

With the script, the producer also needs generation tools, computing power and collaboration systems.

In March 2026, Malanshan Audio and Video Laboratory released "Zhima Manying", which integrates functions such as script disassembly, storyboarding, image generation, dubbing and soundtrack into the same platform. Public data shows that there are more than 3,000 registered customers on the platform.

The product leader of the platform introduced in April 2026 that the system can uniformly manage production materials such as characters, scenes and props, and provide functions such as task assignment, multi-person collaboration and cost recording, which is convenient for different producers to connect cameras.

Weixu Network uses this platform to make short dramas, while Wei Lian's team mainly uses market-oriented models and adjusts the process by themselves. "As soon as a new model comes out, we have to study it immediately. If you wait for others to release it and then modify it at night, you will basically be eliminated." Wei Lian said.

With the focus of production shifting from the studio to the computer, enterprises' demand for computing power, storage and data transmission has risen accordingly.

The Hunan official disclosed in August 2026 that the Video Park has self-built AI computing power of 116PFlops, can dispatch external computing power of 95PFlops, and the total storage scale exceeds 400PB; the park has built a 400G high-speed computing and storage backbone network, realizing network coverage of 100G to buildings and 10G to desktops.

The park has launched a computing power resource empowerment plan. Enterprises can enjoy a maximum of 30% deduction when purchasing computing power and storage resources, with an annual cap of 5 million yuan; when purchasing Tokens and AI tools, they can enjoy a maximum of 20% deduction, with an annual cap of 1 million yuan.

In the launch link, Malanshan has built a radio and television audio-visual art guidance and pre-review center, which assists the review through the "China V Chain" AI pre-review system, and provides enterprises with content inspection services before the launch of works.

From Film Crew to Project System

Changsha, where film and television talents gather, also faces the employment problem of AI manhua dramas. Wei Lian found that some traditional film and television practitioners cannot find jobs, but manhua drama companies find it difficult to recruit people who can independently deliver projects.

Guanghe Xingmeng has come into contact with many applicants who can independently make 3-5 minutes of AI short films, but commercial orders usually require 5 or 6 people to cooperate to complete 60 to 120 minutes of works within one month. The team leader must not only disassemble the script and control the generation effect, but also coordinate personnel and clients.

"A very capable person may not be able to lead a team when he comes to our company." Wei Lian said.

Traditional film crews usually cooperate with directors to complete images through positions such as photography and lighting, while AI manhua drama directors need to judge composition, light, color and camera language by themselves. Wei Lian believes that without film and television production experience, directors are easily led by the AI-generated images.

Overseas orders also require producers to be familiar with the aesthetics of the target market, and preferably be able to read English scripts directly. There are very few people with these abilities, and their labor costs are particularly high.

New members of Guanghe Xingmeng first learn by following the team, and then gradually lead teams independently. Some investors hope to invest in supporting the company's expansion, but Wei Lian is worried that talent training cannot keep up, so he did not accept it.

The order volume and market preferences change rapidly, and Guanghe Xingmeng is unwilling to hire a fixed team for a long time according to the business volume at the peak.

Therefore, Guanghe Xingmeng adopts the project system. About 60 producers cooperate in the identity of "one-person company" (OPC), and they are not formal employees. Five or six people form a group, and share the agreed income after completing a drama; core personnel such as Wei Lian are responsible for receiving orders, customer communication, technical testing and project review.

"It is impossible to let an OPC communicate with Party A." Wei Lian said that the core team continuously tests new tools and methods, and then hands them over to the project team for use. The theme demands of clients also often change. "This period of time, the elements of elves are popular, and next week it may become the mafia."

The project system reduces the pressure on enterprises to maintain a fixed team. Wei Lian believes that when orders are sufficient, the income of partners may be higher than the fixed salary; when there are no projects, there is no income. This method reduces labor costs, but cannot solve the problem of shortage of team leaders. The on-time delivery of the project still depends on whether the team leader can coordinate personnel, control the production progress and the quality of the finished film.

The policies of Malanshan are also adapting to this employment method. In March 2026, the Video Park launched the "0731 Full Speed Ahead" plan, providing AI creators and one-person companies with free shared workstations for up to 12 months. Qualified creators who use large models, cloud and computing power resources within the specified range can get a maximum of 30% of the cost subsidy, with an annual cap of 100,000 yuan per entity.

Wei Lian said that Guanghe Xingmeng is one of the first five operating entities of the "0731 Full Speed Ahead" plan, providing free training for newcomers, and then settling accounts according to projects. "The OPC policy basically solves our employment problem."

According to public reports in May 2026, the Malanshan Huoshi AIGC Film and Television OPC Community has registered more than 80 OPCs, gathering more than 500 practitioners, and has built an IP pool, order library and supporting services to help individuals and small teams connect with projects.

Guanghe Xingmeng was also selected into the 7th batch of "Malun Plan" of the park in November 2025. According to the measures revised in 2024, qualified enterprises can obtain a startup subsidy of no more than 100,000 yuan, and the rent subsidy ratios for the first three years are 80%, 70% and 60% respectively; the special fund will also select projects and provide equity investment or convertible bond investment ranging from 200,000 yuan to 1 million yuan.

Two Modes

Weixu Network and Guanghe Xingmeng are dozens of meters apart, but their sources of income are significantly different.

Weixu Network mainly undertakes domestic business. The company previously disclosed that it simultaneously promotes 5 or 6 AI short dramas every week, and the order amount in 2025 exceeded 16 million yuan.

Domestic manhua dramas are mainly broadcast on platforms such as Hongguo, and share revenue from advertising. A manhua drama producer said that in the businesses he has come into contact with, after the number of episodes increases, the revenue sharing of a single work drops significantly. In the past, 10,000 views could get dozens of yuan, but now it is usually only 1 or 2 yuan, and more than 10 yuan is already a relatively high level.

Guanghe Xingmeng mainly undertakes production orders from overseas short drama platforms. Different from the domestic model, overseas short dramas and manhua dramas adopt a revenue sharing model based on payment. Wei Lian said that Guanghe Xingmeng is a whitelist partner of Kunlun Wanwei's overseas short drama business, and the orders mainly come from Kunlun Wanwei's overseas platforms; in addition to undertaking orders, Guanghe Xingmeng produces one self-made drama on average every month.

CITIC Securities quoted DataEye data saying that Kunlun Wanwei's DramaWave achieved revenue of 195 million US dollars in the first half of 2026.

Overseas customers also have different requirements for performance, picture clarity and production