Illustration: Liu Xiangya/GT

A fitness coach in modern society accidentally time-travels back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and is mocked for his weight. Using scientific training and nutrition, he reshapes his body and convinces his fiancée to join him. Together, they open a slimming hall and challenge unhealthy beauty standards and pseudo-scientific remedies.

This is the plot for China's first scientific fitness short drama produced by the China Institute of Sport Science under the General Administration of Sport of China (GASA). Featuring Olympic gymnastics champion Guan Chenchen and world martial arts champion Mao Yaqi, the short drama represents a growing trend in China: the fusion of short dramas with various industries.

Zhao Peng, a board member of the Short Drama and Short Film Committee under the China Federation of Radio and Television Associations, told the Global Times that the GASA sees short dramas as a way to capture young audiences, since traditional text-based articles and long documentaries have weaker appeal and slower dissemination compared with short dramas, whose "story-driven and lightweight" format allows desired scenarios, such as promoting scientific fitness, to be woven directly into storylines.

Short dramas, typically lasting only a few minutes per episode, have surged in popularity in China in recent years. Their fast pace, relatively low production costs, and wide thematic range make them an increasingly important part of mobile entertainment, especially among younger users with fragmented viewing habits.

Industry insiders highlight their immersive nature. "The biggest advantage of short dramas is their strong sense of immersion," Gongzi Yan, a writer, producer, and executive producer of short dramas, told the Global Times. "Viewers can project themselves onto the characters and experience emotional compensation. That's what makes the message stick."

Zhao echoed the point, noting that short dramas, with their compact episodes and tight storytelling, fit modern consumption habits better than traditional long-form content.

Furthermore, production costs and cycles for short dramas are significantly lower than for long-form TV series and movies. Even "high-budget" short dramas typically cost only around 1 million yuan ($143,300), far below the tens of millions required for long-form content, and their production cycle is just a few weeks, allowing creators to quickly capitalize on trends.

Thanks to their inherent advantages, short dramas are increasingly being used across industries beyond fitness. In 2025, China's National Radio and Television Administration launched a nationwide "Short-Drama Plus" initiative, positioning short-form content as a tool to enhance quality and empower multiple sectors.

The "short-drama plus" model has already shown results in areas such as intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and cultural tourism. Heritage-themed short dramas have reimagined traditional crafts and historical figures, reviving interest among younger audiences. Tourism-focused series integrate local landscapes, architecture, and folklore into their storylines, converting online traffic into real-world travel and consumer activity.

"For sectors like cultural tourism and ICH, short dramas act as a traffic lever," Zhao noted. "They use a popular medium to amplify local resources."

Local governments across China have taken notice. Many regions have introduced supportive policies, established industry funds and built production bases to compete in the rapidly expanding short-drama sector. The low barrier to entry has made the field particularly attractive.

For example, in June 2025, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region introduced a plan to promote "short dramas + cultural tourism." The initiative aims to develop key short-drama themes based on local culture, establish a theme library, and support the development of a short-drama production system.

Elsewhere, the Culture and Tourism Department of North China's Shanxi Province has produced a short drama filmed at local ancient cities and the UNESCO World Heritage Site Yungang Grottoes, guiding viewers through historical stories from the region.

By December 2024, China's viewership of short dramas hit 662 million, and the market generated 50.5 billion yuan, surpassing China's box office for the first time. The market for 2025 is projected to be 67.79 billion yuan, reflecting rapid audience expansion and increasing industry investment.

The rapid growth of the short-drama market reflects deeper changes in viewing habits. Experts say it is not simply a matter of replacing films or television series, but rather a restructuring of audiovisual consumption.

"This is not a zero-sum game where short dramas 'kill' movies," Zhang Peng, a cultural researcher and associate professor at Nanjing Normal University, told the Global Times. 

"Films offer ritualized, peak experiences, while short dramas fill the gaps of daily life. The real challenge for cinema comes from its own high-investment-and-slow-turnover model that limits innovation." 

Zhang said the future of China's audiovisual industry will be shaped by the coexistence of long-form video, theatrical films, and short dramas, with intellectual property flowing between formats and complementary value driving the industry from expansion to higher quality. This approach aims to create a flexible, inclusive, and engaging media ecosystem.