Launched in August, “Armed Into the Song Dynasty” currently has 10 seasons and makes up approximately 1,000 3-minute episodes. Since Thursday, the program has actually collected over 12 billion views throughout platforms consisting of Douyin, China’s variation of TikTok, and streaming website Bilibili, regional media reported.
In the very first 9 months of this year, 490,000 micro-dramas were launched in China, 13 times more than in all of 2025. AI is likewise improving the micro-drama market, with AI-generated productions now representing more than 90% of all such material, according to a report the National Radio and Television Administration launched in October. The report likewise discovered that China’s short-drama audience had actually exceeded 600 million active month-to-month audiences.
Adjusted from a web unique released in installations starting this April by an author under the pen name Chagen’er, “Armed Into the Song Dynasty” follows 5 modern-day soldiers who unintentionally take a trip back to the late Northern Song dynasty (960– 1127), bringing their weapons and military knowledge with them.
The late Northern Song duration is a popular setting for Chinese time-travel fiction, as it uses audiences an alternative truth to the dynasty’s end, when attacking Jurchen people recorded 2 of its emperors– commonly remembered as a nationwide disgrace.
Fans have actually applauded the drama’s thoroughly crafted script, fancy battle scenes, and rounded characters who come to grips with whatever from the royal evaluation system to weapons, food, and military devices scarcities throughout intrusions by northern nomadic groups.
The historic information have actually triggered some audiences to search for Song-era main ranks, military companies, and historic records and compare them versus the drama’s representations.
The production group behind “Armed Into the Song Dynasty” apparently consists of 6 members– consisting of a previous pharmaceutical sales agent, interior designer, rideshare chauffeur, stay-at-home mom, and wholesale company owner– who satisfied throughout an online course on how to utilize AI to make brief dramas.
Zhang Hansheng, 54, the production group’s head, informed domestic media that the series has up until now cost approximately 1 million yuan ($150,000) to produce, however decreased to divulge the group’s profits. Reports of substantial returns have actually drawn fresh attention to AI drama production, which numerous see as a prospective source of brand-new chances for grassroots content developers.
In the talk about a video interview with Zhang by the domestic outlet Yicai, some audiences stated the task had actually motivated them to find out AI tools and attempt making dramas themselves. Others prompted care, keeping in mind the increase of frauds camouflaged as AI-related courses.
The program’s success comes as the category moves towards greater production worths. Till just recently, brief dramas were commonly thought about meaningless home entertainment specified by overstated social disputes, formulaic characters, and implausible plots.
Just recently, numerous AI brief dramas checking out Chinese history have actually altered this understanding. They consist of “Assuming a Noble Identity,” which premiered in 2015, and “Inkstone Edge Green Plum,” launched this fall.
Critics, nevertheless, have actually required tighter examination of how AI-generated material portrays China’s past. In 2015, China’s National Radio and Television Administration introduced a project versus AI-generated videos that modify or misshape traditional literary, movie, and tv works, especially those based upon historic, advanced, and brave styles.
Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.
(Header image: A poster for “Armed Into the Song Dynasty.” From Weibo)
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