On an otherwise ordinary weekend afternoon in October 2016, I was out with some friends at a shopping plaza in the southern city of Shenzhen when an art exhibition attracted our attention. It surprised us to come across a spacious art gallery in a commercial retail environment. More surprising, however, was the subject itself. The exhibition featured the work of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the renowned French impressionist painter. The exhibition presented Renoir's masterpieces together with the photography-based artwork of his descendants. At one end of the gallery, a 3D-modelled interactive project displayed stories about the artist's life via a virtual reality (VR) headset. The interactive video was cartoonish and low resolution with occasionally dizzying moments. Afterwards, the viewing staff informed me that the immersive project was created by a Chinese team; they had hoped that VR would help viewers learn more about the artist and attract younger visitors.

Later, I realised that this awkward immersive experience was an example of an emerging trend. Policymakers were encouraging immersive art, entrepreneurs were joining in, and enthusiastic spectators were growing in numbers. In the course of my research, I came across many similar digital and immersive art projects under the aegis of ‘Digital China’, a large-scale government initiative that has generated capital inflows which have in turn advantaged innovation in the manufacturing sector.

Like many other countries and territories in recent years, the Chinese state uses policy models to direct innovation in the cultural and creative industries. The 2016 China Government Work Report (2016 年中国政府报告) (Li, 2016) highlighted the significance of digital technology for China. The central government subsequently proposed the concept of ‘digital creative industries’ (数字创意产业) (later amended in April 2017 to digital cultural industries). In December 2016, the State Council, China's primary administrative organ, listed digital creative industries—including equipment manufacturing and software development, digital and creative content creation, new media services, and services for content application—as one of five ‘Strategic Emerging Industries’ in the 13th Five-Year Plan for the nation's technological revolution and industrial transformation.