Leading China economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®
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For years, the growth of AI was built on scaling up its GPUs, but innovation expert Alvin Wang Graylin, author of Our Next Reality: Preparing for the AI-powered Metaverse, sees now a move to more collaboration. Chip maker Nvidia is not the only winner anymore, as competition is growing and AI models can develop through more experience and need less capacity to grow, as China’s Deepseek proved earlier this year, he says at the Big Bang Future Lab.
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China’s technology, design, and culture are part of a fusion that reshapes the country, says innovation expert Ashley Dudarenok in an analysis by the state-owned China Daily. “It’s a holistic shift, where tech meets culture, design, and daily life, and this wave is just starting,” according to Ashley Dudarenok
China Daily:
The fusion of technology and storytelling has elevated Chinese pop culture to new heights. Video games such as Black Myth: Wukong, based on the classic novel Journey to the West, are drawing global praise for both their cinematic visuals and mythological depth.
“It’s a holistic shift, where tech meets culture, design, and daily life, and this wave is just starting,” according to Ashley Dudarenok, founder of China-focused digital marketing company Alarice.
Platforms like TikTok and Xiaohongshu (RedNote) are at the center of this movement. TikTok, developed by China’s ByteDance, is not only a global leader in short-form video but also ranked by Brand Finance as the world’s seventh most valuable brand, ahead of Instagram and Facebook…
Dudarenok attributed this rise to China’s multi-pronged strategy of massive R&D investment, tax incentives for global co-productions, and a creative wave led by Gen Z content makers.
In 2024 alone, China invested 3.6 trillion yuan ($502 billion) in research and development, as per the National Bureau of Statistics…
Younger generations, particularly Gen Z and Millennials, are engaging with China in more nuanced ways. According to Brand Finance’s 2025 Soft Power Index, perceptions of China among digitally connected young people have improved significantly since 2020.
“Gen Z appreciates the blend of heritage and hyper-modernity,” said Dudarenok. “Black Myth: Wukong isn’t just a game, it’s a cultural ambassador that shifts how people view Chinese creativity.”…
Despite the momentum, challenges remain. Some cultural exports still struggle to resonate abroad due to localized storytelling or dense cultural references.
“Many Chinese pop culture exports focus on fusing ancient stories with modern values, which can sometimes limit global reach,” said Dudarenok from Alarice.
She pointed to Ne Zha 2, which became the highest-grossing animated film of all time, yet earned 99 percent of its revenue on the Chinese mainland.
“While the world is fascinated by companies like DeepSeek and Unitree, it will take time for people to fully embrace these innovations,” she said. “As interactions with China increase, initial apprehension will give way to excitement and appreciation.”
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AI tools to generate videos, like TikTok, have been challenged by a new wave of innovations using AI as filmmakers, says Winston Ma, author of The Digital War: How China’s Tech Power Shapes the Future of AI, Blockchain and Cyberspace at CNBC. “Just like TikTok took the global markets by storm with short videos in the mobile internet age, Chinese AI companies could well lead the Generative AI revolution in visual digital entertainment,” said Ma.
CNBC:
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has also stayed on top of the trend by releasing the latest version of its video generation AI model this week called Wan2.2. The company claimed that with the open-source model, users can control lighting, time of day, color tone, camera angle, frame size, composition and focal length.
Open source allows users to download a model for free, and customize, if not commercialize, products with it. Alibaba claimed that since open sourcing the “Wan” model series in February, the models have been downloaded more than 5.4 million times from the Hugging Face platform and a similar one in China called ModelScope.
“The age of AI in film is over. We’ve entered the age of AI as filmmaker,” said Winston Ma, adjunct professor at NYU School of Law. He pointed out that China’s 1.4 billion population has given local companies “enormous” amounts of video-watching data to work with.
“Just like TikTok took the global markets by storm with short videos in the mobile internet age, Chinese AI companies could well lead the Generative AI revolution in visual digital entertainment,” said Ma, author of “The Digital War: How China’s Tech Power Shapes the Future of AI, Blockchain and Cyberspace.”
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VC capital in China has dried up, but global VC William Bao Bean still sees opportunities for startups if they play their cards right, he says in an interview with Ashley Dudarenok. Most of the VC money did come from the government, and that capital is still available, although less through traditional VCs, he says.
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Who will be winning the race in innovation, China or the US? Marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok expects China will have advantages, not only with Deepseek playing its way into AI development but also for robotics to NEVs, quantum computing, and eVTOL she explains at the Jing Daily.
Ashley Dudarenok:
From AI and robotics to NEVs, quantum computing and eVTOL, the country is setting the pace for global advancements. These developments reflect a broader vision to transition from being the “Factory of the World” to the “R&D Center of the World.” For businesses, the opportunities are vast, but so are the challenges. Success will depend on the ability to adapt, forge meaningful collaborations, and stay ahead in a rapidly evolving market. As China continues to shape the future of technology, the question is not whether to engage, but how to do so effectively and safely.
Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Get in touch or fill out our speakers’ request form.
