Duanju: an embodiment of "China Speed"

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 originating in China. Through duanju, China Speed no longer simply shapes the economy: it redefines cultural forms, narratives, and the relationship to time.

China Speed: From an industrial slogan to a worldview

Originally, China Speed was a concept coined to describe a tangible reality: construction projects completed in a few weeks, cities emerging in a few years, production lines capable of moving from idea to market at very high speed.

Behind this performance lies a philosophy of time. In China today, economic time is not a space for contemplation: it is a strategic resource. Optimizing it means producing value, gaining power, and remaining competitive in a globalized world.

This approach has gradually spread to the digital sector (e-commerce, fintech, social platforms), and then to cultural industries, long considered secondary to economic priorities. Duanju emerged precisely at this tipping point.

The duanju: a narrative at the speed of the Chinese era

Duanju is based on simple principles related to lifestyles and customs, which influence the relationship to time: episodes of 1 to 3 minutes, broadcast on smartphones, often in vertical format, immediately readable plots and constant twists in each episode.

Where traditional series slowly establish their characters and narrative arcs, duanju condenses. It doesn't tell less of a story; it tells it faster. Each scene is conceived as a unit of maximum efficiency: to capture attention, evoke emotion, and entice viewers to watch the next episode. This format perfectly suits an urban Chinese society characterized by density, constant mobility, fragmented free time, and daily hyper-connectivity. Duanju thus becomes the cultural counterpart to China Speed: optimized storytelling for a compressed timeframe.

Optimizing emotion: a new cultural value

As in factories, speed here becomes a central value of creation. China Speed is no longer just a production rate: it becomes a cultural rhythm, revealing a contemporary relationship to time, attention, and narrative, where intensity takes precedence over duration.

In the world of duanju, speed is not merely a formal choice but a cultural value, an organizing principle that prioritizes immediate impact. Speed thus becomes a criterion of quality. What is slow is perceived as weak, inefficient, or even obsolete. This shift marks a profound transformation of cultural industries in the age of platforms and mobile technology: time is no longer expandable; it is scarce, fragmented, and subject to constant competition. The cultural speed of China no longer seeks to hold the viewer's attention over time; it aims to capture them instantly.

This fast-paced approach profoundly transforms narrative time. The story unfolds as a succession of intensified presents, where waiting is minimized. The duanju becomes less a linear narrative than a narrative flow, aligned with contemporary digital practices.

Contrary to a common criticism, duanju does not necessarily signify the impoverishment of culture. Rather, it reflects a shift in the hierarchy of cultural values. In the classical Western model, cultural value is often associated with duration, slowness, and psychological complexity. Duanju offers something different: immediate emotion, rapid identification, and deliberate dramatic effectiveness. This approach does not negate depth; it reconfigures it. The viewer is no longer invited to immerse themselves for extended periods, but rather to consume successive micro-shocks of emotion. The value lies in the ability to evoke feeling quickly, rather than in the time spent feeling.

A cultural industry aligned with the logic of China Speed

The success of duanju lies not only in its format but also in its production methods. Filming is quick, crews are small, and creative cycles are short. Platforms test, adjust, abandon, or relaunch narrative concepts at a speed comparable to that of tech startups. Major players in the Chinese digital ecosystem have understood that duanju allows for maximum responsiveness to trends, rapid monetization, and large-scale storytelling.

Here we find the fundamentals of China Speed: test fast, produce fast, correct fast. Creative content then becomes a field of constant experimentation, subject to metrics of attention and performance.

Towards an exportable Chinese cultural model?

The question of exporting duanju is now a pressing one. Like European art-house cinema or American television series in their time, duanju could become a form of Chinese cultural soft power. Its export implies a shift in the Western perspective: accepting that cultural value no longer necessarily lies in length, slowness, or classical narrative sophistication. Duanju offers an alternative model, based on intensity, accessibility, and adaptation to global digital practices. In this sense, duanju is not an anomaly or a low-cost form of culture: it may well be the vanguard of an accelerated global culture.

China Speed: A New Relationship to Time and Narrative

Duanju is more than just a new audiovisual format; it acts as a cultural revealer. It shows how China applies its logic of time optimization, productivity, and efficiency not only to the economy, but also to storytelling, emotion, and cultural consumption. Duanju extends the concept of China Speed to the contemporary Chinese cultural model. It demonstrates that Chinese acceleration is not merely a matter of productivity, but a worldview where time becomes a space to be structured, controlled, and monetized, including in artistic creation. By transforming the way stories are told, China is not simply following digital shifts; it is proposing a cultural model consistent with its social trajectory. Duanju is therefore not just a trendy format; it is the cultural symptom of a China that is moving fast and now intends to tell stories quickly.

Article written by Maëlle Billant

#MaelleBillant