In Shenzhen, a think tank affiliated with China's state news agency has formally recognized what millions of ordinary people have already been living: that the internet, artificial intelligence, and mass participation have fundamentally altered who gets to make culture and how it travels. Where cultural authority once descended from institutions, it now moves laterally, shaped by resonance rather than gatekeeping. The report frames this shift not only as a domestic transformation but as a reordering of global cultural influence — a moment when the voices of ordinary people, amplified by techno