Shan Hai Qi Jing: Cleaving the Waves (山海奇镜之劈波斩浪)

The Mirror of Mountains and Seas: Breaking Waves (山海奇镜之劈波斩浪) is a five-episode Chinese fantasy microdrama (微短剧) from Kuaishou's Starlight Short Drama (星芒短剧) label, billed by Kuaishou as China's first original AIGC fantasy microdrama. Sixth Tone describes it as five episodes of about three minutes each, and it began streaming exclusively on Kuaishou on 13 July 2024, after a preview screening and a trailer shown at WAIC 2024. The full five-episode cut on Kuaishou's KwaiDrama YouTube channel runs 11 minutes 41 seconds, with English subtitles.

It was made by Kuaishou's short-drama team together with the production company Ziran Huo (自然火) and director Chen Kun (陈坤, handle @闲人一坤), who is described as a veteran director and producer. Chen's story had been in development for some time, but the team was unhappy with the first version because of the technology available then. When Kuaishou's Kling AI (可灵) video model appeared in June 2024, the studio brought in the Kling team, which supplied technical support and a dedicated team.

Sixth Tone's report says every element, from script and dialogue to storyboards, effects and soundtrack, was made with AI tools, and that Kling was used alongside other software. A 2025 AFP report carried by Malay Mail says Chen used ChatGPT for the screenplay, Midjourney for still images, Kling to turn the images into video and Suno for the soundtrack. At the preview Chen said no frame was shot with live actors and that costumes and props were generated too. Sixth Tone adds that human oversight stayed essential: directors prompted the look of each character, the AI produced hundreds of options and people chose among them. Chen said current models handle action sequences poorly and that one fight scene took hundreds of attempts, so even the final version was not entirely satisfactory.

Chen says the drama took two months to make, where comparable work took three to six months, and told Sixth Tone that AI cut time and costs by more than 75%. Chen picked the story for its complex visual demands and its resonance with local audiences.

Kuaishou reported that the five episodes passed 52 million plays by 27 July 2024, with more than 430 million topic impressions, 21 trending-list appearances, first place on the Datawen short-drama index and second on Maoyan's daily short-drama heat chart. Sixth Tone also cites more than 52 million views. Audience reactions in the pages are mixed: preview viewers praised the creature effects, while one viewer told Sixth Tone the plot felt clichéd and made to show off AI effects, and another found human characters stiff. Kuaishou presented it as the lead case for its Starlight Short Drama x Kling creator incubation plan, which offers revenue share, project investment, platform resources and cash rewards.