The world's first commercial multimodal large language model (LLM) for cultural tourism, BoGuan, has entered broad application in Xi'an, China, according to an announcement from Shaanxi Culture Industry Investment Group (SCG) and its partners. This model is generating commercial returns by supporting the creation of digital intellectual property for intangible cultural heritage, developing cultural tourism applications, and improving short drama production, injecting new momentum into heritage preservation and the cultural tourism industry.
Xi'an, one of China's oldest cities and a popular international tourist destination, is at the forefront of this initiative. SCG is collaborating with Huawei, China Telecom Shaanxi, and China West Airport Group to promote cultural tourism using digital technologies including AI and 5G-A. For example, BoGuan supports an AI travel companion agent that had been made available to over 4 million users by March of this year.
In September 2025, SCG and Huawei unveiled the BoGuan Large Model, the world's first commercial multimodal LLM for cultural tourism and China's first industry-specific model dedicated to cultural heritage preservation. Built on intelligent computing infrastructure and a high-quality dataset of over 1.2 PB—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—BoGuan can generate highly accurate multimodal content, such as museum-quality presentations of cultural relics. This capability allows it to support digital relic presentations, digitalization of traditional craftsmanship, and creation of 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 has also been used to create digital IP like the popular cartoon character Tang Biaobiao, which integrates local cultural heritage with stone carvings of the Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum, generating over CNY2 million in sales of related digital collectibles and creative products.
Beyond heritage preservation, BoGuan has enabled a range of cultural tourism apps, such as AI photography and an AI travel companion agent. Visitors can interact with the agent on the GO-SHAANXI app to create and adjust itineraries and receive real-time performance recommendations. The Zhiying Camera mini program offers paid services that integrate user photos with AI-generated historical scenes, allowing visitors to "travel back to ancient times." These new consumption options unlock the business value of quality cultural tourism data. Additionally, SCG is using BoGuan to integrate short drama production with cultural tourism, improving efficiency and quality in Xi'an, a renowned short drama hub.
Complementing these efforts, China Telecom Shaanxi and Huawei have deployed a 5G-A network based on three component carrier aggregation technology at Xi'an's Grand Tang Mall. The network delivers peak uplink and downlink rates of 600 Mbps and 3.5 Gbps, respectively—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. Furthermore, 5G-A-powered HD live streaming at the mall has become a key attraction, with average user dwell time nearly doubling and average transaction value increasing by 62%.
Edric Chu, General Manager of Huawei's Shaanxi Rep Office, stated, "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. 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."
