Essay: Hongguo short dramas and AI in a 'pure living' era
A commentary republished by Huxiu AI argues that Chinese users are entering a "pure living era": AI chat handles translation, proposals and resumes that once required favors from friends, saving time while removing reasons to reach out to people. The article says ByteDance's free short-drama app Hongguo launched in April 2023 with only 320,000 monthly users, grew to 356 million three years later and passed 100 million daily users in January 2026; it cites QuestMobile data putting May 2026 short-drama viewers at 851 million. It also pairs Tencent's cited Q2 capital spending of 52.8 billion yuan, up 176% year on year, with a lower-consumption, low-social "low-power" lifestyle, framed by director Jia Zhangke's Aug. 6 Weibo post saying he had been watching Hongguo.
It offers a lens linking AI adoption to shrinking consumption and social retreat, a reminder of costs that efficiency narratives leave out.