DUNHUANG, Nov 2 (China Economic Net) – China can be an example of how to combine the creative economy, cultural heritage and the digital economy, Daren Tang, head of the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), told a group of journalists on Monday.

Tang spoke on the sidelines of the 2026 International Copyright Forum, which runs from November 2 to 4 in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, northwest China and is co-hosted by China’s National Copyright Administration and WIPO.

According to the administration, China’s copyright industry generated 10.06 trillion yuan in value added in 2024, or 7.46 percent of GDP, and employed 15.8 million people in urban units.

Tang cited a presentation by Chinese tech giant Tencent on using its digital platforms to promote Chinese culture overseas through films, music and stories. He also pointed to Black Myth: Wukong, a Chinese action game based on the classic novel Journey to the West, which he said introduces international audiences to Chinese culture, history and historical sites.

Worldwide, he said, the creative economy, cultural heritage and digital technologies are coming together to entertain audiences and create economic opportunities, in what he called “the next evolution of the creative economy.”

Dunhuang is home to the Mogao Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage site spanning over 1,000 years of Buddhist art. Since 2016, the Dunhuang Academy’s Digital Dunhuang project has offered high-definition images and panoramic tours of 30 caves online worldwide.

“Even though there are millions of people who visit Dunhuang, I believe that the whole world deserves to see Dunhuang,” Tang said, calling the project a great example of bringing culture to the world.

More than a thousand years ago, people from Europe, the Middle East, Persia, Central Asia and China met and traded in Dunhuang, a stop on the ancient Silk Road. Cultures need such exchange to stay vibrant, Tang said, and copyright helps them preserve their identity while giving creators the confidence to protect their ideas and earn a living from them.

He also sees artificial intelligence (AI) as an opportunity, citing a short film by a self-taught Chinese creator that went viral overseas within four days. But AI can also create “a single monoculture,” he said, so it must be trained on diverse cultures.

“The role of technology must be to empower, enable, and to support the human creator,” Tang said, adding that the human creator must remain at the center of the copyright system.