BEIJING, Feb. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On February 8, iQIYI, China’s leading online entertainment platform, officially opened iQIYI LAND, its first global offline theme park, in Yangzhou, a city in central Jiangsu Province in eastern China. As China’s first immersive indoor theme park developed by a streaming platform, the launch marks a significant milestone in iQIYI’s strategy to integrate technology with creativity, expand the value of its IP beyond streaming, and bring its content ecosystem to life through physical, immersive experiences.

“At iQIYI, we have spent 15 years forging emotional bonds online,” said Yu GONG, Founder and CEO of iQIYI. “With iQIYI LAND, we’re bringing that connection into the real world. By blending original Chinese IP with immersive technologies such as VR and AI, we are pioneering a next-generation, interactive theme park deeply tied to our content. As demand for offline entertainment surges, we see iQIYI LAND as a new driver for our long-term growth.”

iQIYI executives, local partners, industry leaders, celebrities, and member representatives gathered for the opening ceremony. Leading cast members from hit dramas made surprise appearances in themed zones, bringing their on-screen stories to life. In the “Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty” zone, principal cast members engaged with visitors; in the “The Knockout”zone, one actor returned to the recreated “Old Factory Street”; and in the “Mysterious Lotus Casebook,” a performer appeared on the immersive stage. Their presence marked the transformation of beloved screen narratives into interactive experiences, welcoming the park’s first guests from across China.

Covering approximately 10,000 square meters, iQIYI LAND Yangzhou features a compact, high-efficiency indoor design for year-round operation and rapid IP cycles. Unlike traditional outdoor theme parks, it leverages digital production and immersive engineering to enable fast iteration and seamless content integration.

The park features seven core experience zones:

Immersive Theaters: A flagship immersive ride combining VR, motion systems, scent, wind, sound and real actors. Visitors enter story worlds such as “Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty”, participating directly in plotlines through interactive missions. Fans of “Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty” relive climactic moments through original voice acting synced with motion platforms, scents, and touch effects (walking treacherous cliffs, soaring through skies, battling mythical human-faced eagle monsters). 

Light-and-Shadow Spaces: A digital technology to recreate cinematic scenes such as the grasslands of “To the Wonder” or fantasy cloud worlds from “Love Between Fairy and Devil”. Visitors walk inside dynamic visual environments and trigger story elements through movement.

Immersive Stage Performances: Live theatrical productions integrating LED screens, rotating stages, projections and real actors. For example, “Mysterious Lotus Casebook” features martial arts choreography and cinematic effects, blending drama and technology.

Iconic Film-and-TV Scene Photo Spots: Highly recognizable drama locations reconstructed for visitors, such as Gao Qiqiang’s house from “The Knockout”, Zhang Fengxia’s grocery store from “To the Wonder” and Canal teahouse scenes from “Northward”.

Live Character Interactions: Professional performers act as IP characters, creating surprise storylines and role-play interactions. Visitors can unlock hidden plots and experience “being inside the drama.”

Social Games: Multiplayer interactive game zones and competitions projected onto LED screens creating social entertainment and spectator engagement.

IP-Exclusive Retail and Dining: Themed restaurants and merchandise shops with IP-inspired menus and limited-edition collectibles. Dining is designed as part of storytelling rather than simple food service.

iQIYI LAND aims to extend IP lifecycles and deepen fan engagement through immersive experiences and consumer products, supporting future content releases. New parks in Kaifeng, a city in eastern Henan Province in central China, and in Beijing, China’s capital in the north,  are in development, blending local culture with storytelling. By merging digital innovation with Chinese narratives, iQIYI is creating destinations that attract audiences beyond the screen and fuel growth in China’s cultural tourism sector.

Contact:
iQIYI Press
press@qiyi.com 

HONG KONG, Feb. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On 28 January, The Shaw Prize Foundation announced the establishment of The Shaw Prize in Computer Science, joining the existing prizes in Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences.

The inaugural Selection Committee, comprising world-leading experts, will select the first laureate(s). Nominations will open from September to November 2026, with the announcement scheduled for spring 2027.

Leading the committee is Professor Jennifer Chayes, Dean of the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society at UC Berkeley. She pointed to the committee’s diverse composition as a core strength: “Our committee brings together extraordinary expertise from around the globe, reflecting the international and interdisciplinary nature of computer science today. This diversity ensures a balanced, inclusive, and rigorous evaluation process.”

Professor Tony Chan, who chaired the Planning Committee that shaped the new prize, joins the Selection Committee as a member. A former President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, he hoped that The Shaw Prize “will lend its prestige and track record to recognize true outstanding contributions to computer science.”

Another former university president on the committee is Professor John L Hennessy, who served as President of Stanford University for 16 years and received the 2017 ACM A.M. Turing Award. “I hope The Shaw Prize,” he said, “brings deep recognition of the importance and intellectual depth of computer science as a field.”

The committee includes another three Turing Award laureates – Professors Jack Dongarra, Yann LeCun, and Joseph Sifakis. Professor Dongarra, a 2021 Turing awardee and currently Research Professor Emeritus at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, said it is a privilege to help define this new prize from the ground up: “I hope the Prize signals that bold, field-defining ideas—especially recent ones—are seen, valued, and celebrated by the global community.”

