Chinese film and television are reeling from what industry insiders call a “bitterly cold winter” of sharper government scrutiny that is expected to lead to more Communist Party-friendly content.
The entertainment sector had blossomed in recent years, with official encouragement by a government keen to replace foreign content with homegrown fare and develop the industry as a global “soft power” asset.
But a nationwide push for more party-approved material across media, music and entertainment has combined with a clampdown on spiraling screen-star salaries to cloud the outlook.
Photo: AFP
“(It’s been a) cold winter, a bitterly cold winter,” said Yu Zheng (于正), screenwriter and producer of the hugely popular series Story of Yanxi Palace (延禧攻略).
The period drama set amid Qing dynasty court intrigue drew 18 billion views on Chinese platform iQIYI and was the most Googled TV show in the world last year, due in part to popularity among the Chinese diaspora.
CLOUDY FUTURE
Photo: AFP
The program, since concluded, was filmed at Hengdian World Studios in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
Widely considered “China’s Hollywood,” the sprawling studio complex has around a dozen film sets including faux versions of Beijing’s Forbidden City and, soon, Shanghai’s Bund riverfront.
Around 70 percent of China’s film and television shows are shot there, Chinese newspaper Economic Observer reported in 2017.
But studio chairman Sang Xiaoqing (桑小慶) said that Hengdian is bracing for a slowdown, particularly after tax authorities late last year targeted A-list actress Fan Bingbing (范冰冰) in a crackdown on alleged widespread tax dodging and exorbitant pay for big-name stars.
“Judging from the current situation, (the entertainment industry) will be in the process of slow recovery in 2019,” Sang said.
“Some crew have postponed their shooting plans and some have even canceled. The business operations of film and television companies were also impacted by the strengthened tax reform.”
Sang said he expects to see a shift to more films or TV programs focused on the revolution that brought the Communists to power in 1949, particularly as this October will mark the event’s 70th anniversary.
Krypt Chen, a Shanghai-based media analyst, said: “[Government] scrutiny has been stricter year after year since 2016. It was already quite harsh last year and may be even stricter this year.”
China’s film industry earned a record of nearly 61 billion yuan (US$9.1 billion) in box-office revenue last year, up nine percent from 2017, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, though growth slowed from the previous year.
Radio and TV revenue, meanwhile, rose 20 percent in 2017.
But the tightened scrutiny has Chinese studios feeling the heat.
Entertainment giant Huayi Brothers Media Corporation’s share price was almost halved last year, and Hengdian stock shed more than 20 percent.
President Xi Jinping (習近平) is waging a campaign to sanitize media content, which has resulted in a crackdown on art forms like rap, while even tattoos are believed to have been banned from television.
INVESTMENT BUBBLE?
Historical shows like Yanxi Palace had seemed safe as they don’t deal with contentious contemporary issues.
But a commentary by Beijing Daily, an official Communist Party newspaper, last month touched off a debate by criticizing period dramas for glamorizing lavish imperial lifestyles and palace intrigue instead of promoting “the core values of socialism.”
Since then, similar shows appear to have gone into hiatus.
Yanxi producer Yu said he felt his show was in line with Xi’s goals of promoting and exporting Chinese culture.
“I think criticism is okay. But please don’t cut (all period dramas) across the board,” he said in a phone interview.
“China finally has a TV show that has been recognized by the world... Why can’t we bring out China’s good, luxurious things and let foreigners pay their respects?”
Hengdian chairman Sang said optimistically the newspaper commentary could result in content with more “positive energy,” while Chen, the analyst, said this will mean more traditional values.
Sang said demand remains high and he expects to see a shift toward better-developed plots, finely tuned production quality, and less reliance on big-name stars.
“There was excessive, bubble-like, investment,” Sang said. “Now, as people become rational and have calmed down, many good companies will have the opportunity to distance themselves from competitors.”
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
A fossil jawbone found by a British girl and her father on a beach in Somerset, England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth. Researchers said on Wednesday the bone, called a surangular, was from a type of ocean-going reptile called an ichthyosaur. Based on its dimensions compared to the same bone in closely related ichthyosaurs, the researchers estimated that the Triassic Period creature, which they named Ichthyotitan severnensis, was between 22-26 meters long. That would make it perhaps the largest-known marine reptile and would