Artsy film critics are unlikely to be impressed by China's micro-dramas.
Even so, the roughly two-minute episodes,
which cram soap-opera plots into a short-video format, are wildly popular.
Watched almost exclusively on mobile devices,
viewers can scroll mindlessly through episodes as they would clips on TikTok.
Revenue in China from micro-dramas is projected to nearly double this year, to 90bn yuan ($12.7bn)—
exceeding sales of cinema tickets.
Chinese studios shot 40,000 of them in the first eight months of the year (a typical series has 90 episodes).
The micro-drama craze is but one example of the creative surge under way in China.
Earlier this year "Ne Zha 2", produced by a Chinese studio,
became the best-performing animated film of all time at the worldwide box office.
"Black Myth: Wukong", a video game, similarly captivated players when it was released a year ago.
This presents a quandary for the Communist Party,
which is waking up to the value of exporting Chinese culture abroad
but wary of unshackling artistic types from tight censorship.
The government has long tended to prioritise science and technology ahead of entertainment,
discouraging investment in areas such as gaming and short videos.
Tight controls on content have not just dissuaded investors but also redirected talent to other industries.
Nonetheless, the country's tech giants have continued to pour money into entertainment.
Take "Black Myth: Wukong".