The world's first commercial multimodal large language model (LLM) for cultural tourism, BoGuan, has entered broad application in Xi'an, China, generating commercial returns by supporting digital IP creation for intangible cultural heritage, enhancing cultural tourism apps, and improving short drama production. This development is injecting new momentum into China's heritage preservation initiatives and the cultural tourism industry.
Xi'an, one of China's oldest cities and a top international tourist destination, is at the forefront of this digital transformation. Shaanxi Culture Industry Investment Group (SCG) is collaborating with partners including Huawei, China Telecom Shaanxi, and China West Airport Group to promote cultural tourism using digital technologies like AI and 5G-A. For instance, BoGuan powers a new AI travel companion agent that had already served over 4 million users by March 2026.
In September 2025, SCG and Huawei unveiled BoGuan, the world's first commercial multimodal LLM for cultural tourism and China's first industry-specific model dedicated to cultural heritage preservation. The model is built on intelligent computing infrastructure and a high-quality dataset comprising over 1.2 PB of data, including 31 million images, 4.4 million minutes of video, 2.18 million minutes of audio, 510 3D models, and 960 million pieces of structured text. This enables BoGuan to generate highly accurate multimodal content, such as museum-quality digital relic presentations, digital preservation of traditional craftsmanship, and digital IP for intangible cultural heritage.
Zhang Beiyuan, a dough sculpture artisan, noted, "With this model, I can complete a dough sculpture that used to take two or three months in less than a week." BoGuan also created the popular cartoon character Tang Biaobiao, integrating local cultural heritage with the stone carvings of the Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum. Sales of related digital collectibles and creative products have exceeded CNY2 million.
Beyond heritage preservation, BoGuan has enabled cultural tourism applications like AI photography and the AI travel companion agent. Visitors can interact with the agent on the GO-SHAANXI app to plan itineraries and get real-time recommendations. The Zhiying Camera mini program offers paid services that merge user photos with AI-generated historical scenes, allowing users to "travel back to ancient times." These new options unlock the business value of cultural tourism data. Additionally, SCG uses BoGuan to integrate short drama production with cultural tourism, improving efficiency and quality in Xi'an, a renowned short drama hub.
Furthermore, China Telecom Shaanxi and Huawei have deployed a 5G-A network based on 3CC technology at Xi'an's Grand Tang Mall. The network delivers peak uplink and downlink rates of 600 Mbps and 3.5 Gbps, about 10 times faster than common 5G networks. During the 2026 May Day holiday, it supported concurrent access for 23,000 users, ensuring smooth video and social media experiences. 5G-A-powered HD live streaming at the mall has become a key visitor attraction, with average user dwell time nearly doubling and average transaction value increasing by 62%.
"Artificial intelligence is not simply a stack of technologies. It has become a key enabler that can activate thousands of years of cultural heritage, reshape travel experiences, and inject new momentum into the industry," said Edric Chu, General Manager of Huawei's Shaanxi Rep Office. "Moving forward, Huawei will continue working with our partners to enhance cultural heritage preservation with digital and intelligent technologies, and stimulate development within the cultural tourism industry."
