Political Work

Cultural and Creative IP Empowers Educational Innovation: With a Novel Medium, Education Has Come "Alive"

文创IP助力教育创新，载体新颖了，教育也跟着“活”了

PLA Daily (解放军报) 27 May 2026

Summary

A brigade of the 81st Group Army has built a political education system around a self-developed cartoon mascot — a tiger character tied to the unit's 'Fierce Tiger Division' honorific — producing animated combat-history videos, emoji packs, wallpapers, illustrated books, and badge awards, with dozens of soldiers volunteering skills in video production, graphic design, and AI to expand the program. The article documents a specific institutional response to a recurring PLA political work problem: that conventional 'model classes' (精品课), including warning education (警示教育), fail to engage younger enlisted personnel even when their format is updated. The brigade's solution — open-sourcing the IP to soldiers and integrating animated content with unit combat history such as the battle at Jintang Bridge — fits a broader pattern of grassroots units experimenting with commercial media aesthetics to close the gap between mandated ideological content and actual troop receptivity, though whether the reported training score improvements are attributable to the IP program or other factors is not established by the article.

Translation

Cultural and Creative IP Activates the Education Classroom

■ Qi Zewen, PLA Daily Special Correspondent Di Bowen

In early summer, this reporter visited a certain brigade of the 81st Group Army and was drawn to a "Talent Recruitment Notice" posted on a public bulletin board. Above the notice were cartoon figures dressed as knights-errant, soldiers, and other characters — expressive eyes, spirited poses — with requirements and instructions listed below. Quite a few officers and soldiers stopped to look.

"This cartoon image is a cultural and creative IP (文创IP) that our brigade has carefully developed, and it is very popular among grassroots officers and soldiers," the brigade's leadership told the reporter. Cultural and creative IP is a current buzzword; "IP" refers to intellectual property. Simply put, it combines cultural elements with artistic design to transform abstract concepts into concrete, perceptible images that generate emotional resonance. The brigade has now built an education matrix (教育矩阵) around this cultural and creative IP as its core. It includes physical works such as picture books, illustrated collections, and warning posters publicizing the brigade's combat history, fighting spirit (战斗精神), and disciplinary requirements, as well as digital works such as themed emoji packs and mobile phone wallpapers. It also incorporates popular barracks catchphrases such as "Watch me," "I've got this," and "Follow me," giving it a distinctly contemporary feel and considerable influence among young officers and soldiers.

It is understood that the brigade is currently preparing to produce a new installment of cultural and creative IP animated works, and the talent recruitment notice on the bulletin board is intended to gather officers and soldiers from across the brigade who have relevant skills to participate in the creative process. As soon as the notice was posted, dozens of officers and soldiers with skills in video production, graphic design, AI technology, and other areas signed up that same day.

To understand how this came about, one must go back to a research investigation conducted by the brigade's headquarters.

At the time, the brigade's investigation found that although the brigade had vigorously promoted educational innovation in recent years, some "model classes" (精品课) actually lacked sufficient appeal and inspirational power.

"For serious subjects like warning education (警示教育), innovation in form alone makes it very hard to move officers and soldiers." At one ideological brainstorming session, the brigade's political commissar put forward the idea of "building a brigade spiritual and cultural IP," sparking lively discussion. During the research and broad solicitation-of-opinions phase, one idea won widespread praise from officers and soldiers: "We can leverage the currently popular medium of animated cultural and creative content to strengthen education's affinity and appeal for young officers and soldiers."

To that end, the brigade widely absorbed the creative ideas of officers and soldiers and pooled their collective wisdom (集智) to develop an exclusive brigade image.

"Our brigade was once awarded the pennant 'Fierce Tiger Pouncing on a Flock of Sheep' and is known as the 'Fierce Tiger Division' — using a tiger as the main character couldn't be more fitting." "The whole brigade has 14 honored units; it would be best to incorporate the characteristics of each unit." … Before long, a cultural and creative IP that matched the fighting spirit and suited the aesthetic sensibilities of young officers and soldiers emerged.

The brigade's leadership made clear that this cultural and creative IP would be open-sourced (开源) to all officers and soldiers across the brigade, encouraging everyone to participate in creating derivative works. Soon after, a large number of related animated works, posters, souvenirs, and other pieces emerged in succession.

"With a novel medium, education has come 'alive.'" Company-level Instructor Yan believes that the relevant cultural and creative works have been very helpful in improving the quality and effectiveness of education.

"When lecturing on the brigade's combat history, relying on verbal description alone makes it impossible for officers and soldiers to directly feel the intensity and hardship of battle, and using publicly available documentaries makes the content too general." During one education class, Instructor Yan was covering a famous engagement in the brigade's history — the bloody battle at Jintang Bridge (血战金汤桥). He tapped the screen and played an animated work on the brigade's combat history produced using the cultural and creative IP. On screen, vivid and lifelike images of artillery fire, charging assaults, and desperate fighting unfolded, with the course of the battle clear at a glance. Officers and soldiers watched with full engagement and were deeply moved. After class, officers and soldiers reviewed and studied the material again using the picture books, retaining the details of the combat history more firmly and gaining a deeper spiritual understanding.