Professor Sifakis, a 2007 awardee and currently Emeritus CNRS Research Director at Verimag Laboratory, addressed the field’s deepest challenges: “The answer to the quest for intelligence lies in exploring mental phenomena and understanding how consciousness arose in living organisms.”

Professor LeCun, Executive Chairman at AMI Labs and Jacob T. Schwartz Professor of Computer Science at New York University, received the Turing Award in 2018. He served for many years as Chief AI Scientist at Meta.

“Computing is one of the most important human capabilities”, said Council Chairman of HKUST, Professor Harry Shum. He recognised the power of computer science: “We are reaching human intelligence level quickly. This is going to have unprecedented and profound impact to humanity, mostly beneficial, but not without many concerns.”

Concluding the perspectives, Professor Jeannette M Wing, Executive Vice President for Research and Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University, said: “It’s a tribute to computer science for The Shaw Prize Foundation to recognize our field and to honor those who have not only provided a scientific understanding of computation, but also developed technology that has transformed every aspect of our lives.”

• Findings from Visa’s State of Digital Commerce in Asia Pacific study, commissioned by Visa and conducted by YouGov, surveying 14,764 consumers across 14 markets.

SINGAPORE, Feb. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Visa, a world leader in digital payments, today released new survey findings on the state of digital commerce in Asia Pacific, revealing that while consumers are increasingly using AI to shop, concerns over security and transparency are creating hesitation at the crucial moment of checkout.

With Asia Pacific’s rapid shift towards digital commerce and mobile-first shopping, the research shows that consumers are drawing a clear line between using AI to help them browse and trusting the same technology to handle their money and personal data. Demonstrating clearly how AI is used to spark discovery and securely handle payments is critical for consumers to feel confident using the technology to shop and pay.

“The way people shop is changing quickly, with AI now playing a growing role in how consumers discover and choose products,” said T.R. Ramachandran, Head of Products & Solutions, Asia Pacific at Visa. “But as AI becomes part of the checkout experience, trust and control become even more important. Consumers want to understand how their data is being used and feel confident that every transaction is secure. Building that trust is what will determine whether AI-powered commerce can truly scale.”

Affluent and digitally savvy consumers show higher levels of caution toward AI-enabled shopping

Consumers across Asia Pacific are increasingly relying on AI for the early stages of shopping, with 74% using AI-powered tools to discover, track or learn about products. Yet 26% remain unsure if AI recommendations fully align with their best interests, pointing to a desire for greater transparency and user control in AI-powered shopping.

The research also reveals that this caution is more pronounced among affluent households^[1], where 39% express higher expectations around how their data is used, compared to 29% among lower-income groups. Digital-first markets such as Australia (38%), New Zealand (37%) and Singapore (34%) also show above-average caution.

These findings underscore the need for trusted frameworks in AI-driven commerce, an area where Visa is enabling businesses to connect consumers, AI agents and merchants through a secure, scalable trust layer supported by Visa Intelligent Commerce and the Trusted Agent Protocol.

AI powers discovery, but trust decides the checkout                         

While consumers are comfortable using AI to compare prices and better understand product features, this confidence fades as transactions become more personal. The study finds that 32% of consumers remain reluctant to share personal or payment information with AI systems, and nearly half (45%) say they would be more open to AI-powered or agentic commerce if they had stronger assurances around payment security.

These findings highlight that while AI can successfully drive discovery, secure authentication and trusted payment experiences are essential to convert interest into action to unlock the full lifecycle of AI-enabled commerce.

“Consumers are ready for AI to play a more active role in shopping, and agentic commerce has already started scaling beyond concept and into daily life,” added T.R. Ramachandran. “For this shift to accelerate, trust and secure authentication must be in place. With solutions such as Tokenisation and Visa Payment Passkeys, Visa is delivering the seamless and secure experiences customers need — enabling people to shop with greater confidence as AI becomes a more natural part of everyday commerce.”

Emerging markets show higher openness to AI-driven commerce

Openness to agentic commerce varies across Asia Pacific, revealing that digital maturity does not automatically translate into trust. India and Vietnam lead the region, with 42% of consumers in each market open to using AI for online purchases, indicating strong appetites to experiment with new ways of shopping.

In contrast, consumers in digitally mature economies show greater reservation towards AI-enabled online shopping, with 14% in Singapore, 14% in Japan and 16% in New Zealand expressing interest. This hesitancy reflects higher expectations for data protection, security and personal control before embracing agentic commerce. The study also finds that improved payment security is the strongest enabler of increased adoption in these markets, reinforcing the need for a secure and trusted agentic ecosystem.

About the State of Digital Commerce in Asia Pacific 2025 study

The State of Digital Commerce in Asia Pacific 2025 study was conducted by YouGov in September 2025. The study surveyed 14,764 consumers aged 18 years and above across 14 Asia Pacific markets.

About Visa

Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at Visa.com.