Accompanied by the background sounds of Chinese traditional instruments, Yuanxi — China Daily’s digital employee — introduced the 9,000-year-old stone carvings (岩画) from the Helan Mountains in Northwest China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region on Oct 14.
The meeting between the virtual human and Chinese traditional culture is quite interesting,” an internet user commented on Sina Weibo.
With the rise of the metaverse (元宇宙), virtual humans have become a growing phenomenon in China. According to a research report by QbitAI, it is estimated that the overall market size of China’s virtual humans will reach 270 billion yuan by 2030.
Though they are not real, these virtual beings share similar identities with us and serve in different fields of our daily lives, including education, broadcasting, and business. For example, in June 2021, Hua Zhibing, a virtual human who can write poetry, was officially registered as a student at Tsinghua University. Throughout the 2022 Winter Olympics, China’s first AI sign language presenter served hearing-impaired (有听力障碍的) audiences 24/7.
Due to their perfect image and interesting setups, some virtual humans even get a large number of fans and become idols in real life. Luo Tianyi is one of them. As a virtual singer, Luo has over 5 million followers on Sina Weibo. When she held a concert in Shanghai in 2018, more than 10,000 fans waved glow sticks and cheered for her. Gao Yu, a fan of Luo, told Economic Information Daily that “just like chasing human idols, Luo’s fans also hold birthday parties for her and buy the products she promotes.”
While the future of virtual humans seems promising, problems also lurk (隐藏着) underneath. As the novelty wears off, some followers are getting tired of virtual humans’ never-changing expressions. “No matter how lifelike these virtual influencers look, they’re still not real people. It’s a little scary,” Gigi You, 23, from Guangdong, told Insider. Studies also showed that their “perfect” face and “perfect” life which humans are unable to achieve can also trigger (引发) anxiety and depression in individuals.
Generally speaking, virtual humans are often seen as the gateway to the metaverse and have demonstrated financial potential, but there’s still a lot of room for development, reported Xinhua.
【小题1】What can we learn about Yuanxi?| A．She is the first digital employee in China. |
| B．She played Chinese traditional instruments. |
| C．She covered stories about stone carvings. |
| D．She was designed to promote Chinese traditional culture. |
| A．To show the popularity of virtual humans. |
| B．To illustrate the similarities of virtual humans. |
| C．To describe the characteristics of virtual humans. |
| D．To explain the importance of virtual humans in our lives. |
| A．They lose appeal quickly. | B．They are too good to be true. |
| C．They can make people anxious. | D．They are never as real as humans. |
