For 1.3 billion viewers, CCTV's recent historical soap operas have become China's new political awareness barometer.
The trend began with Yong Zheng, a series about the Manchu emperor who unsuccessfully tried to reform the corrupt Qing bureaucracy. The programme aired at the same time as former premier Zhu Rongji's reforms, in which he daringly halved China's bureaucracy while mopping up numerous corruption scandals.
In the post-Zhu era, despite government reforms, corruption has grown without bounds. It is no wonder that it was rumoured Mr Zhu wept as he watched the show.
The second soap opera, entitled Marching Towards a Republic, was about the Qing dynasty foreign minister, Li Hongzhang, who is reviled as a traitor for selling out China by signing unequal treaties with foreigners. However, the series twisted history, depicting Li as a sympathetic and compromising pragmatist. The public was shocked.
Because the soaps leave much room for interpretation, opinions abound. Some Chinese saw Marching Towards a Republic as an apology from a ministry which often receives packages of calcium from the public, suggesting that it needs to strengthen its backbone. Whatever people's views, one thing was certain: the public felt that something was changing at the top.
Now, CCTV has launched a series on emperor Han Wudi (156-87BC), depicting him as a brilliant strategist who unified China's people within its current borders. The Han dynasty lasted 400 years, and arguably represented the crystallisation of Chinese nationality and the Han cultural collective unconscious. So what is the message?
At first glance, some feel that it may promote the revival of Han chauvinism. Others see it as the awakening of a long-dormant pride in Chinese civilisation.