Dialogue with Xing Ming on Reviving Tianya: 'Data Created by Living People is the Most Valuable'

[Ebrun Original] At midnight on June 1st, 2026, Tianya Community, silent for three years, reopened its doors. The domain changed from '.cn' to '.net', and the homepage read 'Recovering Vitality'. There was no grand launch event, no overwhelming advertising blitz—yet the news exploded. Servers stuttered under the influx of traffic, pages failed to load repeatedly. This was not a malfunction. This was 130 million people knocking at the door.

In 2026, an era flooded with AI-generated content, does an old community built on the foundation of 'human originality' still have a place to survive? When ChatGPT can write thousands of articles a day and Midjourney can generate hundreds of images in a minute, what makes people stay on Tianya? In this dialogue, we sit down with Tianya founder Xing Ming to discuss the survival rules for human-original communities in the AI era. The core answer is just one sentence: 'In the era where data is a factor of production, data created by living people is the most valuable. And it's not just because of emotion.'

Ebrun Think Tank: After being offline for three years, Tianya has finally returned. What happened during these three years? What is Tianya's current state?

Xing Ming: On April 1st, 2023, Tianya went offline due to unpaid telecom IDC fees. April Fool's Day, but it was no joke. Many thought Tianya was 'dead'. Actually, it wasn't. We have been struggling all along. In May 2023, former executive editor-in-chief Song Zheng and others spontaneously organized a 'Seven Days and Seven Nights' live stream fundraiser, aiming for 3 million RMB, but ultimately raised less than 150,000 RMB. That year, we tried ourselves, but it didn't work. We tried again in 2024, still no success.

The real turning point came from two aspects. First was data preservation—through the Hainan International Arbitration Court, we reached a legally binding arbitration with China Telecom for data migration, successfully retrieving 230 million posts, the memories of 130 million users, intact. Second was the entry of new capital—in 2024, Chengdu Tianyake Network Technology was established, becoming the strategic investor for Tianya's revival.

So, on June 1st, 2026, we came back. Using the new domain `tianya.net`, we are restoring services step by step. In June, we first opened access for browsing featured posts, and will gradually restore interactive functions within the month.

Ebrun Think Tank: The homepage reads 'Recovering Vitality', an interesting choice of words. Why not 'The King's Return'?

Xing Ming: Because we truly are still 'recovering vitality'. Many areas of the community are still empty, just empty, we can't pretend otherwise. Tianya's current state: the door is open, the lights are on, but the square is still not crowded. Some sections on the homepage are open, like 'Tianya Highlights', 'Tianya Chats', and 'Guantian Teahouse', but the number of posts is small, and the posting function isn't fully open yet. We don't want to pretend it's bustling. Old users aren't foolish. They waited three years for a Tianya worth returning to, not a Tianya 'eager to move on'. So we choose to be honest about the current situation—the five words 'Recovering Vitality' are more honest than any flashy advertising slogan.

Ebrun Think Tank: With this return, Tianya has proposed a very clear positioning—'establishing mechanisms to ensure content is created by humans as much as possible, free from contamination by AI-generated content'. Why make this choice?

Xing Ming: Because in this era, the scarcest thing is not content, but 'data created by living people, with warmth'.

Look at today's internet: the content AI generates in a single day might surpass what Tianya accumulated over twenty years. But here's the problem—when the cost of content production drops to zero, what is truly valuable? We firmly believe: data created by living people is the most valuable. Why? Because living people possess several things AI can never replace:

First, standpoint. When a person writes an article, they have their own viewpoint, their own biases, their own emotions. AI can mimic a standpoint, but AI doesn't truly 'believe' in anything. Someone who doesn't truly believe in something cannot write content that genuinely moves people.

Second, warmth. Those classic posts on Tianya—like 'The Ming Dynasty Stories' and 'Ghost Blows Out the Light'—are not just about being 'well-written'. Behind them is a living, breathing person typing those words late at night, perhaps excited, anxious, or laughing out loud in front of the screen. This sense of 'human presence' is something AI cannot provide.

Third, resonance. Knowing that on the other side of the screen is a person just like you—someone who also gets anxious, feels lonely, gets overwhelmed by life—this sense of connection is something AI-generated content can never offer.

