China’s Biggest Film Hub Empties! AI Sweeps In, Hundreds of Thousands of Actors Jobless and in Tears

I play a prince in the morning and deliver food at night. I may look impressive now, but tonight I still have to deliver food. Veteran actors including Xu Chen and Yu Qingbing have drawn attention for filming during the day and delivering food at night in Hengdian, the film and TV production hub in Zhejiang. A young woman who came to Hengdian with dreams of acting also faced a harsh reality. I quit my job to become an actress here. Then the industry slump and AI arrived. Short dramas dried up, and so did my prospects. I tried running a small stall to get by. Then the weather turned cold, and my stall went under too. Now I'm stuck. What do I do? An industry insider in Hengdian posted, It's 4 a.m. I'm afraid if I don't say this now, I won't have the courage tomorrow. I just had drinks with a major star. Celebrities are really struggling. This person can act, sing, and direct. I've been a fan since childhood. Now they are out of work. They told me more than half the entertainment industry has anxiety now, and the rest have already lost their minds. Hunan TV is promoting AI performers. Abroad, AI influencers appeared even earlier, with one making 140,000 yuan a week, about 20,000 US dollars. There's even an AI actress announcing she's pregnant and needs to rest. I suppose she'll be selling baby formula next. I didn't care before, but now I realize we don't have much time left to sit back and laugh at other people's troubles. Soon, this ruthless world will feel completely unfamiliar. An actress from Henan complained online after a production failed to pay her more than 1,000 yuan. I never expected to be threatened just for asking for the 1,600 yuan I'm owed. They said, keep demanding payment publicly, and we'll get directors to blacklist you. I was so angry I laughed. You can't even pay 1,600 yuan after five months, and you think you can blacklist me? At this rate, AI will put both of us out of work before you get the chance. You'll all get these directors together? What, are they your family? Good directors don't just take your side of the story. And directors who blindly listen to you probably aren't very good. I'm not worried. Just pay me my 1600 yuan. People online keep thinking you must owe me 16 million yuan. I'm so embarrassed to be chasing such a small amount. People are saying they won't come back to Hengdian next year. With things this bad, I think you could leave tomorrow. Staying another day means ignoring what AI short dramas are doing to this industry. There are two or three live action jobs a day, with hundreds of people competing in group chats. Getting work each day is like trying to pass the civil service exam. Just two months ago, casting staff were asking if I was available. After working together a few times, we finally got to know each other. Now some have changed careers, some are unemployed, and some companies have closed. I'm back to being a newcomer. Nobody knows me. My only way to get work now is to apply and audition every day, competing with hundreds of people for a single day's work. Think that's beneath you? This industry is changing so fast that soon nobody will even want to buy your face for AI. That's how harsh it is. The more I think about it, the more I want to cry. The area is so quiet and deserted that it's hard to believe this is Hengdian, China's Hollywood. Security footage from the early hours of October 20th shows a restaurant owner and his wife having a late-night meal outside their shop. A bewildered young man suddenly approaches, saying he cannot afford food and begs for a bite. The owner says their food has gone cold and gives him two large cups of instant noodles instead. He also suggests Hengdian may not be right for him and that he should look for opportunities elsewhere. there. I'm at Hengdian's busiest night market, but there's hardly anyone here anymore. Hengdian really has emptied out. An extra posted a video showing empty areas of Hengdian. Productions once had to line up to film at the studio's forbidden city set. Now the extra said it looks like a ghost town. Things in Hengdian keep getting worse. Actors can't get roles, and restaurants have no customers. A follower messaged me a few days ago. He used his father's inheritance and his mother's retirement savings to open a restaurant here. He opened right in the middle of the industry slump, and after just a little over two weeks, he's already close to shutting down. He asked me to visit and make a video to see if it might help. Honestly, I'm a live streamer whose popularity has faded. I don't know how much help I can be of. And with him in this situation, I couldn't bring myself to charge him. But I do have plenty of free time now, so I'll go take a look. When he arrived, the vlogger looked around outside, then sat down with the owner. He asked why the man had chosen this moment to open in Hengdian. The owner said he had not lived there before. He expected heavy foot traffic in a tourist destination, and nearby shops seemed to be doing reasonably well. Confident in his cooking, he decided to invest. The vlogger reminded him that Hengdian is only a town. Its population is smaller than he imagined, and business this year has been especially bad. The owner said he had invested about 330,000 yuan, or about 46,000 US dollars, and he was losing 700 yuan a day. The vlogger said he was struggling too. He had booked just one day of filming that month, earning 300 yuan. After paying 200 yuan to an assistant and 100 yuan to an agent, he was out for another 25 yuan for a taxi. He didn't even get a boxed meal. He had no social media