An AI-generated rap song performed by poets and statesmen who have been dead for centuries has passed 100 million views in less than two weeks, becoming one of China's biggest cultural sensations of the year — and a window into the anxieties of modern life.
Illustration: An illustration of stylized ancient Chinese poets and a monkey-king figure performing a rap song on stage with microphones.
What Happened
The song is called "Guo Lai Ren" — roughly translated as "The One Who's Been There," or in English, "The OGs." It was released on October 13 by Wang Kunzhe, a filmmaker from Wuhan working under the name ZheFILM, and it brings together 10 iconic figures from Chinese history and mythology, from revered poets and statesmen to the legendary Monkey King, the South China Morning Post reported on October 26.
Rather than celebrating their triumphs, the song has the figures rap about their failures. The Tang dynasty poet Du Fu complains about rent. The Song dynasty poet Su Shi has been demoted. Li Bai has lost his job. The Han dynasty founder Liu Bang has spent years losing battles. The strategist Zhuge Liang is exhausted from carrying responsibilities nobody else will shoulder. The effect, listeners say, is unexpectedly moving: figures who survived war, exile and disgrace centuries ago are singing, in effect, about the same pressures people feel today.
The numbers tell the story of its spread. The track crossed 100 million views across platforms in less than two weeks, according to the South China Morning Post. On Douyin, China's version of TikTok, it gathered millions of likes and shares within days. By October 20, Chinese media were reporting more than 2.3 million shares and nearly 100,000 comments, according to an analysis by writer Andrew Mok.
Background
What makes the song remarkable is that none of its performers existed in the recording studio — because none of them are alive, and none of the performance is real in the conventional sense. The voices, faces, movements and musical arrangement were all generated using artificial intelligence, Mok reported. The production reportedly cost only a few thousand yuan, a tiny fraction of a conventional music video budget. And its artificial origins were openly disclosed, not hidden.
That openness may be part of the point. Chinese audiences are already steeped in AI-generated entertainment. Micro-dramas made largely with AI tools have flooded short-video platforms this year, and music platforms have released thousands of tracks with AI-generated vocals. But "Guo Lai Ren" is different in one important respect: it does not try to pass as human, and it does not try to flatter its audience. Its historical figures are not triumphant heroes but weary survivors, and the song's chorus of shared failure is what listeners have latched onto.
The comment sections became part of the phenomenon. People wrote about losing their jobs, failing examinations, accumulating debts and struggling through illnesses. Some said they listened to the song repeatedly; others said it made them cry. Chinese internet users call such a space a "tree hollow" — a hollow tree trunk into which people whisper secrets they cannot tell anyone else — and the song's comment threads became exactly that, Mok wrote.
Illustration: An illustration of a young person listening to music on a smartphone at night with sound waves floating around.
Why It Matters
The song matters for two reasons that pull in opposite directions. The first is emotional: it shows that AI-generated art can genuinely move people, not merely imitate human creativity. Listeners knew the singers were synthetic, and they were moved anyway — by the lyrics, by the recognition of shared struggle, and by the strange comfort of hearing ancient figures voice modern worries. That challenges the assumption that audiences will reject art once they know a machine made it.
The second reason is industrial, and it is more unsettling for working musicians. If a track made for a few thousand yuan can reach 100 million views in days, the economics of music production shift dramatically. Record labels, streaming platforms and regulators are already wrestling with questions about authorship, royalties and disclosure for AI-generated works, and a hit of this scale will sharpen every one of those debates. Who owns a song performed by a synthetic Du Fu? What is owed to the human creator who prompted it, and what, if anything, is owed to anyone else?
There is also a cultural dimension that travels beyond China. The figures in the song are deeply Chinese — poets every schoolchild studies, a folk hero everyone recognises — yet the anxieties they voice are universal: rent, job insecurity, debt, exhaustion. That combination of local colour and global feeling is a large part of why the track has been picked up by international media, and why similar experiments are likely to follow in other countries with their own deep benches of historical figures.
Illustration: An illustration of ancient Chinese scholars in traditional robes walking through a modern city street.
What Happens Next
The immediate question is whether "Guo Lai Ren" is a one-off curiosity or the start of a wave. History suggests the latter: viral formats in China rarely stay singular for long, and the tools that made this song are cheaper and more accessible every month. Expect imitators, sequels and crossovers — other historical casts, other languages, other genres — and expect platforms to promote them, since the engagement numbers are so strong.
Regulators and the music industry will also have to respond. China, like other countries, is still building rules for AI-generated content, from labelling requirements to copyright treatment. A 100-million-view hit makes those questions concrete rather than theoretical, and the way Chinese platforms and authorities handle this song's success may set precedents others follow.
For Wang Kunzhe, the filmmaker behind the track, the song is already a career-defining moment. For everyone else, it is a small, strange milestone: the week when a chorus of long-dead poets became the voice of the living, and millions of people sang along.
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FAQ
What is "Guo Lai Ren"?
"Guo Lai Ren" — translated as "The One Who's Been There," or in English, "The OGs" — is an AI-generated Chinese rap song released on October 13, 2026, featuring 10 figures from Chinese history and mythology performing a song about failure, hardship and modern anxieties.
Who made the song?
The song was created by Wang Kunzhe, a filmmaker from Wuhan working under the name ZheFILM. The voices, faces, movements and musical arrangement were generated with artificial intelligence, and the AI origins were openly disclosed.
Which historical figures appear in it?
The track brings together 10 iconic figures, including the poets Du Fu, Su Shi and Li Bai, the Han founder Liu Bang, the strategist Zhuge Liang and the legendary Monkey King, each rapping about setbacks such as demotion, dismissal, lost battles and exhaustion.
Why did it go viral?
Listeners connected with its theme of shared struggle: the historical figures voice pressures — rent, job loss, exams, debt, illness — that many people face today. It passed 100 million views across platforms in less than two weeks, with comment sections turning into confessional spaces for listeners' own stories.
What does its success mean for music?
It shows AI-generated music can achieve genuine emotional resonance at massive scale, while raising unresolved questions about authorship, royalties and disclosure — and suggesting that low-cost AI productions will become a much bigger part of the music industry.
Sources
- South China Morning Post, "100 million views: why China's viral AI rap track has struck a chord," October 26, 2026 (via syndication).
- Andrew Mok, "The AI Song That Made China Cry," Core Interests, October 2026 (release date October 13, creator Wang Kunzhe / ZheFILM, Douyin engagement figures, production cost, "tree hollow" comment culture).
- South China Morning Post reporting via the October 26, 2026 news digest (10 figures, Monkey King, under-two-weeks to 100 million views).
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