Advertisement
Chinese fans love Silicon Valley’s satire of China’s tech industry
The HBO show is highly rated on Douban, as some people think criticizing the tech industry at home carries risks
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
This article originally appeared on ABACUS
Anyone who’s seen the HBO’s Silicon Valley knows it’s not just American tech culture that gets lampooned. The show is rife with stereotypes about China’s tech culture, and surprisingly, many viewers in China seem to love it.
Silicon Valley has included references to copycat culture, mass suicides in smartphone sweat shops, and a hostile blockchain takeover led by an army of fake accounts. But the most notable and on-going reference to China is the character Jian-Yang, a nerdy Chinese immigrant and coder who appears dumb but plots to steal US tech.
The show is continuing to poke fun at China in its final season, which started at the end of October. And if comments online are any indication, fans in China are as excited for the sixth season as anyone else.
Advertisement
“How do we think about an American show mocking the creativity of China’s internet industry? Let me take this head on. This is called satire, a form of art that was common in the past but not so common in today’s China,” reads one popular post on Zhihu about an episode from last season mocking Chinese companies’ propensity for copying.
Advertisement
Like this Zhihu user, many people in China seem to appreciate the satirical look at their culture from outsiders. Many viewers see the show as a bold parody of a reality that they might not want to publicly speak about in China, where backlashes against some aspects of tech culture can face censorship. The same anonymous Zhihu user also said people in China are reluctant to speak critically of the industry out of fear of retribution.
So a show like Silicon Valley can seem refreshing in that kind of environment. Ratings on the Douban suggest Chinese viewers have loved Silicon Valley from the beginning. Every season has a score higher than 9.
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x