advertising deals either. Livestreaming brought in just over 2,000 yuan, barely enough for rent. The restaurant opens from 10am to 1am, but afternoon, two men were the only people there. The owner is from Zhoukou, Henan. His mother looks after his children back home, and the family currently has no other income. Discussing their situations, the blogger said he had considered changing careers, but he had already tried and failed too many times and did not want to start over again. Savings from a few years earlier allowed him to stay in Hengdian. He loves the town and enjoys acting. Even one or two days of filming a month gives him a chance to do what he loves. The vlogger said he hoped to make more videos about life in Hengdian, especially for extras. Some, he said, could no longer afford food. He invited any extras struggling to eat to message him. He couldn't do much but could buy them a few meals. He encouraged people to keep going if they could. Those who could no longer manage should consider changing careers sooner rather than later. A worker in the entertainment industry urged young people with acting dreams not to come to Hengdian. There are huge numbers of extras here, supposedly earning 100 yuan a day. Please don't come. There's no point. Even 100 yuan is on the high side. You actually take home just over 80 yuan. Even if you find 10 days of work a month, that's 800 yuan, and only a little over 8,000 yuan a year. These are among the lowest earners in society. Don't come. So why do so many still do it for 100 yuan a day? They are holding on to a fantasy. Maybe one day a director will pick me, but the chance is practically zero. Less than 1 in 10,000. Lower than getting struck by lightning. I can't take it anymore. I have to speak honestly to every young woman thinking about entering this business. Unless this is the only path you can possibly take, please look at other careers now. If you tell me acting is your dream, all I can say is, make sure you can feed yourself first. Then we can talk about dreams. This industry stopped being what you imagined a long time ago. Especially with AI now, the impact on actors is almost unimaginable. The vlogger is an actress from Fujian who had filmed several productions in Hengdian. She had always associated it with plenty of crews and opportunities, but just five days into this visit, her view changed completely. Fewer productions and more actors competing for roles left her anxious. Even earning enough to eat seemed difficult. She said she was reasonably attractive, but did not have the trendy, influencer look many people favor. She wanted to steadily improve her acting and earn roles through skill, pursuing bigger parts when available and taking smaller ones otherwise. The breaking point came when she met with the production. The director liked her and immediately chose her for the female lead. She was thrilled, feeling lucky to land a lead role after just five days in town. She politely asked about the budget and offered a package rate if the shoot ran longer, hoping to make a good impression. The director casually replied, 1,000 yuan for the entire production. She was stunned. That 1,000 yuan would cover at least five days of filming, working more than 15 hours a day. Since they were communicating online, she did not reject the offer directly. She wanted to leave the door open and feared being labeled difficult. But the more she thought about it, the more discouraged she felt. She urged young people considering acting to think very carefully before entering the industry. What are real actors supposed to do? The future of our profession is frightening. I'm in Hengdian now. I used to walk down the street and soon run into a colleague that I hadn't seen in a while. There were so many productions here, and everyone was filming, so it was easy to bump into people. Today, I walked around for a long time and didn't see a single familiar face. There are so few crews filming now. It's frightening. Is our profession about to disappear? Everyone's making AI productions. What happens to real actors? Everyone, I've felt so weighed down lately. If I don't talk about it, I feel like I could become depressed. best. Some people say AI is just a tool, like cameras replacing painting. That's nonsense. Cameras didn't take painters' brushes away. AI is taking our faces. It can generate 100 characters like me in a minute, and it doesn't need food, sleep, or a paycheck. How am I supposed to compete? I'm a middle-aged actress. When productions were busy, I never lacked work. Now AI is here. It looks more like me than I do, costs less, and doesn't need social insurance contributions. Age didn't push me out, a string of code did. So should we resist this? I accept that technology moves forward, but as it does, please look back at the people it's crushing. We still have to live. More well-known performers are also discovering that AI versions of their faces were being used without their knowledge to sell products on live streams. Early on October 18th, veteran Chinese actress Wu Yue posted on social media, I woke up to this. Who's using AI to take people's identities and do harm. How many people has this Sister Hua cheated out of money? How many people has this Sister Hua cheated out of money? Give it all back. This is outrageous. Her post referred to an account called Sister Hua Skincare Diary. It apparently used AI to recreate Wu Yue's appearance and voice for skincare sales live streams, promoting products as celebrity favorites and recommendations from Wu. The video said Wu had partnered with a manufacturer to offer deals as a thank you to long-time fans. A voice imitating hers accompanied other