At Apple CEO Tim Cook's recent visit to the Beijing Wang's Shadow Art Gallery, he was guided by intangible cultural heritage creator Dang Feihua(Douyin@汪氏皮影・确实牛)and immersed himself in the traditional art—showcasing how China's intangible cultural heritage is reviving in the digital era.

As the fifth-generation inheritor of "Wang's Shadow Puppetry," Dang Feihua uses short videos to innovate and promote this art, ensuring it reaches a wider audience.

Wang's Shadow is a family troupe based in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, which is famous for shadow puppet making, and especially its carving skills. Dang's mother Wang Haiyan is one of the top 10 folk artists in China, and his grandfather Wang Tianwen is an industrial art master.

This Gen Z artist is creating a powerful fusion of traditional shadow puppetry and modern trends, transforming the art from a museum exhibit into a viral sensation online.

As an ambassador for the "ICH New Vitality Program," Dang Feihua epitomizes Douyin's role in revitalizing traditional culture. The initiative has engaged 25,000 creators—each with over 10,000 followers—and yielded more than 100,000 popular videos. Through short videos, algorithmic recommendations, and interactive tools, Douyin makes intricate crafts accessible, connects niche arts with audiences, and fosters community engagement.

In the gallery, Dr. Yao Zhihao from Tsinghua University Academy of Arts & Design showed Tim Cook an AI database for shadow puppetry, co-developed with Wang's Shadow Puppetry. By building a dataset from high-definition photos, the system allows users to generate a digital shadow puppet in just 10 seconds from a simple sketch and keywords.

At the event's close, Dang Feihua outlined his three-year roadmap to Cook—enabling a million global creators for shadow puppetry. Empowered by digital platforms, this vision is already unfolding, with international interest and collaborations with brands like McDonald's and Pop Mart paving the way. (Author of original article: Jiang Hai)