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| 'I Just Want a Stage': Xu Peng Opens Up After AI Pushes Him Out of China's Short Drama Industry. (Image via: Xiaohongshu/HK01) |
There was a time when Xu Peng barely had time to eat. Filming for up to 15 hours a day, rushing from one set to another and landing leading roles in China's booming short drama (vertical series) industry, the actor looked to be building the career he had dreamed of since graduating from the Central Academy of Drama. Just months later, those film sets disappeared. Today, instead of hearing "action", he's calling out vegetable prices at a local market in his hometown after AI rapidly transformed the industry that once kept him fully booked.
The 30-year-old actor has become one of the most talked-about faces in China's entertainment world after revealing that he returned to rural Shandong to help his grandfather sell vegetables when acting work suddenly dried up.
His story has sparked widespread discussion about whether artificial intelligence is reshaping the country's fast-growing short drama business faster than many performers ever expected.
Before entering the booming vertical drama market, Xu Peng had already built an acting résumé through television productions including A Long Way Home, My Journey to You and several other well-known projects.
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Like many professionally trained actors, he believed solid acting skills and years of experience would eventually open more doors. Instead, he found himself competing not only with influencers for limited roles but, eventually, with computer-generated performers.
During China's short drama boom in 2025, the actor switched to the fast-paced format after encouragement from fans. The gamble appeared to pay off immediately.
He secured multiple leading roles, his online following grew rapidly and producers kept calling. At one point, he was filming almost every day with schedules stretching well beyond normal working hours. It seemed the industry had finally found room for him.
Then everything changed almost overnight.
According to reports, AI-generated short dramas exploded across China in early 2026. Industry figures suggested around 128,000 micro dramas were released during the first quarter, with more than 95 per cent reportedly using AI-generated production methods.
For production companies, AI dramatically reduced costs and shortened production schedules from weeks to just a matter of days. For actors like Xu Peng, however, that efficiency came with an unexpected price.
He revealed that a production company in Hengdian had already confirmed him as the lead for two upcoming projects after the Lunar New Year.
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Before cameras even started rolling, the company reportedly cancelled its live-action productions, reduced staff and shifted its focus almost entirely towards AI-generated content. The roles disappeared before filming even began.
Instead of waiting endlessly for another phone call that never arrived, Xu Peng packed his belongings, left Hengdian and returned to his hometown in Shandong. Now his workplace looks very different. Standing beside his grandfather's vegetable stall, he spends his mornings selling bean sprouts, onions and fresh produce to local shoppers.
Most customers have little idea that the man carefully weighing vegetables once spent years studying acting and performing in front of cameras. The only audience these days is whoever happens to be walking past looking for fresh onions at a bargain price.
Despite the dramatic career shift, Xu Peng has refused to treat selling vegetables as something embarrassing. He questioned why society assumes actors should avoid ordinary jobs, arguing that performers actually need genuine life experience more than most professions.
In his view, spending time with ordinary people may teach him far more about human emotion than waiting inside another studio.
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His perspective has also changed regarding online popularity. Previously uncomfortable being labelled an internet personality, he now accepts that visibility can create opportunities.
He even uses the growing attention on his social media videos to help share information about missing children, hoping his audience can support wider community causes beyond entertainment.
While many headlines focused on him "leaving acting", Xu Peng insists he has not abandoned his dream. He still plans to produce live-action short dramas inspired by life in his hometown while launching a local acting training programme to help discover performers nearby.
According to him, the project is less about building an acting empire and more about solving practical casting challenges for future productions.
His determination recently received an unexpected boost after an investor reportedly came across a video showing him saving money while working at the market.
Rather than being impressed by previous leading roles, the investor said what stood out was seeing someone willing to peel oranges at a night market and keep chasing the same dream without pretending life had not changed.
Many fans praised Xu Peng for refusing to give up and applauded his willingness to earn an honest living instead of chasing appearances. Supporters described him as refreshingly grounded, saying there is dignity in selling vegetables if it means supporting family while waiting for another opportunity. Some even argued that the experience could make him a stronger actor in the future because real life cannot be learned from a script.
Industry figures believe Xu Peng's experience reflects a turning point rather than an isolated case. AI is increasingly being used for scripting, digital performers, editing and production, forcing many companies to rethink traditional filming models. Even so, Xu Peng believes audiences searching for genuine emotion and authentic performances will continue valuing human actors, arguing that technology may copy appearances but cannot fully recreate real human feeling.
One sentence has remained unchanged on Xu Peng's social media profile throughout every career twist: "I don't want fame. I just want a stage." For now, that stage happens to be a village market between baskets of fresh vegetables rather than a film studio.