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According to a report published by China Daily's US edition on September 1, 2026, exports of Zhejiang province's cultural "new trio" products surged 60.1 percent year-on-year between January and July 2026, becoming the newest highlight of the province's cultural industry development. The figures show Zhejiang is consolidating its position as a core engine for China's digital cultural exports, with online literature, web dramas and online games — the three categories that make up the "new trio" — accelerating their push into international markets.

It is worth clarifying that the term "new trio" (新三样) is most commonly used in Chinese economic reporting to refer to electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar panels — the three new growth drivers of China's foreign trade. In the first five months of this year, Zhejiang's exports of this conventional "new trio" reached 759.4 billion yuan, up 51.7 percent year-on-year. The "new trio" referenced in this report, however, refers specifically to the cultural sector — online literature, web dramas (including micro-dramas) and online games. This differs from the description in the original digest summary, which described the "new trio" as "TV dramas incorporating local IP elements, cultural and creative products, and creative services." Readers should note this distinction when interpreting the term.

Hangzhou, the provincial capital of Zhejiang, is the core hub for the cultural "new trio" industry. Data show that in 2025, Hangzhou's above-scale enterprises in the "new trio" sector generated combined revenue of 201.1 billion yuan, up 11.5 percent year-on-year, accounting for more than 80 percent of the province's total. Hangzhou is currently home to 343 such above-scale enterprises — roughly two-thirds of the provincial total — and has cultivated 85 enterprise-instances recognized as national key cultural export enterprises, along with 45 key projects, ranking among the top of comparable Chinese cities. The China International Cartoon and Animation Festival, held annually in Hangzhou, has also become an important window for tracking the cultural "new trio's" development, having served in recent years as a platform where online literature, web drama and online game enterprises showcase their work and connect with overseas markets, drawing buyers and partners for copyright and distribution deals.

Online literature sits at the origin of this industrial chain. The China Online Writers' Village, located by Baima Lake near Hangzhou's Xixi Wetland and established in 2017, has attracted more than 350 well-known online authors, including Tangjia Sanshao, Nanpai Sanshu and Guan Pingchao, and has produced more than 300 popular original works, including "Joy of Life" and "The Lost Tomb." These web novels have not only been translated into multiple languages for overseas release but have also been adapted into derivative formats such as micro-dramas — for example, the micro-drama adaptation of the web novel "Shangyuan Huan" has drawn more than 30 million views overseas. According to a report previously released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China's online literature IP market reached 298.56 billion yuan in scale by the end of 2024, up 14.6 percent year-on-year. The overseas user base for Chinese online literature has continued to expand — by the end of 2025, overseas registered users totaled roughly 250 million, with 40 million new overseas registrations added in 2025 alone, covering more than 200 countries and regions. Chinese web novels have cumulatively been exported in more than 130,000 titles overseas.

Micro-dramas have been the fastest-growing segment over the past two years. Hangzhou-based company Rongliang Short Drama pioneered the paid micro-drama business model, and its dedicated filming base, Linying Studio, can accommodate more than 400 production crews a year. Short Max, an overseas short-drama platform built by a Hangzhou team, has surpassed 50 million users and has consistently ranked among the top three downloaded apps in its category on app stores in the United States, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. Industry estimates suggest China's overseas micro-drama market will surpass its domestic market by 2027, becoming a core growth pole for the global short-drama industry.

Zhejiang enterprises have also been active in online games. NetEase's online game "Justice Online: Nishuihan" quickly topped the free-game charts on Apple's App Store in Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia after its international version launched in November 2025. Nationally, in 2024 the overseas sales revenue of China's self-developed games reached $18.557 billion, accounting for 33.62 percent of Chinese gaming companies' total revenue — making online games one of the most mature and largest categories of Chinese cultural exports, and a strong pillar supporting Zhejiang's "new trio" industry. In recent years, overseas revenue from China's self-developed games has continued to climb, with export destinations expanding from nearby markets such as Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea toward a broader range of markets in Europe, the Americas and the Middle East, while product types have evolved from early casual mobile games toward heavier content such as large-scale massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) — a process in which Zhejiang enterprises have played a significant role.

According to earlier disclosures from the Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, the city's cultural product exports reached $1.8 billion in 2024, with online games and animation/film-television content as the main drivers. Industry analysts note that online literature supplies the source content, micro-dramas provide market testing and user validation, and online games deliver deep, long-term monetization — the three reinforcing one another to gradually form a complete industrial chain from content creation and IP incubation to derivative development, helping cultural symbols with distinct Zhejiang characteristics reach global audiences.

Beyond Hangzhou, the city of Ningbo has also been accelerating its push into the cultural "new trio" industry. In Ningbo's Yinzhou district, local authorities are building an integrated "online literature plus web drama plus online games" industrial ecosystem centered on two hubs — the Qianhu Film and Television Cultural Industry Park and the Ningbo (Yinzhou) Online Writers' Village — connecting the full chain from IP incubation and content production to overseas distribution. The Ningbo Online Writers' Association has also offered free, "zero-threshold" dedicated studios to online literature authors from across the country, along with funding subsidies and tax incentives, helping recommend high-quality web novels to publishers, film and television companies, and cultural enterprises for adaptation — forming a landscape in which Hangzhou, Ningbo and other Zhejiang cities are all competing to grow the industry.

Analysts say the rapid growth in cultural "new trio" exports reflects a broader shift in China's cultural industry — moving from early-stage "borrowing a boat to go to sea," relying on overseas platforms for distribution, toward "building your own boat," establishing independent overseas channels and brands. As Hangzhou, Ningbo and other Zhejiang cities continue to strengthen policy support and industrial clustering for online literature, web drama and online game enterprises, the province's cultural "new trio" is expected to sustain relatively fast growth, offering an important window for observing the globalization of China's digital content industry.