Instructor Yan told the reporter that they would organize the creation and updating of the animated series in advance according to the next phase's educational priorities, and would invite grassroots education backbone personnel to participate, integrating the animated content with educational objectives to make education more targeted.

Change the method, and the results show. The cultural and creative IP works have not only shone in the education classroom but have also effectively motivated officers and soldiers at large to throw themselves into training and war preparation (练兵备战).

At one company's field training site, the reporter observed company cadres awarding badges to the week's outstanding training models (训练标兵). The badges bore an animated figure holding a rifle. Senior Private Li Jinpeng, badge in hand, wore a brilliant smile, his eyes full of pride. In the previous week's physical fitness test, Li Jinpeng had broken through his personal limits, improving his 3,000-meter run time by nearly one minute to reach the "excellent" standard.

The brigade's leadership stated that since the cultural and creative IP was rolled out, it has been deeply integrated into the unit's education and instruction, its activities to build the force in accordance with regulations (按纲抓建), and the daily lives of officers and soldiers. In the previous quarter's spot examination of basic subjects, the brigade's officers and soldiers showed high morale, and training results improved markedly compared with the same period last year.

Original Chinese

文创IP激活教育课堂 ■齐泽文解放军报特约记者狄伯文初夏时节，记者来到第81集团军某旅，被公示栏上一张“人才征集令”吸引。征集令上方绘有侠客、军人等不同打扮的卡通形象，眉眼灵动、神气十足，下方附有要求、须知，不少官兵驻足围观。 “这个卡通形象是我们旅精心打造的文创IP，很受基层官兵欢迎。”该旅领导告诉记者，文创IP是时下流行语，“IP”意指知识产权。简单来说，是将文化元素与艺术设计结合起来，让抽象的概念转化为具体、可感知的形象，使人产生情感共鸣。目前该旅以该文创IP为内核，构建起一个教育矩阵，其中既有宣传旅队战史、战斗精神、纪律要求内容的绘本、图集、警示海报等实物作品，又有主题表情包、手机壁纸等数字作品，还加入了“看我的”“有我在”“跟我上”等军营热词，颇具时代气息，在年轻官兵中很有影响力。据了解，近期该旅正着手准备制作新一期的文创IP动漫作品，公示栏上的人才征集令旨在召集全旅有相关特长的官兵，共同参与创作。征集令一经发布，当天便吸引了具备视频制作、平面设计、AI技术等特长的数十名官兵报名。谈起由来，还要从该旅机关一次调研说起。当时，该旅调研发现，虽然近年来旅里大力推动教育创新，但有的“精品课”实际吸引力感召力却不足。 “像警示教育这类严肃题材，光有形式创新，很难打动官兵。”一次思想碰撞会上，该旅政委提出“打造旅队精神文化IP”的想法，引发热烈讨论。在调研和广泛征求意见环节，一个想法获得众多官兵点赞：“可以依托时下火热的动漫文创载体，增强教育对年轻官兵的亲和力、吸引力。” 为此，该旅广泛吸纳官兵创意，集智打造旅队专属形象。 “咱们旅曾被授予‘猛虎扑羊群’锦旗，号称‘猛虎师’，用虎当主角，再合适不过”“全旅共有14家荣誉单位，最好能结合下各单位特点”……很快，一个契合战斗精神、符合年轻官兵审美的文创IP应运而生。该旅领导明确，该文创IP面向全旅官兵开源，支持大家参与IP衍生作品的创作。不久后，一大批相关主题的动漫、海报、纪念品等作品相继涌现。 “载体新颖了，教育也跟着‘活’了。”某连严指导员认为，相关文创作品对提升教育质效很有帮助。 “宣讲旅战史时，仅凭语言描述，官兵无法直观感受战斗的激烈与艰难，借用公开纪录片，内容又太泛泛。”一次教育课上，严指导员讲到旅队著名战例——血战金汤桥。他轻点屏幕，播放起基于文创IP制作的旅队战史动漫作品。屏幕上，炮火纷飞、冲锋突击、浴血奋战的画面鲜活逼真，战斗进程一目了然，官兵们看得入脑入心、深受震撼。课后，官兵们结合绘本再次回顾学习，战史细节记得更牢、精神感悟更深。严指导员告诉记者，他们会根据下一阶段教育重点，预先组织动漫系列作品的创作、更新，并邀请基层教育骨干参与其中，使动漫内容与教育目的结合起来，让教育更有针对性。手段一变，效果显现。文创IP作品不仅在教育课堂上出彩，更有效激励广大官兵投身练兵备战。在某连驻训点，记者看到，连队干部正为周训练标兵颁发徽章，徽章上绘有一个持枪的动漫形象。拿到徽章的上等兵李金鹏笑容灿烂，眼神里满是骄傲与自豪。李金鹏在上周的体能测试中，突破自我极限，3000米跑成绩提升了近1分钟，达到优秀水平。该旅领导表示，该文创IP推广以来，正深度融进部队教育授课、按纲抓建活动以及官兵生活日常。在上一季度基础课目抽考中，该旅官兵士气高昂，训练成绩较去年同期有明显提升。