Recently, a number of domestic productions rooted in local life and rich in Eastern cultural heritage have successively landed on overseas cinema screens. The overseas box office of "A Letter to Grandma" surpassed 100 million yuan; the animated film "Eight Immortals!" gained strong popularity, topping the box office charts among Chinese-language films released simultaneously in multiple countries; and the realistic drama "Welcome to Dragon Restaurant" launched its overseas distribution journey under the translated title "Middle Eastern Memories." One after another, these cinematic works have crossed mountains and seas, vividly telling fresh and lively Chinese stories to the world, becoming shining calling cards for Chinese culture going global.
Looking at the broader cultural landscape, online literature IPs have launched full-industry-chain global operations, premium books have landed on countless overseas bookshelves through copyright trade, and a large number of content-focused business entities are striding onto the international stage. The international appeal and influence of Chinese cultural products and services continue to climb. Data shows that in 2025, China's total import and export volume of cultural products reached 143.4 billion US dollars. The flourishing Chinese cultural trade is bearing abundant fruit.
Deep Cultivation
As an important component of cultural going-global, online literature is the source and living water for Chinese IPs to reach the world. According to the "2025 China Online Literature Blue Book" released by the China Writers Association, as of the end of 2025, Chinese online literature had cumulatively exported more than 130,000 works overseas, with approximately 250 million existing overseas registered users, of which 40 million were added in 2025 alone, and active users covering more than 200 countries and regions worldwide. In the overseas expansion of enterprises, online literature has moved from the initial stage of text translation and model experience export toward the higher level of global co-creation.
Overseas readers have built bridges of spiritual dialogue through text. The WebNovel platform recorded more than 14 million comment interactions throughout the year, up 40% year-on-year, among which discussions related to Chinese customs, traditions, and cultural landscapes exceeded 400,000. Cyberspace has become a new bond for mutual understanding and exchange between Chinese and foreign civilizations.
As global attention to Chinese culture continues to rise, the overseas market scale of Chinese-language books keeps expanding. Li Hongwen, Party Secretary and Executive Director of China National Publications Import and Export (Group) Corporation, stated that the company takes international book fairs as an important lever, adheres to dual efforts in copyright trade and localized publishing, and promotes quality Chinese books in taking root in overseas markets. During the 32nd Beijing International Book Fair, Chinese and foreign publishing institutions conducted in-depth exchanges and matchmaking, actively expanding copyright trade, content cooperation, and cultural dissemination channels, powerfully promoting the interconnection of Chinese and foreign publishing resources and the sharing of cultural achievements, facilitating exchanges and integration across national borders and fields, and injecting new vitality into deepening mutual learning among diverse civilizations.
More and more cultural enterprises are no longer satisfied with one-time overseas appearances or short-term exhibition exposure, but are instead anchoring themselves in long-term overseas consumer markets for deep cultivation. Diverse commercial revenue channels such as paid reading by audiences, film and television box office revenue sharing, IP copyright licensing, and derivative product development are continuously expanding. CHINA LIT (00772) is accelerating its layout of the global IP industry chain, building a global cooperation ecosystem covering publishing, audiobooks, animation, film and television, gaming, and other multi-format businesses, and joining hands with internationally renowned entertainment companies such as Disney, Netflix, and Sony Pictures for deep collaboration, allowing Chinese stories to reach every corner of the world.
Full-Chain Development
In the past, many overseas cultural exchange projects were mainly public welfare screenings and performances; today, overseas creations are based on the real cultural needs of overseas audiences, polishing quality cultural content into cultural products that global consumers can pay to experience. Overseas audiences have transformed from passive recipients of culture into participants who actively choose and are willing to consume, and commercial revenue in turn feeds back into content creation and deep cultivation of overseas markets, forming a virtuous cycle of "content going global—market revenue—feeding back creation."
With the in-depth implementation of the "Thousand Sails Going Global" action plan, a group of strong backbone cultural enterprises has grown into the main force of going global, and small and medium-sized cultural and creative teams as well as local distinctive cultural projects have also ushered in broad opportunities to reach the world. Leading enterprises have built global distribution and dissemination platforms, while small and medium-sized teams contribute distinctive content that fits local markets. Diverse entities work together, continuously broadening the development track of cultural trade, and a vibrant, open, and inclusive market-oriented going-global ecosystem has taken shape.
Full-industry-chain IP development has become the mainstream direction for high-quality going-global. Hou Xiaonan, CEO and President of CHINA LIT (00772), stated that the dissemination cycle of a single product going overseas is relatively limited, while full-chain IP development can achieve one IP, multi-format implementation, and multi-channel monetization. Continuously tapping into the intrinsic value of IP can not only effectively reduce the market risk of a single project going overseas but also extend the life cycle of Chinese cultural IPs in the global market, allowing Chinese stories to endure.
Two-Way Journey
Quality content is the foundation for the prosperity of cultural trade. In various tracks such as online literature, film and television creation, book publishing, and intangible cultural heritage cultural and creative products, premium works that are rich in Chinese characteristics while carrying universal human emotions and catering to the aesthetic preferences of overseas audiences are winning recognition in the global market with high-quality cultural content.
A mature and well-established commercial operation model is a solid guarantee for cultural going-global to progress steadily and far. More and more cultural enterprises are forming professional overseas operation teams, deeply cultivating the entire process of overseas market research, localized translation and adaptation, overseas promotion, distribution channel implementation, and intellectual property rights protection. Next, relying on the National Base for International Cultural Trade, a one-stop public service platform will be built to provide comprehensive guarantee services such as overseas market information, intellectual property protection, and investment and financing matchmaking for the vast number of small and medium-sized cultural going-global enterprises, lowering the threshold for small and medium-sized enterprises to go global and stimulating the going-global vitality of various business entities.
Experts suggest continuing to make good use of high-level international exchange platforms such as the China International Fair for Trade in Services, international book fairs, and the "China Joint Pavilion" at overseas film and television festivals, guiding cultural enterprises to deeply participate in international industry exhibitions with trade development as the goal, and breaking free from the limitations of short-term exhibition exchanges. It is also necessary to cultivate a group of cultural trade service providers deeply engaged in overseas distribution and skilled in localized operations, open up sales channels for Chinese cultural products to overseas bookstores, cinemas, and streaming platforms, and build a smooth and efficient international dissemination and trade network.
From works going global to ecosystem going global, from a single text to full-chain development, from China-exclusive to overseas co-creation, Chinese cultural products are powerfully rewriting the global cultural landscape. In the future, more outstanding Chinese cultural products will surely cross mountains and seas and go to the world. Tested by the global market, they will achieve a two-way journey of economic benefit improvement and mutual learning among civilizations, and play a more resonant anthem of the times on the world stage.