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Much attention goes to industrial innovation to save China’s sluggish economy. But leading economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®, is not too sure that path is helping the economy, he tells at NPR. “Growth is probably going to be pretty sluggish for a few more years yet. And they’re not going to get this magical nirvana that they hope for,” he adds
NPR:
WOODS: But the strategy may have its limitations, according to Arthur Kroeber. Arthur is one of these long-time China heads. He’s written a book. He started a China macroeconomics firm. He divides his time between New York and Beijing. He says that the government’s theory seems to be that heavy investments in tech will lead to productivity breakthroughs. Those productivity breakthroughs will then lead to higher wages and good jobs
ARTHUR KROEBER: I don’t think that that is very likely, because the problem with that is you look at all these high-tech industries that everyone is so excited about, EVs and batteries and whatnot, but they’re not very profitable.
RUWITCH: Arthur says there’s a capacity glut, a lot of stuff being produced, but not enough buyers to keep businesses standing on their own two feet. Companies in the solar sector are struggling. In batteries, profits are falling. Profitability in EVs is dropping. And a lot of this is due to competition with other companies in China.
KROEBER: Everyone is struggling, so they’re all barely making money. And so they don’t have a lot of ability to hire lots of people and give them big wages.
WOODS: Without those big wage increases, Arthur says, it’s hard to see how growth in high-tech industries will spill over to the rest of the economy.
RUWITCH: He says China’s industrial policy has been successful at a certain level.
KROEBER: They’ve got a lot of very competitive manufacturing industries. But the– but growth is probably going to be pretty sluggish for a few more years yet. And they’re not going to get this magical nirvana that they hope for.
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Innovation expert Alvin Wang Graylin, Global VP of Corp. Dev., HTC Global VP of Corp. Dev., HTC and co-author of Our Next Reality: Preparing for the AI-powered Metaverse, discusses China’s progress in innovation in a wide-ranging interview with Dr. Wake, and how the country has become a global leader in IT.
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Business analyst Shaun Rein looks at the nervewracking few weeks for the global IT industry, starting with the DeekSeek moment of fame, proving that China was way ahead of the US competition in AI. Also, TikTok, Trump’s curtailing of Nvidia, RedNote’s success, censorship in the US, and Silicon Valley get his verdict on East-West Investment opportunities.
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Winston Ma, Professor (Adjunct) and Executive Director, Global Public Investment Funds Forum, New York University School of Law and author of “The Hunt for Unicorns: How Sovereign Funds Are Reshaping Investment in the Digital Economy” gives advice on how to find the new unicorns and where to invest in digital infrastructure, cloud computing, and data preparation at the Cube, hosted by SiliconANGLE Media Inc. Co-Founder and Co-CEO John Furrier.
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Marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok dives into 40 years of marketing innovation that has put China in a leading role right now. A showreel giving an overview of Ashley’s amazing career and deep involvement with leading companies, both foreign and domestic, in China.
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US sanctions on China make it harder for Chinese companies to develop large-scale AI systems because they lack access to finance and computing power, says Winston Ma, adjunct professor of law at the New York University School of Law. But they will focus on AI applications and their commercialization rather than developing the big systems, he tells CNBC.
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Branding expert Ashley Dudarenok, author of Innovation Factory: China’s Digital Playbook For Global Brands (September 2023), discusses with Pascal Coppens what global brands can learn from China. Business models from the USA, Germany, and Japan have left their footprint in business education. Still, the innovations coming from China have been left out of this business learning process, says Dudarenok, especially regarding ways to reach consumers directly.
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VC William Bao Bean, managing director of Orbit startups, explains how tech transfers can limit – for example – carbon emissions in food production at COMEUP 2023. His 20-year experience in China helps other Asian startups to avoid mistakes China has made.
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Investor William Bao Bean, Managing Director of Orbit startups, explains how he helped artists make money from their music at All That Matters 2023, introducing three successful investments from his portefeuille. Explaining the fast-changing models to generate money, using for example Tiktok/Douyin, and many more new tech models.
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Technological change severely disrupts our lives in the next 5 to ten years, innovation expert Alvin Wang Graylin explained at the Edge Asia-World Expo in Hong Kong. AI and XR come to the rescue, he says. And what does it mean for our jobs?
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Marketing guru Ashley Dudarenok released today – together with co-author Ron Wardle – their book Innovation Factory: China’s Digital Playbook The two examine China’s digital transformation and its unique e-commerce and share what Western brands can learn to boost innovation, increase competitiveness, and foster a brighter future. You can read the press release here.
“China’s rapid economic reinvention has been nothing short of miraculous, but that reinvention has faced criticism that the country is good at manufacturing but not at innovating,” said Ashley Dudarenok, founder of the China-focused digital consulting firm, ChoZan. “It’s clear that China has proven those critics wrong, and in Innovation Factory, we showcase how China has been able to jump into the digital age with less baggage with the game-changing mobile phone, do it at speed, and keep up the pace to get it where it is today.”
Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
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