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A still from South Korean drama series Mr Queen, a remake of the Chinese TV series Go Princess Go. Remakes of Chinese productions are becoming more common, but Chinese films struggle for audiences overseas.

Chinese TV series grow in popularity overseas but movies are another story

  • Drama series produced in China have found growing success overseas, with several being remade for audiences elsewhere in Asia. A children’s series runs on US TV
  • Chinese movies, however, struggle to find audiences overseas. That’s because they are vehicles for political propaganda, critics say

China is fast becoming a global entertainment powerhouse, churning out high-quality drama series and films.

Slick and sophisticated productions costing more than 100 million yuan (US$15 million) are not unusual in China. The Longest Day In Chang’an (2019) and Legend Of Fei (2020) reportedly each cost 600 million yuan to make.

The biggest audiences outside China for these productions is Southeast Asia because of its familiarity with Chinese culture, but in recent years drama series made in China have attracted attention elsewhere.

International remakes of Chinese series are becoming increasingly common. Early this year, South Korean broadcaster JTBC announced it had bought the rights to remake the hit Chinese drama series Nothing but Thirty.

A still from an episode of Chinese drama series Nothing But Thirty, which a South Korean production company will remake.

Produced by Shanghai-based Linmon Pictures, the series is about the family, romance and career problems of three 30-plus women in Shanghai and how they triumphed in a city obsessed with status. The series struck a chord with audiences, especially women pressured to get married in a society that looks down on single women over the age of 30.

Fuji TV’s Cinderella is Online, a remake of Shanghai Gcoo Entertainment’s A Smile is Beautiful (2016), was broadcast in Japan earlier this year. South Korean broadcaster tvN’s Mr Queen, a remake of Beijing Le Young Media’s Go Princess Go (2015), was screened in February.

A still from Cinderella is Online, a remake by Japan’s Fuji TV of Chinese production A Smile is Beautiful.

Tony Coombs, co-chief executive officer of Harvest Pictures in Australia, sees the potential of Chinese folk heroes. Harvest is making an animated movie, Girl Of Ashima, based on the mythological tale of a beautiful girl from Yunnan province in southwest China who escapes a forced marriage, only to later drown and become a rock deity. Coombs says the script respects Yunnan’s environment and culture.

 “While using an international style and art theme for the movie’s characters and environments, we are seeking professional advice from people inside China,” he says. “Lui Yi, co- writer for the Wolf Warrior [movie] series, helps us with the cultural aspects of Ashima.”

Coombs adds a similar approach will be used for the studio’s upcoming three-part animated film about the monkey king, a mythic figure from the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West.

There is a lot of talent in China, people who can write moving and interesting stories, and produce works with global resonance
Professor Emilie Yeh Yueh-yu, director of the Centre for Film and Creative Industries at Lingnan University in Hong Kong

The international breakthrough for Chinese television series came in 2015 when Netflix bought its first series made in China, the 2011 production Empresses in the Palace. Government figures show that in the same year China exported 381 television drama series worth 377 million yuan, exceeding imports for the first time in a decade.

They also show that the export value of Chinese television dramas rose to 510 million yuan in 2016 and 633 million yuan in 2017.

Alice Leung, streaming website iQiyi’s general manager for international distribution, says the organisation has been approached by a growing number of international television networks, including Kplus from Vietnam. These networks want to buy the broadcasting rights to Chinese productions that have generated viral word-of-mouth recommendations. (iQiyi is China’s answer to Netflix.)

Chen Xiao, iQiyi’s senior vice-president, says international admiration of Chinese productions has expanded beyond period drama to romantic comedies and variety shows.

With the runaway international success of Chinese drama has come rampant piracy. Chinese media have reported that within an hour of a hit Chinese drama airing, Vietnamese subtitles were available online.

Leung says that since 2018, iQiyi has arranged simulcasts of programmes in China and Southeast Asia to combat piracy. “The overseas broadcasts come with subtitles or dubbing,” she says.

Chen Xiao, iQiyi’s senior vice-president, says international admiration for Chinese productions had expanded beyond period drama to romantic comedies and variety shows. He says that when making productions aimed at both domestic and overseas markets, the key is to keep the setting vague.

A still from iQiyi production Love Is Sweet.

 “For example, for our romantic drama Love Is Sweet (2020), the location is unspecified,” he says. “You can say it’s set in Shanghai, Singapore or South Korea. It performed very well in Southeast Asia.”

