On May 16, 2026, Nanjing launched the global themed co-creation campaign ‘Nanjing, How “Laisi” Is It, Really?’, opening a multilingual short-video script library, AR guided-tour asset packages, and joint marketing templates built around dialect cultural symbols to overseas OTAs, content platforms, and city IP operators. The event marks a shift in the global outreach of Chinese city cultural and tourism IPs from isolated output toward the construction of lightweight collaborative infrastructure, and has direct relevance to niche fields such as cross-border cultural and tourism content production, digital cultural tourism technology service providers, international marketing agencies, and multilingual creative service providers.

Event Overview

On May 16, 2026, Nanjing’s cultural and tourism authorities launched the global themed co-creation campaign ‘Nanjing, How “Laisi” Is It, Really?’. The project is explicitly aimed at overseas online travel platforms (OTAs), international content distribution platforms, and commercial city IP operation agencies, and provides three categories of ready-to-use resources: a multilingual short-video script library, AR guided-tour asset packages, and joint marketing templates. The project emphasizes ‘zero copyright barriers for access’, supporting overseas partners in carrying out localized derivative creation based on Nanjing’s cultural and tourism resources, and participating in commercial revenue sharing.

Which Industry Segments Will Be Affected

Cross-border cultural and tourism content production agencies

Directly affected. The multilingual short-video script library provided by Nanjing constitutes a reusable master content base, lowering the threshold for overseas creators to understand local culture. The impact is reflected in: shorter localized content development cycles, lower translation costs for dialect culture, and improved feasibility for mass production of multilingual versions.

Digital cultural tourism technology service providers

Indirectly but substantially affected. The AR guided-tour asset packages are delivered in standardized formats, requiring service providers to have cross-platform compatibility capabilities (such as WebAR and native iOS/Android SDK adaptation) as well as lightweight deployment experience. The impact is reflected in: rising demand for capabilities such as modular AR content engines, dynamic multilingual UI loading, and optimization for low-bandwidth environments.

International cultural and tourism marketing agencies

Affected at the business model level. The joint marketing templates include phased communication rhythms, KOL collaboration mechanisms, and conversion funnel design, among other elements, driving agencies to upgrade from execution-level work to strategic collaboration. The impact is reflected in: the need to strengthen joint planning capabilities with local government IP operators, rather than only taking on isolated advertising placements.

Multilingual creative and localization service providers

Structurally affected. The principle of ‘zero copyright barriers’ means dialect cultural symbols can be freely embedded into localized-context derivative creation, placing higher-level demands on service providers: they must not only complete language conversion, but also support the translation of cultural imagery (for example, an equivalent expression in the target language that conveys the lively colloquial feel corresponding to ‘Laisi’). The impact is reflected in: the declining value of pure translation services, while culturally adaptive creative localization becomes a new threshold.

What Relevant Companies or Practitioners Should Focus On, and How They Should Respond at Present

Pay close attention to the detailed rules for resource access and explanations of compliance boundaries to be released subsequently by Nanjing

At present, only the principle of ‘zero copyright barriers’ has been clarified, but the specific authorization agreement templates, data usage restrictions, brand exposure specifications, and similar details have not yet been published. Relevant companies need to continuously track updates through official channels, with particular attention to practical clauses such as whether the AR asset packages include geofencing restrictions and whether the short-video scripts allow modification of the core meanings of dialect expressions.

Prioritize assessing the fit of your own multilingual content production capacity in the East Asian and Southeast Asian markets

The first batch of open resources is likely to focus mainly on English, Japanese, Korean, and Thai (inferred based on Nanjing’s current international visitor source structure), while support for non-English languages is still in the pilot stage. Companies should verify whether their existing teams or partner networks have the ability to interpret dialect culture in the above languages, so as to avoid weakening the down-to-earth affinity characteristic of ‘Laisi’ through mistranslation.

Differentiate between policy signals and the actual pace of business implementation

This solicitation is in the infrastructure-building stage and does not mean orders will be generated immediately. It is more appropriate to understand it as a capability validation window — companies can participate in testing by submitting joint marketing proposals, accumulate collaborative credibility with domestic cultural and tourism IP stakeholders, and establish an entry foundation for subsequent normalized cooperation.

Prepare lightweight technical integration plans in advance

If the AR guided-tour asset packages use common formats (such as glTF 2.0+JSON configuration), it is recommended that technical teams conduct advance research into parsing toolchains; if the short-video script library includes structured metadata (such as scene tags, duration constraints, and BGM mood values), it is recommended that content teams establish automated adaptation templates to support the rapid generation of localized variants.

Editorial Viewpoint / Industry Observation

Observably, this initiative is not yet a revenue-generating channel but functions as a signaling infrastructure for standardized cross-border cultural IP collaboration. Analysis shows it reflects a strategic pivot: from promoting cities via static slogans to enabling partners to co-create contextually resonant narratives. From an industry perspective, the emphasis on ‘zero copyright barriers’ and revenue sharing marks a departure from traditional top-down IP licensing — yet actual adoption will depend on whether backend support (e.g., real-time translation QA, localized performance analytics) matures alongside the front-end assets. It is currently more accurate to interpret this as a readiness test for scalable city-level cultural interoperability, rather than an immediate market opportunity.

Conclusion:
This event is not a routine cultural and tourism promotion campaign, but rather a pragmatic exploration by a Chinese city attempting to build a reusable, interoperable, and revenue-shareable collaborative foundation for the global outreach of cultural and tourism IP. Its industry significance lies in promoting the evolution of cultural and tourism cooperation from a ‘project-based model’ to an ‘interface-based model’. At present, it is more appropriate to understand it as a starting point for joint capability building, rather than the implementation of a mature business model. All parties should rationally assess the depth and pace of participation using technical adaptability, precision of cultural translation, and collaborative response efficiency as benchmarks.

Source note:
The main source of information is the announcement of the global themed co-creation campaign ‘Nanjing, How “Laisi” Is It, Really?’ and its supporting explanatory documents released by the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism on May 16, 2026.
Areas requiring continued observation: the specific language coverage of the multilingual short-video script library, the technical format standards of the AR guided-tour asset packages, and the implementation details of the revenue-sharing mechanism in the joint marketing templates.