It is neither the first television series created with artificial intelligence nor the first AI-produced audiovisual content made in China.

The innovation on this occasion lies primarily in the leap in format length and target audience: "Hou Xiyou Ji" ("Journey to the West of the Future"), created entirely with AI and without human actors, premiered during evening prime time on a national satellite television channel.

China had already produced several miniseries generated completely with AI, though typically characterized by extremely short episode lengths.

In 2025, for example, "The Sun That Fell" was a 30-episode series where each episode lasted only two to three minutes, featuring scenes, characters, and effects created through AI.

In contrast, "Hou Xiyou Ji" is a traditional television production: its first season consists of 30 episodes running 40 minutes each. The series premiered Monday on Mango TV and was subsequently broadcast during prime time on Hunan Satellite TV.

The imagery and character performances were generated using AI technologies without the participation of human actors.

The story takes place 1,080 years after Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, achieved enlightenment. The protagonist is Sun Xiaosheng, a newborn monkey on Mount Huaguo who embarks on a new adventure within the "Journey to the West" universe, according to Chinese news portal Jiemian.

The launch also had a significant market impact: shares of Mango Supermedia reached their maximum single-session increase of 20%.