Have You Ever Had This Experience?
A vivid clear image takes shape in your mind, and you’re eager to draw it out — yet your drawing skills are so clumsy you cannot even draw a perfect circle. You force yourself to sketch a few strokes, stare at the abstract mess on screen, and wish you could fully erase that awkward memory from your brain.
Or an even more stressful scenario: You’ve just learned to generate static images with AI painting tools, while others are already creating full AI-generated videos with sound. You’re still troubleshooting distorted, broken visuals, yet they’ve finished cinematic short films with complete audio. That overwhelming sense of falling behind the times hits hard.
I know this anxiety all too well. Then one day, I discovered Tongyi Wanxiang (Qwen Wan), the multimodal visual creation model developed by Alibaba.
To be honest, I was skeptical at first: I’ve used Tongyi Qianwen before, but what exactly is Wanxiang? Can Alibaba’s AI painting tool compete with Midjourney?
After one trial, I was completely convinced — its practical value blew me away.
The first moment that stunned me happened when I typed a prompt into the input box: “A winding path in a summer forest, warm sunlight filtering through tree leaves, Hayao Miyazaki animation style” and clicked generate. In under 10 seconds, a high-quality illustration appeared, with lifelike sunlight, natural tree shadows and accurate perspective depth. It’s like spending your whole life drawing stick figures, then suddenly receiving a magic paintbrush that brings every vision to life.
I dug deeper afterward and found Tongyi Wanxiang comes preloaded with over 100 built-in style templates, covering photorealism, anime, watercolor, oil painting, traditional Chinese painting, cyberpunk and more — nearly every art style you could imagine is supported. It is built on Alibaba’s self-developed Composer compositional generation model, which doesn’t just overlay rigid filters; it fully understands every visual element you describe and reconstructs them into coherent, harmonious frames. This research architecture was even published at the top international AI conference ICML 2023.
What fully won me over, however, is its powerful AI video generation capability.
Creating videos used to demand full end-to-end workflows: script writing, asset sourcing, editing, voiceover recording, which would take at minimum several days to finish. Now, simply input a text description, and Tongyi Wanxiang instantly outputs a high-definition short video with matched audio.
- The Wan2.5-Preview version lifted maximum video length from 5s to 10s, delivering 1080P footage at 24 frames per second with synchronized sound effects and voice acting.
- The upgraded Wan2.6 model pushed single-shot video length to 15 seconds, adding exclusive character role-play and shot control functions. You only need to input text prompts, and the AI automatically handles multi-shot switching, consistent character features across scenes, and lip-sync matching for human figures. This is far more than a simple creative tool — it’s equivalent to having a full professional film crew at your disposal.
What Core Differences Separate Tongyi Wanxiang From Midjourney and Runway?
The defining gap can be summed up in one word: low access barrier.
- Midjourney requires operating inside Discord servers and relies heavily on English prompts;
- Runway delivers strong video generation results yet carries a steep learning curve for beginners;
- Tongyi Wanxiang runs directly in any web browser, and fully comprehends plain Chinese descriptions.
Independent evaluations confirm it excels at ink wash, meticulous gongbi and all traditional Chinese art styles, generating authentic brush textures rather than superficial filter overlays. It also features a doodle-to-art function: sketch rough random lines, and the AI polishes them into polished finished paintings, a godsend for users with limited drawing skills.
Its exclusive virtual model feature is a game-changer for e-commerce merchants. Upload product photos, and the AI automatically generates complete product display shots with virtual human models, eliminating costly studio photoshoots with real models.
That said, it is not without flaws. Some reviews note its general ancient Chinese style outputs are decent yet lack standout unique artistic features. Certain video generation modules are still undergoing iterative upgrades, and there remains a performance gap compared to top professional dedicated video models. Even so, as an all-in-one domestic AI creation platform accessible via browser, supporting natural Chinese input and offering free trial credits, these minor drawbacks are negligible for daily creation demands.
Sincere, Practical Recommendations for Different Creators
Content Creators & Social Media Operators
If you regularly need custom illustrations, cover images and short video materials, test Tongyi Wanxiang’s official website free trial first. New users receive daily free generation quotas, allowing you to experiment with zero upfront cost.
E-Commerce Sellers Without Photography Budgets
The virtual human model feature is your biggest asset. Upload product photos, pick a model character and scene, and generate full sets of commercial display images within minutes.
Absolute Newbies Intimidated by Professional AI Tools
Tongyi Wanxiang is the ideal entry-level platform for anyone curious about AI painting and video generation. Its clean interface, streamlined operations and native Chinese support bring the learning curve close to zero. Start creating here to build foundational experience before moving on to more advanced professional tools.
Tongyi Wanxiang may not be the most flawless AI creation tool on the market, yet it is undoubtedly the best choice for beginners who simply want to test AI creation with minimal friction.
After all, who wouldn’t love to turn the vivid picture locked inside their imagination into tangible artwork — and even bring it to life as moving video footage?