footage, saying, they didn't approach me about this product, I approached them, and even pregnant women can use it. The video ended with footage of what appeared to be table tennis player Zheng Yaping promoting the product. A label below said, creator's note, contains AI-generated content. After the incident came to light, Chinese media said Sister Hua's skincare diary could no longer be found in searches. It appeared to have been renamed Xiaolu's Work Diary, with all previous posts deleted. Deng's team told Chinese media she'd never endorsed or promoted the product, and had never authorized anyone to use an AI version of her likeness. Actress Wen Zhenrong had previously said she discovered an AI livestream impersonating her. She even confronted the account. But as AI impersonation spreads, celebrities are struggling to prove which appearances are authentic. Wen said in an interview that she got home from filming at 3 or 4 a.m. one day. She was not live streaming, but while scrolling on her phone, she saw what looked like herself doing just that. I went in and said, if you're Wen Zhenrong, then who am I? Then they immediately blocked me. Now it feels hard to prove that I'm really me. Taiwanese actress Ruby Lin also recently sent a legal notice to a mainland Chinese shampoo brand, demanding the removal of unauthorized ads. The brand had used her voice and likeness in AI-generated ads posted on Douyin and other social platforms. Taiwanese media reported on October 19th that ads featuring Lin had appeared on mainland platforms including Douyin and Xiaohongshu over the past few months. The shampoo seller began releasing the AI-generated videos around mid-year, using her voice and likeness. One video showed her in a camisole and shorts recommending the product. That portrayal differed sharply from her usual public image. After the ads drew attention, Lin's team sent legal notices to the brands involved, demanding their removal. Her team stressed that she didn't endorse the brand, but had not authorized alterations to her likeness or its use in AI-generated ads. Lin is preparing to start filming a new production. She has actively challenged the unauthorized AI ads. Asked whether she might license her likeness for AI advertising in the future, she said, I'm not considering that at all right now. Similar AI rights violations keep appearing in mainland China. E-commerce industry sources said tools available on major online platforms for face swapping and voice cloning from celebrities' public content extremely expensive. Production costs range from just tens to hundreds of yuan. The spread of AI in film and television, along with repeated rights violations, has also raised industry concerns about excess AI computing capacity in China and how it's being used. A business report recently released to investors by publicly traded COL Group, said 55% of AI tokens used in China go toward short dramas and audiovisual content, while 24% go to e-commerce advertising. Only 15% go toward research and development. Tokens are the unit's AI systems process. The figures came from COL Group's Investors Relations activity record. Based on those figures, AI short dramas and audiovisual generation consume more than twice as many tokens as technology research and development. After the report, the idea that half of China's AI computing power was going toward formulaic entertainment dramas quickly became a trending social media talking point. The report said short dramas consume such a large share of tokens because the business requires extensive audiovisual generation and rapid token processing. A Chinese media report said AI dramas with realistic human characters face stricter visual requirements. They typically consume two to three times as many tokens as AI-animated dramas. During production, teams also repeatedly generate and screen footage to meet directors' demands for storytelling and camera shots, consuming even more tokens. Experts questioned whether concentrating so much of China's computing capacity on a single content format is an efficient way to put technology to use. A report on AI-driven innovation in the global microdrama industry, jointly released by the Development Research Center of China's National Radio and Television Administration, said the global market entered a period of explosive growth in 2025. Its total size approached 18 billion US dollars, with China accounting for more than 14 billion dollars. From January through August this year, 430,000 microdramas were released in China, 13 times the total for all of 2025. Many users complained that short drama platforms use plots and algorithms to keep viewers hooked. They said they kept watching, lost motivation for other activities, and felt like their minds were becoming duller. Some called the dramas a new electronic drug or digital opium. The CCP has also been heavily promoting what it calls new quality productive forces as it tries to compete with the United States. But evidence from multiple sources indicates that many supposedly advanced Chinese AI systems steal data from American AI systems. Some even connect their systems to American AI services without authorization, using them to handle customer requests. Experts said tighter restrictions on stealing advanced technology and importing high-end chips have left China's AI industry with a contradiction. It has excess computing capacity overall, yet it still lacks enough high-end capacity for training and inference, the process of running AI models. They said the large share of AI computing power devoted to film and television reflects an industry diverted from its core purpose as advanced strategically important sectors stall.