Posted on 05/09/2026 8:35:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
In this age of technology, it's not uncommon to come across at least one AI-generated video with every scroll on social media.
But recently, a particular trope of short-form videos took the internet by storm - in the form of snowy mountains, a wood-chopping man, braised duck and a mystical woman draped in white.
"Did you save a fox on a snowy mountain?" is a question that has made its rounds with the release of a Chinese AI-generated microdrama. Created to appear like a period drama made in the 1970s, it follows a traveller on a snowy mountain who saves a dying fox with an offering of braised duck.
When he is back home cutting wood, he is interrupted by a mysterious and beautiful woman who boldly asks him if he had saved a fox on a snowy mountain. Hopeful, he takes her for the spirit of the fox - until she angrily reveals herself to be "that braised duck" he had sacrificed and vengefully shoots him with a gun.
According to China media reports published on March 31, the microdrama is created by the media team from the company Guizhou Heshun Qiansheng Chuanwa Braised Duck and published on Feb 27 with the sole intention of promoting their products.
The team of four, led by a 32-year-old operations manager surnamed Ai with the remaining members in their 20s, reportedly only took five hours to produce the first episode of the viral microdrama, from brainstorming to its release.
Their original idea had begun very simply - earlier this year, they noticed a surge of AI-generated videos following the narrative of a snowy mountain fox repaying a debt of gratitude.
While the content was "novel", they felt the plots were all cliche and predictable. "Since it's all about repaying a debt of gratitude, why not do it the other way around?" said Ai .
Subsequently, they set out on a narrative of revenge as opposed to kindness, and swopped out the wild game used to save the fox with their own product.
They spent around 40 yuan (S$7) which mostly went to trial-and-error attempts of generating the AI videos, with each video costing about six yuan.
An interchangeable format and expandable plot Their efforts have paid off handsomely. Ai told reporters sales of their braised ducks have increased by 70 per cent month-on-month since the microdrama's creation and are still growing.
"After seeing our first microdrama, many netizens went to our store to buy our products, hoping to try and taste our braised duck," shared Ai. When placing their orders, customers reportedly like to ask if the braised duck is the same as the one on the snowy mountain in the microdrama.
Driven by the demand for more, the media team served even more content centred around braised duck.
The microdrama won the hearts of netizens due to its interchangeable format and ever-so-expandable plot, and has inspired countless spinoffs across social media platforms like TikTok, Douyin and YouTube.
Some users have replaced the original characters entirely in some instances, including one featuring those from Japanese web manga Chiikawa.
There are multilingual spinoffs too, with the traveller and mysterious woman conversing in different languages.
On Douyin, the microdrama has been lifted from its original plot, with the braised duck becoming a sentient character leading the narrative in various videos. Other businesses have also altered the storyline to promote their own products.
Even celebrities have hopped onto the bandwagon, including Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai who took to TikTok to promote her Pleasure world tour.
In a reel posted on March 22 that has since garnered over 1.5 million views, the 45-year-old immediately cracks up as she questions whether one of her staff members saved a fox on a snowy mountain, to which he asks if she's said fox or a braised duck.
Jolin counters: "Absolutely not! I am singer Jolin Tsai who is waiting backstage at my concert in Changsha to eat braised duck."
The reel cuts to Jolin seated deadpan at a table, banging her cutlery as she awaits her braised duck served sloppily on a glass lid.
Netizens took well to it, with one user remarking: "AI is truly amazing." Another joked: "Even the queen of pop is going for abstract art."
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I hate AI.
All of it.
I think all this stuff is crap. I used to enjoy watching various videos online. I could see remarkable things. Now, anything can be fake and it takes the enjoyment out of it.
I hate it.
It’s really hard to find the original video without going to Tik-tok which I don’t go to.
I don’t hate all AI.
But I despise using AI to fake stuff and not inform people that what they are watching which is presented as ostensibly real is, in fact, AI created.
Gonna be part of the Great Deception.
Bet on it.
Can’t believe your lying eyes now.
😕
That’s fine but I don’t wanna touch it with a stick.
🙃
Just wait until organizations like PETA take a look at this.
They love to weaponize guilt, compassion and contrition in ways that result in higher dollar donations.
Feminists will embrace the newfound excuse to dish out violence to a man by a pretty woman. now literally dressed to kill.
I see the quality of AI, as well as the length of AI-generated scenes, improving rapidly. Bottom line ... I don’t love AI, but at least it’s not Anime!
I reckon I’ll just have to be the anti-AI heretic here.
😄
The net is already full of heartbreaking animal abuse “ video stories” with handy links to donate for the “ care” of that poor abused non-existent creature.
It’s criminal.
It’s going to get you now!
Yes. I wanted to include a link to the video, and couldn’t find it on YouTube.
Nah.
😆
Ditto for most of it.
But a lot of the Bigfoot ones are well done, obviously fake and funny.
The really bad part is when AI generated slop is made to make one wonder if it is fake or not.
To whit, those tearjerker animal abuse money grabbing scams.
Many are horrifically graphic and “ realistic “ and created solely to deceive and profit.
There’s a forum in the works that has declared itself to be wholly AI free.
I’m awaiting its arrival.
We’ll see.
😑
This is from their launch page:
Have you noticed it yet? The comments are getting weirder. The posts feel slightly off. The people you’re arguing with reply a little too fast.
The Dead Internet Theory isn’t a conspiracy anymore. Over 60% of the engagement you see online are generated by AI botnets designed to farm your attention.
We got sick of the fake internet. So we built the real one. The Human Network is the first invite-only social platform where every single account is cryptographically verified to be a breathing human being.
I don’t really understand that sentiment tbh.
Movies are fake. Cartoons are fake. Drama series are fake. Even theater is fake, mostly made-up stories. Etc.
Where do you draw the line as to what enables entertainment? Why do we have any of them?
Of course, because stories have meaning and provide an escape from reality. I see this sentiment, e.g. “AI slop is annoying”, but I don’t believe everything is just bad just because it’s made via AI.
In this instance, clearly people enjoyed it. It was good enough for people to open their wallets. If this provided upward mobility in the creator’s lifestyle, I’m encouraged by it - especially if it means Hollyweird loses their grip on pop culture and the types of movies we can watch.
Yes, there’s terrible AI, we’ve all seen it. I’m sure there were pathetic “movies” when film arrived. I await, eagerly, for the first brilliant, fully AI, trilogy. If anyone can create content, then the traditional stranglehold on the industry, by corporate media, is gone.
...that and AI can make some awfully good comedy!
I think you misunderstand me. I will log back in later to explain.
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