China's film and TV producers are taking some of their best work abroad, with a boost from the country's top leader. Industry experts tell Wang Kaihao how they hope to overcome barriers of language, culture and audience expectations.
While American, British and South Korean TV shows have become a staple of after-dinner conversations among urban Chinese youths, Chinese productions are being prepared with less fanfare for distribution abroad.
During his visit to Mongolia last week, President Xi Jinping announced that China would provide Mongolia with 25 translated versions of outstanding Chinese films and TV shows for free in the next five years. So far, no institution has been reported to have begun translating the 25 productions.
It was not the first push on this front by the State leader. Xi presented three DVDs - two Chinese TV series and one feature film - as national gifts to Argentina's vice-president Amado Boudou in July.
"There were other similar agreements reached between governments," says Luo Xubing, deputy marketing director of China Radio International's film and TV translation center. "It will take some time to realize the agreement and go through the process of getting broadcast licenses overseas."
Luo discloses that last year CRI dubbed with audio 80 films and TV shows into multiple languages (Swahili versions for Tanzania, for example), and they are ready to be exported. Major markets include African countries such as Tanzania, Senegal and Nigeria, as well as those in Southeast Asia.
His center is one of the country's major institutions promoting Chinese productions abroad. Its first attempt in taking A Beautiful Daughter-in-Law Era, a family drama, to Tanzania in 2010 was a trial.
"There were only a few scattered organizations in China making translated TV series for export then," he recalls. "We didn't charge for that project. We can only do business after foreign audiences know what Chinese TV series are like."
Luo was surprised that the show proved popular in that country. The Chinese public, meanwhile, did not know that a Chinese TV series was broadcast in an African country until President Xi mentioned it during his visit to Tanzania last year.
CRI also took the family drama series Jin Tailang's Happy Life to Myanmar last year. The more recent Marriage Battle, which depicts a husband-wife relationship, has been one of the most-watched programs on Myanmar's national MNTV since it premiered in April.
"African and Southeast Asian societies share similar big family structures with China," he says, "and their audiences can relate to the dramas."
Imagine a scenario in which a middle-aged housewife in Dar es Salaam or Yangon talks to her friends about their fictional Chinese counterparts' quarrels with husbands or mothers-in-law. It's just like young Chinese people complaining about an unreasonable roommate, will likely cite The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper, probably the best-known figure from an American TV series in China today.
Luo admits that the family theme is not enough to win a diverse overseas audience, and additional topics will be needed to grow a wider market.
Dramas that showcase the younger Chinese generation's merits and dreams may possibly be another option. The three DVDs given to Argentina's vice-president - the TV series Beijing Youth and To Elderly With Love and the film Love Is Not Blind - all tell such stories. Their producer Perfect Pictures aims to formally export them to Latin America soon.
"They don't preach. They show real faces. They are down to earth," cultural scholar Yu Dan from Beijing Normal University said in a previous interview with China Daily.
"While fighting for their future, China's young have their confusions and worries."
Nevertheless, Luo expects some heavy topics, like Chinese history, to finally feature more prominently in the exported TV series and films to satisfy curiosity of foreign audiences. Martial arts will continue to be a popular theme, though it is no more in its heyday.
Zhang Yimou's martial arts blockbuster Hero (2002) was introduced to North America in 2004. It grossed nearly $54 million and remains the most lucrative Chinese movie shown overseas. However, similar successes in the developed world are rare.
Some genres struggle to overcome cultural barriers. Lost in Thailand (2012), a comedy which earned a remarkable 1.3 billion yuan ($210 million) in the Chinese market, flopped in the United States. Likewise, Empresses in the Palace, a historical TV drama on the power struggles of concubines during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng (1678-1735), won an overwhelming thumbs-up in China, but received a lukewarm response in Japan.
"Translation is the main bottleneck," Luo sighs.
"Compared with today's mature translation of subtitles from foreign languages to Chinese, our country lacks experienced personnel to translate from Chinese to another tongue. It is especially hard when it comes to historical stories and comedies, which rely heavily on language subtleties and complicated cultural backgrounds."
Timeline
Chinese TV series and films promoted overseas in recent years:
A Beautiful Daughter-in-Law Era (2009)
The 36-episode TV drama was shown in Tanzania and Japan. A nurse marries a photographer after many failed dates in a typical "Pride and Prejudice" manner. The nurse faces multiple problems in her husband's family, such as divorced parents and a neurotic sister-in-law.
Empresses in the Palace (2011)
The 76-episode history drama focuses on the secret fights among concubines during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng (1678-1735) and was widely seen by young Chinese as an allusion to interpersonal office relationships. It was introduced in Japan.
Love Is Not Blind (2011)
After breaking up with her boyfriend, who gets married to her best friend, a wedding designer begins to view people around her in a more positive light and finally finds her true love at the end of the movie.
Jin Tailang's Happy Life (2012)
A journalist from Beijing, who secretly marries a doctor, has to confront a tricky relationship between her mother and her husband's family, who are from another city. The new couple is forced to endure many tough days. This 40-episode production was the first Chinese TV series broadcast in Myanmar.
Beijing Youth (2012)
The 36-episode drama tells the story of four buddies who were born in Beijing, but who have different ambitions and plans after growing up. It depicts their different experiences as they transition into adulthood.
To Elderly With Love (2013)
The 41-episode TV series focuses on caring for elderly parents, a common issue faced by Chinese youth who struggle in a fast-paced metropolis far away from their hometowns, against a cultural backdrop where filial affection is highly emphasized.