On the 15th day of the first lunar month, the Hubei Provincial Museum became boisterous. The 2025 “Chime of Chu: The Lantern Festival Night” themed lantern fair kicked off. It was jointly organized by the Department of Culture and Tourism of Hubei Province, the Hubei Provincial Museum and the Hubei Masses Art Center. At the event, the MoCT Key Laboratory of Lighting Interactive Service & Tech (MoCT KLLIST) from HUST used cutting-edge AI technology to awaken the sleeping cultural relics, guiding the audience to a unique “carnival” with them: cultural relics with snake elements danced merrily to celebrate the festival, and gave blessings with witty remarks, igniting the festive atmosphere. Plus, driven by DeepSeek, the cultural relics mascots “Chu Yin” and “Chu Tie” engaged in witty conversations with tourists in real-time, accompanied by funny body language and special sound effects, which highlighted the whole lantern fair.

During the 2025 Spring Festival, the MoCT KLLIST utilized AI to reshape traditional celebrations. From real-time interactive digital host “Chu Xiaonian” to the “record-quality” AI singer Hu Bei’er, form the AI-generated audio-visual show  to the AI ink-wash painting, the tradition culture took full advantage of the time, promoting the intangible culture heritage in all aspects.

The AI hosts/digital figures not only danced and singed to get involved with the performances but also interacted with the audience in real-time and served as hosts. This added a cross-dimensional sci-fi touch to the grand fair, with distinct Chinese style that embodied its role in promoting the continuation and transformation of the intangible cultural heritage.

On the evening of January 17, at the 2025 Hubei New Folk Music Gala and Optics Valley Concert for the New Year, the cross-dimensional quartet “Right Here” brought the audience an unprecedented artistic experience. “Hu Bei’er”, the virtual digital figure supported by the laboratory and the spokesperson for culture and tourism in Hubei, sang the duet with real singers. Thanks to the technologies like AI-based voice generation, the singing of “Hu Bei’er” could closely approximate that of a real person. Compared with previous versions, this version has been optimized and upgraded in aspects such as the 3D model, movements, and language.

On January 22, at the 15th Chinese Farmers' Spring Festival Gala, “Chu Xiaonian”, the AI host supported by the laboratory, not only participated throughout the event and interacted with the audience in real-time, but also vividly integrated into the hosts' emceeing.

On December 28, 2024, at the Hubei AI Technology Exhibition, the laboratory created an AI rock band named “Zhiyin Guoman Band”, whose original models were those famous cultural relics in Hubei. The dynamic and adorable AI images of the band members were generated through advanced digital technologies.

The achievements made by the laboratory have received wide attention from the media. On February 6, The China Culture Daily featured a special report titled “Technological Vibe in the Spring Festival”, which commended HUST as blending Chinese ancient splendor with AI technology that created new scenarios for cultural tourism, and catered to the new demands of the public.

From text generation to voice interaction, and from image synthesis to video driving, AI is no longer content with single-dimensional expression. Instead, it represents a deep integration of text, images, sounds, and humanity. With the deepening of AI applications and the expansion of scenarios, the MoCT KLLIST will continue to delve into the art of AI. It will fully demonstrate the infinite charm when technology empowers culture and humanity and keep exploring new paths for the integration of “cultural tourism + technology”.

Written by: Gu Yuxiao

Edited by: Yang Kunjie, Chang Wen, Peng Yumeng