Professor Emilie Yeh Yueh-yu,director of the Centre for Film and Creative Industries at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, says Chinese TV programmes are catching up with Korean productions, citing as an example Story of Yanxi Palace, the most googled TV show in the world in 2018. Co-produced by iQiyi and Huanyu Film, the period drama covers the intrigues of the concubines of the Qing dynasty Qianlong Emperor.

“There is a lot of talent in China, people who can write moving and interesting stories, and produce works with global resonance,” she says.

Deer Squad is the first Chinese-made animated series to be shown on US children’s TV network Nickelodeon.

The producers of iQiyi’s Deer Squad, the first Chinese-made animated series to be have it premiere on US children’s TV network Nickelodeon, took pains to craft plot lines that respect both local and overseas cultural sensitivities. 

Screened on iQiyi since July 2020 and first broadcast on Nickelodeon in January, Deer Squad is about four deer who save animals and humans from harm in their woodland home. Yang Xiaoxuan, iQiyi’s head of original animation and investment, says Deer Squad was created with a global audience in mind.

“Deer are auspicious animals in China, and the West as they distribute Christmas presents with Santa Claus,” Yang says.

Mulan is one of the few Chinese cultural figures who is known globally, but, ironically, it is Hollywood that has made Mulan famous
Professor Chis Berry, King’s College, London

Plot lines that might concern Western parents have been amended, she says. “Chinese cartoon characters like to show off their cool bravado. But American cartoons aim for children’s fare that can be watched without a parental presence.”

With a third season scheduled for 2022 in production, Yang says Deer Squad has had an overwhelming domestic and overseas response. “In the UK, it beat [British cartoon series] Peppa Pig on certain days.” Yang adds that iQiyi will bump up the number of episodes for each season from the current 40 to 52, with further increases in the future.

“America’s Tom and Jerry is still being produced and shown 80 years later,” she adds. “We have to persist in producing output to [help grow Deer Squad into a global franchise].”

A still from 2011’s Empress In The Palace, the first Chinese production to be shown by Netflix.

While Chinese television is increasingly popular abroad, Chinese films don’t have the same overseas reach. That’s because they are often vehicles for political propaganda, critics say.

According to People’s Daily, the overseas box office takings of Chinese-made movies rose from 187 million yuan in 2014 to 425 million yuan in 2017, yet that is a small fraction of the 25.8 billion yuan overseas films took at the Chinese box office the same year.

That year’s highest-grossing domestic production, Wolf Warrior 2, earned just US$2.7 million in North America. Operation Red Sea, which topped the domestic box office in 2018, took only US$1.5 million in North America.

A still from Wolf Warrior 2, which topped the box office in China but earned just US$2.7 million in North American cinemas.

In 2019, sci-fi blockbuster The Wandering Earth earned 4.4 billion yuan at the domestic box office, but just US$5.3 million in North America.

Aynne Kokas, author of Hollywood Made in China and assistant professor of media studies at the University of Virginia in the US, says Chinese movie producers face the double bind of producing commercially viable films that meet the demands of Chinese censors.

“Political content [from China] tends to present a challenge overseas”, she says. “Chinese president Xi Jinping’s explicit framing of the film industry as a tool of Chinese state power, and extensive Chinese government efforts to structure film industry content, draw scepticism from international viewers.”

The explicit nationalism of Chinese films such as The Wandering Earth put off viewers overseas, says media studies professor Aynne Kokas.

She cited patriotic films such as Wolf Warrior 2 and The Wandering Earth, which portray Chinese people as saviours while demeaning people of other nationalities. “[Both] drew concern from overseas audiences because of their political vision for China’s future,” she adds.

Chris Berry, professor film studies at King’s College, London, Chinese-made films have limited chances of international success. “In the UK where I live, a lot of Chinese films which are shown in movie theatres are only advertised to the Chinese-speaking population,” he says.

“In my experience in Europe, 95 per cent of the audience for Chinese film festivals overseas are Chinese living overseas. Western audiences do not recognise Chinese stars. They do not know Chinese culture very well.”

For example, Nezha, the highest grossing animated film in Chinese history, about the adventures of a mythological character in China, is largely unknown abroad, he says. “Not enough non-Chinese know who he is or even how to pronounce his name. Mulan is one of the few Chinese cultural figures who is known globally, but, ironically, it is Hollywood that has made Mulan famous.”
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