A Study on Overseas Communication Effects and Cultural Image Construction of Chinese AI-Generated Micro-Dramas
Against the backdrop of the deep integration of new media and AIGC technologies, Chinese AI-generated micro-dramas have emerged as an important vehicle for cross-cultural communication and outbound cultural products. Despite the growing commercial influence of AI-generated micro-dramas overseas, existing research has paid limited attention to how such productions shape China’s national cultural image among foreign audiences. This study aims to examine the overall characteristics and effects of the overseas communication of Chinese AI-generated micro-dramas, analyze what kind of Chinese cultural image these works convey in cross-cultural communication, and accordingly propose targeted optimization suggestions. Adopting a mixed-methods research design, this paper integrates literature review, cross-border questionnaire survey, social-media text mining, and Python-assisted sentiment analysis. It finds that AI-generated micro-dramas have satisfied overseas Generation-Z audiences’ fragmented entertainment demands. However, prominent communication deficiencies are observed, including homogenized template-driven production, flawed audiovisual and translation output, as well as superficial cultural expressions. Overseas audiences mostly encounter the micro-dramas through passive algorithm recommendations and hold fragmented perceptions of Chinese culture. Excessive “de-Sinicization” and melodramatic plots may even arouse cross-cultural controversies. Accordingly, the study puts forward targeted optimization suggestions covering content creation, creator awareness and platform operation. It maintains that the industry should conduct the transformation from “traffic-driven overseas output” to “culture-driven overseas output”, thus improving cross-cultural communication of Chinese AI-generated micro-dramas in the new era.
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