Chinese TV industry urged to focus on originality

China's media administration has called on the domestic television industry to create more original entertainment shows that reflect the country's cultural confidence and innovative strength.

Gao Changli, spokesman of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, said this in his speech at the opening forum of the 23rd Shanghai TV Festival on June 13.

Gao highlighted public welfare, culture and originality as the three areas of focus for the development of China's television and broadcasting sector, and noted that he has observed how industry players have been making strides in recent years.

During the forum, Dong Qing, a TV producer and hostess with China Central Television, shared her experience of creating The Reader, a culture and literature talk show that has achieved great success in China. The program combines interviews with the recital of literary texts.

Since its launch in 2016, the video edition of the show has been viewed more than 970 million times on the Internet. The Reader also has an audio version which has been played more than 425 million times.

Dong said that these statistics, together with the widespread discussions about the show on WeChat and other social media platforms, reflects the popularity of The Reader among young people.

Dong also attributed the success of The Reader to the emotional strength in those speaking about their lives on the show, and how they make the text - be it paragraphs from literary canon or popular novels, or excerpts from original essays and ancient poems - relatable to their story before finding consonance with the audience.

Yang Jing, president of Heilongjiang TV, also spoke about the production of the show Letters Alive that the station launched at the beginning of this year.

" This show has no fancy stage design or flamboyant audio and visual effects. It just features one person reading in a quiet setting against the brick wall of a library," she said.

" Never did we expect such a simple show to become popular immediately, reaching unprecedented ratings on Douban.com," she added. Douban.com is one of the leading portals in China featuring film, music and books.

People's Daily praised the show for reflecting " the beauty of serenity, and beauty of history" through simple and plain expressions.

The success of TV shows such as The Reader and Letters Alive has inspired many culture-themed shows on China's TV screen, and Yang believes this indicates an upcoming cultural outburst under the guidance of the State administration.

The State administration began to limit the broadcast of entertainment shows on satellite TV stations in 2012. Today, the number and broadcast times of franchises of foreign shows are subjected to restrictions.

" China's TV institutions no longer have blind faith in buying the business model of foreign show products. We are embarking on a quest to achieve originality and creativity," he said.

zhangkun@chinadaily.com.cn