DUANJU  NEWS

For a long time, duanju seemed like an anomaly. A vertical stream of very short fictional stories, saturated with close-ups, immediate plot twists, and promises of sequels at the click of a button. A grammar of urgency, designed for the phone, that might have amused streaming professionals. Except that, since the end of 2023, the “anomaly” has started to appear where it hurts: in the download charts, and then in the revenue. Figures that are changing scale The shift is first

For a long time, the notion of "China Speed" was established as an economic and industrial marker of China's acceleration. It referred to China's ability to build, produce, and deliver more quickly: a speed emblematic of its economic boom and manufacturing power. In recent years, this concept has extended far beyond the realm of factories and infrastructure. It now permeates the cultural sphere, finding its most accomplished illustration in duanju, the ultra-short mini-series

Duanju News explicitly linked binge-watching, speed-watching, and the rise of the Duanju format. Here, we examine how this analytical framework was adopted by French and international media outlets, its chronology, and why it is circulating today. Context: On July 25, 2025, Duanju News proposed a simple idea to test, but one difficult to articulate clearly without taking a step back: while binge-watching normalized the process of watching content consecutively, speed-watching

In a conversation led by journalist Blessing Azugama, Nigerian filmmaker Ebuka Njọkụ, known for his feature film Yahoo+  , offers a precise look at an African audiovisual landscape in transition. He explains how mobile habits, Nigeria’s creative energy and the rise of a new generation of filmmakers are paving the way for a truly pan-African Duanju ecosystem. Ebuka points out that vertical storytelling is already part of everyday life across Africa: comedy sketches, short TikT

Ben Pengilly, a British producer specializing in vertical miniseries, recently posted on LinkedIn claiming to have created "the first ever vertical in Europe." In other words, he presents himself as a pioneer of the genre on a continental scale. Perhaps he simply confused the UK with Europe, but this assertion deserves to be put into perspective. The expansion of vertical drama (or duanju) in Europe is not the work of a single man, but results from a constellation of parallel

The article published by 20 Minutes and signed by Camille Moretti is part of a now well-established "Duanjuphobic" trend: following the president of the CNC (National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image), some French media outlets, such as France Inter and Le Figaro , are approaching the phenomenon of vertical mini-series through the lens of mistrust, even suspicion. The format is becoming an object of concern rather than a subject for analysis. Nothing new, then: the s

The Nikon Film Festival is an annual short film competition launched in France by the camera brand Nikon. Open to all, it invites filmmakers, students, and amateurs to create a 2-minute 20-minute film on a set theme. In addition to extensive online exposure, winners receive awards, some of which are funded by the French National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image. Presented as a springboard for young talent, the festival nevertheless relies on a model where marketing some

In her new column Duanju Meet Africa , journalist and Africa correspondent Blessing Azugama explores the revolution of short-form storytelling across the continent. She begins with a striking observation: in today’s attention economy, the force that defines every creator’s visibility online, the length of a story no longer determines its impact. What matters now is the ability to captivate within the first three seconds. Blessing notes that fast and emotional storytelling has

While the micro-drama format remains largely unexplored by French critics, some observers are beginning to approach it with curiosity and openness. In an article published on Konbini, Delphine Rivet analyzes the rise of these vertical fictions born in China, designed for phone screens and consumed at high speed. She describes an ecosystem where storytelling adapts to the logic of contemporary uses: very short episodes, often mass-produced, but capable of generating strong em

On October 14, 2025, at the end of the 7 p.m. news on France Inter, the major French public radio station, the journalists humorously concluded: "We will resist, we will fight with our little arms." A seemingly innocuous phrase, but revealing a certain French reflex in the face of cultural revolutions. We laugh to keep at a distance what is disturbing: a new, fast, popular, and strangely effective format. This ironic tone is not just a radio joke. It is part of a broader cont

Following on from previous texts where I wanted to discuss the division of comics into well-known magazines and then their current evolution linked to new methods of distribution . Today I would like to talk about the practice of splitting that was once applied to literary works (including great novels that later became classics) through what was called the serial novel , a form of publication in episodes in widely circulated newspapers, magazines and even booklets, which ca

When a major mainstream outlet turns its attention to the duanju phenomenon, it’s often to treat it as a curiosity. But the Figaro  article of October 12, 2025, signed by Salomé Hembert, deserves a closer look as much for what it reveals as for what it leaves out. In 2024, actor Thierry Lhermitte joked that a scathing piece in Le Monde  or Libération  usually meant box-office success was near. Reading Le Figaro ’s article, it’s hard not to think of that old rule. The text che

In the article " When Comics Created Weekly Suspense " I said, but without elaborating, that the arrival of digital had transformed the economic model of comics (although classic albums remain very numerous on the shelves of our bookstores!). This deserves to be addressed here. So let's go! This is direct online publication, which does not only mean a change of medium: these creations, from the end of the 90s of the 20th century, would influence major elements, such as graph

Comics are considered to have been born in the 19th century, from varied premises: illustrated stories, Epinal images, precise narratives with images and texts (Rodolphe Töppler), introduction of speech bubbles (Winor Mc Cay) at the very beginning of the 20th century... But we want to insist here, in the duanju spirit which is ours, on a particular dimension of this creation: the tendency which was hers to divide her story, which she would entrust to periodic supports respo

In China, a quiet revolution has reshaped the way audiences consume stories. Known as Duanju, these short dramas, packaged in one to...

In 2020, in the midst of the municipal election campaign, 5G entered the public debate. Green mayor Éric Piolle launched a striking statement on RTL: "5G is so we can watch porn movies even when you're in your elevator in HD." A provocation intended to denounce the energy consumption of digital technology and question the notion of progress. Five years later, what was a witty remark has become reality: 5G makes it possible to seamlessly watch Duanju series even in the most un

In his opening address at the 2025 La Rochelle Fiction Festival in France, Gaëtan Bruel, president of the National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image (CNC), chose to discuss the phenomenon of micro-dramas, better known in China as Duanju. Rather than seeing it as the emergence of a new audiovisual language, he described it as "the perfect counter-example" of what France should be championing. This reticence reflects a profound confusion between a format and the commercial

Wix is one of the most widely used website hosts in the world, with over 250 million websites created. Dailymotion, for its part, is a...

Dailymotion was born at a time when video was taking over the web. The platform quickly became a French-style testing ground: initially...

This new wave of influence is not the first: from the “chinoiserie” of the 18th century (porcelain, lacquer, pagodas) to the vogue for...