A new engine of cultural exports

China's "new three" exports, electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar products, have become major drivers of the country's export growth. In the cultural sphere, a different set of "new three" is also making waves globally: online literature, online games and web dramas.

Among them, online games have emerged as the largest export sector. In 2025, overseas revenue from Chinese-developed games exceeded $20 billion, up about 10 percent year on year. Popular titles such as PUBG Mobile, Genshin Impact and Knives Out continued to rank among the highest-grossing Chinese games abroad.

China's greatest strength lies in mobile gaming, where it leads the global market. The success of Black Myth: Wukong in 2024 has also boosted confidence among Chinese developers seeking to expand into the traditionally Western- and Japanese-dominated market for console games and AAA titles.

Web dramas, particularly micro dramas, are another fast-growing export. While streaming giants such as Netflix and Disney+ continue to dominate the market for long-form video content, Chinese micro dramas have gained remarkable momentum overseas. More than 800 Chinese micro-drama apps are now available internationally. Overseas revenue reached $3.24 billion in 2025, accounting for around 90 percent of global micro-drama market revenue. Growth has remained strong in 2026, with first-quarter overseas revenue approaching $1 billion.

Chinese online literature is also extending its global reach. Overseas revenue exceeded $600 million in 2024, with readers from more than 200 countries and regions now accessing Chinese web novels. Overseas active readers have reached around 200 million. By late 2025, the leading platform WebNovel alone had recorded more than 400 million cumulative users worldwide and hosted more than 820,000 works created by nearly 530,000 writers.

Although online literature generates the least overseas revenue among the cultural "new three," it serves as a crucial source of intellectual property. Popular web novels are frequently adapted into dramas, providing a steady stream of content for the booming micro-drama industry. At the same time, successful literary characters and stories are increasingly integrated into games through skins, virtual items and other forms of cross-media development.

Analysts attribute the rapid growth of these sectors to a combination of factors, including the global shift towards mobile entertainment, China's highly efficient digital-content ecosystem and the growing ability of Chinese companies to localise content and build international user communities. Technological advances, including data analytics, AI-assisted production and sophisticated recommendation algorithms, have further accelerated their overseas expansion.

Beyond creating a new export growth pole centred on digital content and intellectual property, China's cultural "new three" are driving industrial upgrading, creating high-skilled employment, strengthening the country's position in the global creative economy and transforming cultural influence into tangible economic value.

Their significance, however, extends beyond economics. Chinese games, web novels and web dramas are creating new opportunities for global audiences to engage with Chinese culture and contemporary society. At the same time, increasing numbers of overseas writers are publishing on Chinese online literature platforms, while China's mature micro-drama production ecosystem is providing an open stage for international actors and creators. As a result, the global expansion of these cultural products is not simply a one-way export of culture, but an increasingly dynamic process of mutual exchange and shared creativity.