"There is a great river flowing eastward towards the sun, all the way to the sea. This dark river is called the Heilongjiang..."

On a freezing day in late December 2025, the intangible cultural heritage digital experience hall in Tongjiang city in Heilongjiang province resounded with this profound song, The Tribe of the Rising Sun.

The singer was no mortal but the digital avatar of Wu Baochen, a renowned artist recognized as a national-level inheritor of Yimakan, a time-honored oral art of storytelling in the form of singing and speaking.

Yimakan has been described as the "soul" of the Hezhen people, the smallest ethnic group in China living primarily in Heilongjiang in northeast China.

Using digital facial reconstruction, 3D scanning and a digital human driving system, the veteran artist's facial features and skin texture were reproduced in such detail that it seemed the man himself was performing face-to-face.

On that day, the "Hezhen Ethnic Style Yimakan Appreciation" exchange and exhibition event opened in the hall, celebrating the ascent of Yimakan to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity from the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.

As the Hezhen group has no written language, their historical memory is passed down entirely orally. In the exhibition hall, the digital Wu told the audience: "I learned to sing from my ancestors when I was young. Back then, on fishing boats and by the riverbanks, the elders would sing a section during a break from their work. These songs were about heroic feats, fishing and hunting, and the ethics of the Hezhen people."

Since its opening in August 2025, the sprawling digital experience hall has become a base for keeping Yimakan alive. Its comprehensive Yimakan database collects classic songs from numerous inheritors and uses holographic projection to recreate the performances of veteran artists.

Virtual reality (VR) / augmented reality technology is used to create an immersive experience area showcasing the wisdom and artistry of the Hezhen.

"With VR glasses, you feel you are standing on a snow-covered plain from a hundred years ago, watching the hero Morrigan conquer all directions," a visitor to the exhibition told Science and Technology Daily.

In the virtual scene, snowflakes fell in a soft patter and horse hooves left tracks in the snow. Holographic images of Wu and other ancient storytellers blended into the scene, creating a wonderful fusion of ancient storytelling and modern technology.