Using human health and happiness in the age of artificial intelligence as its starting point, the program blends scientific evidence, cultural wisdom and humanistic reflection. Through immersive field experiences and in-depth conversations among a Phoenix TV host, leading experts in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western medicine, and guests from diverse disciplines, it explores the fundamental questions facing carbon-based life in an era of rapid technological change.
At its core, "The Carbon Pursuit of Happiness" is a 12-episode documentary conversation series, with each episode running for 28 minutes. Led by Phoenix TV host Tian Chuan, the traveling team includes leading experts in TCM and Western medicine, as well as influential voices from across cultures. Filmed in China and overseas, the series combines immersive field experiences, in-depth conversations and clashes of views around 12 propositions of carbon-based life shared by all humanity: diet, breath, sleep, rhythms, fertility, childhood, emotions, work, immunity, aging, technology, and the future.
The series is tailor-made for its 12 themes, precisely matching each with ideal guests and carefully selecting unique locations and experiential activities, taking the traveling team deep into culturally rich sites in China and overseas in search of essential answers about health and happiness.
In the Diet episode, guests share chenpi tea—an infusion made from aged tangerine peel—at the Museum of Chenliji Traditional Chinese Medicines while discussing the Chinese idea that "Food and medicine share the same origin." At Wudang Mountain in Hubei province of China, the Breath episode considers how, with each breath, life resonates in harmony with heaven and earth. In the Sleep episode, the team moves through the late-night lights of Seoul, South Korea, to discuss the sleep dilemmas of modern society. In China's capital Beijing, where past and present converge, the episode on Rhythms revisits how earlier generations observed the heavens, set the calendar and lived in accordance with nature. In other episodes, guests express their own views: emotion is discussed amid the slower pace of Thailand, childhood in multicultural Malaysia, and immunity in Bomi, Nyingchi of China's Xizang Autonomous Region, where the team travels over mountains and rivers to reflect in nature on the resilience of life and the limits of human immunity. In Shenzhen, Guangdong province of China—a global test bed for advanced technology—the conversation turns towards a core question: how can carbon-based life and silicon-based intelligence coexist?
Tian Chuan, the host of "The Carbon Pursuit of Happiness" and the series's "observer of carbon-based life," brings insight, warmth and an independent point of view. With acute empathy, questions infused with human warmth, and a delicate, natural yet poised manner of expression, she leads the traveling team across cultural sites at home and abroad, offering a warm response to the defining questions of our time through vibrant dialogue.
The series brings together leading figures in TCM and Western medicine, alongside prominent creators and influencers from a range of fields. It also introduces "A-Kang," a silicon-based AI agent trained on a medical foundation model. Joining the conversations in real time, A-Kang offers reference opinions with big-data value on health and well-being for the happiness of carbon-based humanity. Bringing AI together with experts, scholars and cultural observers in the same space, the series creates a vivid scene of dialogue between TCM and Western medicine, guests from China and abroad, and carbon-based and silicon-based intelligence.
The host and guests draw on their own experiences to offer insights rich in human warmth and cultural depth. Discussing diet, Canadian food blogger and international food culture advocate David Klinck, who has lived in China for more than 20 years, observes: "Food is more than a form of culture; it is the meaning of life." On sleep, former stand-up comedian Siwen, who has dealt with chronic insomnia, lays bare a common psychological predicament of modern people: "There is a kind of anxiety that is about anxiety itself—the harder you try to sleep, the less you can."
Reflecting on childhood and the influence of the family of origin, Malaysian TCM practitioner Dr. Low Minghan offers warm encouragement: whether good or difficult, childhood remains part of our lives; what matters is living each day well in the present. In discussing natural rhythms, Qi Rui, Director of the Beijing Ancient Observatory and a science communicator in astronomy, concludes: "In the unity of humanity and nature, heaven comes first, followed by human beings. Living in harmonious resonance with heaven and earth is the ultimate way of life."
Together, the 12 conversations reinterpret traditional Chinese approaches to health for contemporary life, explore shared health questions across cultures, and return to an essential question: what does it mean for people to live in health and happiness?
Guangzhou Pharmaceutical is a Fortune Global 500 industry powerhouse with a rich heritage, revitalizing Eastern wisdom through technological innovation. Phoenix Media Group, the largest overseas Chinese-language cultural and media group, reaches an audience of more than 2 billion people worldwide. Through "The Carbon Pursuit of Happiness" as their platform for collaboration, the two groups join forces as industry leaders, bringing Eastern health wisdom into deeper dialogue with modern science and technology, seeking answers through dialogue and embracing happiness through health.
The 12-episode documentary conversation series "The Carbon Pursuit of Happiness" will premiere across Phoenix TV's omnimedia platforms on October 10, 2026, with two episodes airing back-to-back every Saturday at 22:00. Alongside the main feature, a diverse array of derivative content—including long-form video podcasts, short videos series, and themed live streams—will be rolled out progressively. With a global outlook, humanistic depth, and a youthful, internet-savvy tone, the program aims to engage audiences around the world.
Looking to the world while returning to the essence of life, the program explores the path to health and happiness for carbon-based life at the meeting point of scientific inquiry and humanistic care.
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