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Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living Shanghai unveils The Dynamics of Chinese People 2025

Chinese sei-katsu-sha cleverly incorporating AI into their lives to refine their individuality and discover the direction they should take

Tokyo—March 17, 2026—Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living Shanghai (HILL Shanghai) unveiled the 13th set of findings from its The Dynamics of Chinese People research project jointly conducted with the School of Advertising and Branding at the Communication University of China.

This year’s theme was “Portents of New Attitudes and Behaviors Emerging Among Chinese Sei-katsu-sha* Beyond the Spread of AI.” With the emergence of Chinese-developed generative AI starting around 2025, AI has rapidly spread through Chinese society, significantly influencing sei-katsu-sha’s attitudes and behaviors. Sei-katsu-sha (our term for the holistic person) in China are actively embracing the use of AI, not only because AI adoption is being advanced as a national strategy, but also because they have experienced firsthand how technologies such as e-commerce and mobile payments have enhanced convenience in their daily lives.

Currently, AI use in China is primarily viewed as a task efficiency tool for streamlining work and information gathering, but many people are also leveraging AI to enhance their hobbies and acquire knowledge and skills they wish to learn. Furthermore, some individuals are now emerging who control their emotions through their interactions with AI, and who rediscover their strengths and unique characteristics through collaborative work and dialogue with AI.

Risks, particularly (AI-related) job losses, loss of motivation and ability to interact with others, and decline in motivation to learn proactively are debated in AI-related research and papers in China and elsewhere. However, while Chinese sei-katsu-sha also harbor some of these concerns, those who are more adept at utilizing AI appear to be handling it well, discovering their own unique strengths, and turning new perspectives and insights gained from conversations with AI into inspiration. They are beginning to leverage AI to hone their strengths and to discover what they truly love and enhance their engagement those things. Zhìxiàng. This is the name we have given to the desire, which is emerging among Chinese sei-katsu-sha, to cleverly incorporate AI into their lives to refine their individuality and discover the direction they should take. The neologism takes one Chinese character each from the Chinese words for AI and direction.

At the March 17 launch event for The Dynamics of Chinese People 2025, HILL Shanghai introduced the new behaviors and shifting attitudes that Chinese sei-katsu-sha are beginning to adopt amid the widespread adoption of AI, with data and specific examples. If you would like to receive a copy of the report distributed at the launch event (available in Japanese, Chinese and English), please contact Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living Shanghai at: sei-katsu-sha.info@hakuhodo-shzy.cn.

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