So our logic is clear: the more AI-generated content floods the market, the scarcer genuine human creation becomes, and thus, the higher its value. This is basic supply and demand.

Ebrun Think Tank: How does this concept of 'living people data' differ from traditional 'UGC'?

Xing Ming: Traditional UGC (User-Generated Content) emphasizes the 'user'—an ID. But 'living people data' emphasizes the 'living person'—a real, existing person with emotions, a standpoint, who takes responsibility for their words.

The difference is: an AI can generate a thousand IDs, but it cannot generate one 'living person'.

Therefore, for this revival, we will establish a set of mechanisms to ensure: behind every ID is a real person. We don't reject users using AI to assist in writing, but the content must be filtered and vetted by the person themselves. We will clearly label AI-generated content and human-created content, letting readers choose for themselves.

This is not a technical issue; it's a human issue, a trust issue, and one could even say, it's the reason for our existence.

Ebrun Think Tank: But how can this 'living people data' positioning be monetized commercially? After all, server fees still need to be paid.

Xing Ming: Frankly, users won't pay just because 'this place has living people'. But users will pay for 'valuable, scarce content'.

Our commercialization logic has three layers:

First layer: Content monetization. Tianya has a massive amount of historical featured content—'The Ming Dynasty Stories' and 'Ghost Blows Out the Light' were first published here. These 'legendary posts' have IP value in themselves. We will create a paid section for featured content, allowing creators of high-quality original content to earn direct revenue.

Second layer: Membership-based e-commerce (Tianyake). This is the core monetization path. We position ourselves as the 'online version of Costco', leveraging the supply chain advantages of the Hainan Free Trade Port to operate a membership-based e-commerce platform for curated quality goods. Tianya's user profile is people aged 30-50, with purchasing power, who demand quality. These people highly overlap with Costco's membership base. We use the trust endorsement built by the 'living people community' to do curated e-commerce.

Third layer: Digital assets. The 1999 RMB 'Founding Member' service package is essentially a digital co-construction of the 'living people community'. Holders have voting rights, content access rights, and the right to be prioritized as managers of offline spaces. This is not 'selling nostalgia', it's 'making users co-builders'.

Ebrun Think Tank: The 1999 RMB 'Founding Member' service package has sparked quite a bit of controversy. What's your take?

Xing Ming: I understand the controversy. But we also see that many old users have supported it with real money. On the day of the relaunch, the servers were overwhelmed. Even now (June 8th), it's often inaccessible. This shows: trust between living people has commercial value. What Tianya accumulated over twenty-plus years is not technology, not algorithms. What we are restoring and relying on is not just capital, but a kind of community trust that says, 'I know this ID, I trust this person.' This kind of trust is something AI-generated content can never replace.

Ebrun Think Tank: Years ago, you mentioned the concept of turning Tianya Inn into a 'Fourth Space'—differentiating it from Starbucks' Third Place, emphasizing more interaction between people. Does Tianya Community as a whole still have this plan?

Xing Ming: Yes. This is actually the offline extension of 'living people data'. Online living people data consists of text, viewpoints, and emotions. But relationships between people cannot exist only online. So we are planning offline social spaces for 'Tianyake'—you can think of it as the physical extension of Tianya Community. It will be a space where you can sit down and chat with people, a venue that regularly hosts offline salons, a 'meeting hall' where Tianya KOLs meet their fans. We are also exploring combining it with Hainan's Island Ring Tourism Highway station projects. We could open the 'Fourth Space' within these stations, giving the online 'Tianya' a physical foothold in the world. Online discussion, offline meetings, forming a closed loop.

Ebrun Think Tank: What is the business logic of this model?

Xing Ming: The value of a living people community ultimately lies in the connections between living people. Online, there's content connection; offline, there's spatial aggregation. The depth of trust relationships becomes completely different. Consumption scenarios naturally emerge. This is not short-term traffic monetization; it's long-term user management.

Ebrun Think Tank: Returning to the topic of AI. You mentioned you don't reject users using AI tools. So where is the boundary?

Xing Ming: The boundary is simple: AI is a tool, but the 'person' must be present.

What does that mean? You can use AI to help you research, polish your writing, organize your thoughts—all that is fine. But the final content must be something you, as a person, personally review, personally revise, and personally decide 'this is what I want to say'.

