Yang Hanhan processes an AI-generated short film at her studio in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, March 12, 2026. [Photo/Xinhua]

WUHAN -- In early March, Yang Hanhan was surprised to find that an AI-generated short film about ancient Chinese general Huo Qubing, released by her team just a month ago, had quietly gone viral overseas.

In the film, not only do epic war scenes unfold one after another, but even details, such as the swirling dust of a desert charge, the tension of neighing warhorses, and the subtle furrow of the protagonist's brow, are rendered with remarkable delicacy. These elements shatter the public stereotype of AI-produced content as crude and low-quality.

International audiences were captivated by Huo's youthful spirit and patriotic devotion, as well as the Eastern aesthetics presented through AI. "This is mind-blowing!" Many netizens commented.

However, this project was completed by a team of just three people, with only 48 hours of work and about 3,000 yuan (about 435 U.S. dollars) in computing costs, according to Yang, the 35-year-old AIGC director from Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province.

"Producing a four-minute film in 48 hours is becoming the industry standard," Yang said, adding that as AI technology continues to evolve and advance, China's film and television creation and cultural exports are being redefined.

Back in early 2025, Yang had no professional background in the film or television industry. As AI video platforms were rapidly evolving, she tried out AI video tools for the first time while promoting Wuhan's specialty "reganmian," or hot dry noodles.

"At the beginning, none of us had any experience. It took four of us over a week to put together a one-minute short video," Yang recalled. "The video wasn't great, but I saw the hope for this industry."

Standing in front of a small blackboard in the office at that time, Yang said to her partners, "One day, we will definitely make movies!"

The year 2025 is widely regarded by the industry as the "first year of the manju (comic-inspired short dramas) era" in China. A report shows that the total views of China's manju market exceeded 70 billion last year. Among them, AI-generated manju, powered by AIGC technology, saw particularly rapid growth, with its market share surging from nearly zero at the beginning of the year to 10.88 percent by the end of the year.

It was at this critical moment -- as the industry began its explosive expansion -- that the short film Huo Qubing emerged. Over the past year, Yang's team has conducted in-depth research on a variety of domestic and international AI imaging and video production tools, continuously optimized their prompts, and overcome fundamental challenges in AI creation, such as character consistency and visual coherence.

At the end of January this year, Yang completed the script for the short film Huo Qubing. Yang explained that Huo was chosen as the protagonist because he went to the battlefield at 17 and achieved a decisive victory at 21. "The courageous spirit of this young hero, undaunted by hardship and forging ahead with determination, resonates universally and touches hearts everywhere."

Yang's team of three divided their duties clearly: one took on directing and writing, another handled AI generation and editing, and the third was in charge of music and sound effects. They focused their energy for four days, working a total of 48 hours, to complete the project.

"In the video production phase, we first generated about 1,700 AI images, selected 90 as storyboards to produce roughly 500 video clips, and then meticulously edited, scored, and refined the footage to bring our vision of the young hero to life," Yang said.

"In fact, we still have a technical road ahead before we can achieve our dream of creating a cinematic feature film with AI," she said. "But the real value of AI is to free creators from tediously repetitive tasks, allowing them to dedicate more time to ideas and storytelling. After all, what truly determines the quality of a work is still the creator's aesthetic, emotion and thought."

Yang's team now boasts 20 members, with diverse backgrounds ranging from music performance and product design to even auto mechanics. "AI empowers anyone with a story to pursue their dream of making films. I believe this is the best era for storytellers," she said.

Yang hopes her team will develop a series of short films featuring Chinese heroes, such as Yue Fei, Xin Qiji and Hua Mulan, that showcase their stories and the profound Chinese culture they bring to the world.