A forum focused on integrating culture and technology was held in Shanghai on Sept 11 as part of the ongoing 2026 Pujiang Innovation Forum. With Hunan province serving as the guest province of honor and hosting the culture-technology integration forum, the event brought together government officials, industry leaders, and leading academics to explore how digital innovation is reshaping the cultural landscape.

Liu Yang, vice-governor of Hunan province, highlighted the province's achievements in the intelligent audiovisual sector.

"We have gathered more than 5,000 upstream and downstream enterprises and over 68,000 industry professionals, focusing on breakthroughs in key core technologies in the intelligent audiovisual field," Liu said. "In 2025, the province's audiovisual industry revenue reached 290 billion yuan ($43.2 billion)."

Hunan has also pioneered the world's first large model dedicated to Chinese history and cultural heritage, achieving the digital reproduction of 79,000 precious cultural relics, he added.

Chen Jie, vice-mayor of Shanghai, emphasized the regions' natural partnership.

"From the Huangpu River to both banks of the Xiang River, Shanghai and Hunan share connected cultures, business relationships, and mutually reinforcing innovation," Chen said.

Looking ahead, Shanghai will continue to deepen the application of generative AI, extended reality, and other frontier technologies in the cultural sphere, and will join hands with Hunan to tackle the contemporary challenge of cultural-technological integration, he added.

Yang Zhenbin, Party secretary of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, outlined higher education's role in the integration.

"For universities, promoting the integration of culture and technology is both an important responsibility in advancing the construction of a culturally and technologically strong country and a contemporary task of promoting interdisciplinary studies and cultivating versatile talents," Yang said.

Source: China Daily