Why? Because content without a 'person' present lacks 'standpoint' and 'warmth'. And content without standpoint and warmth has no value on Tianya.

We have an internal saying: 'A living person using AI is called augmentation; AI replacing a living person is called substitution.' We want the former and reject the latter.

Ebrun Think Tank: How do you define 'living person'? Or rather, how do you ensure 'living person presence' in network technology?

Xing Ming: That's a good question.

'Living person' is not a biological concept; it's a concept of responsibility. A 'living person' means: they are willing to be responsible for their ID, responsible for their words, and willing to accept the community's rules and evaluations.

Technologically, we will do several things: first, strict identity verification to ensure a real person is behind each ID; second, content labeling, clearly marking content generated with AI assistance; third, community governance, with moderators and users jointly supervising, identifying, and labeling 'suspected AI-generated' content.

But the core is not technology; it's community culture. Tianya users share a consensus: this is a place for people to speak. If you try to fool people with AI-generated stuff, everyone will see through it immediately, and then you lose your credibility in this community. This kind of 'social supervision' is more effective than any technology.

Ebrun Think Tank: You repeatedly emphasize 'data created by living people'. In the AI era, data ownership is a major point of contention. What is Tianya's view?

Xing Ming: Our stance is clear: data created by a living person belongs to that living person themselves. The posts you make on Tianya, the replies you write, the bits and pieces you record—the ownership of this data belongs to you, not to Tianya.

We will do several things to fulfill this commitment:

First, data portability. Users can export all their data from Tianya at any time.

Second, sharing commercial revenue. If your post is included in the paid section, you will receive a share of the revenue.

Third, IP copyright protection. We will conduct copyright registration for original content and establish mechanisms to combat scraping and unauthorized reprinting.

This is not 'nostalgia'; it's a survival strategy. In the AI era, data is a core asset. If you don't respect users' data ownership, users have no reason to leave their 'living people data' on your platform.

Ebrun Think Tank: Final question. If you had to define the new Tianya in one sentence, what would you say?

Xing Ming: Perhaps it's 'the first public discussion square in the Chinese internet that insists on being led by living people.'

All platforms today are doing the same thing: using algorithms to recommend content, using AI to generate content, using traffic to distribute content. What users see is increasingly not 'what a person wants you to see', but 'what the algorithm thinks you will see'.

Tianya wants to do the opposite: return the choice to living people. Users choose for themselves what to read, what to discuss, and decide what is important.

This direction may not be the most efficient commercially, but we believe: the more AI-generated content floods the market, the scarcer genuine human creation becomes; the more precise algorithm recommendations become, the deeper the user's 'information cocoon' gets. At such a time, an open, in-depth public discussion space led by 'living people' becomes the scarcest resource.

This path is slow and may be very difficult. But we are willing to try.

After all, Tianya has never been a 'fast' company. We are slow, but we are sincere.

'Recovering Vitality'—these five words are our current state, and also our attitude.

Conclusion: In the AI era, making a choice about 'people'

As the interview ended, we walked to the inn's entrance, with coconut trees swaying in the wind across the street. When Tianya went offline three years ago, many said 'the era of BBS is over.' Three years later, as Tianya revives, what it brings is not a simple 'retro' move, but a question about 'whether 'people' still have value in the AI era.' Xing Ming's answer is clear: 'Data created by living people is the most valuable.'

In a world of algorithm recommendations, Tianya chooses 'human governance'; in an era flooded with AI-generated content, Tianya chooses 'living people originality'; in a torrent of fragmentation, Tianya chooses 'long-form and depth'.

These choices are all very 'counter-current'. But it is precisely this 'counter-current' that makes Tianya stand out distinctly in today's internet landscape.

Can Tianya survive?—No one can give a definitive answer.

But at least, in its own way, it answers another question: in the AI era, why a community led by 'living people' is worth existing.

When will the square become lively again—it depends on whether we still want to have serious conversations with 'living people'.

      Ebrun Think Tank will continue to focus on the development of industrial internet and the enhancement of corporate data factor competitiveness, and report on new achievements and cases in related developments. Contact email: huangbin@ebrun.com