U.S. TV Drama Fever in China

If you ask any young urban Chinese, especially those born in the 80s and 90s, whether they have watched any U.S. TV drama, the answer would certainly be yes. In recent decades, due to Globalization and the pervasiveness of the Internet, foreign TV dramas have become extremely popular in the television market of China, and the undisputed leader of them is the show from the United States. There are at least 24 million U.S. TV fans in China, judging by the registration number of the fan club on the largest Chinese communication platform (Linda Chen). These U.S. TV fans actively engage in the discussion and consumptions of U.S. TV dramas, although they do not share the same cultural background with the producers of the show.

 With the growing popularity of U.S. TV dramas, one of the largest video sites, Youku (Chinese version of Youtube), has imported licensed U.S. TV programs since 2010. By the time of 2013, its library has been expanded to 33 U.S. TV shows, including “The Walking Dead”, “Two Broken Girls”, and “The Vampire Diaries” (Anita Chang Beattie). This expansion allows the U.S. TV fans in China to have access to more abundant genres of dramas through the mainstream online media and further increases the popularity of those shows.  “The Walking Death” series became a huge hit in China with 95 million views for season3 after its releasing on Youku (Clifford Coonan, 2013).

It is interesting to see how the TV drama, as a product of culture of a certain country, attracts millions of viewers of another country, which seemly has a different construction of culture. Many urban Chinese have watched their very first U.S TV episode in early age, usually in the high school English class, where the English teacher would play episodes from some U.S TV shows with Chinese subtitles. As English course became a requirement for every Chinese student, U.S. TV dramas function as a valuable learning tool in class for students to learn the English  speaking and practice English listening.

However, learning a language is just an initial motivation for millions of Chinese viewers. One reason that contributes to the popularity of U.S. TV dramas among young urban Chinese viewer is that these shows provide insights of American lives. Shows like “CSI”, “Criminal Minds” and “Dexter” can give viewers some insights about how the law enforcement institutions in the States investigate crimes, or what the life of an FBI agent would be like.  Also, shows like “Gray’s Anatomy” and “House M.D” can give viewers some ideas about how the medical systems function in the America, or what a surgical intern and a doctor would have been through in a hospital. Even sit-comes like “Modern Families” can teach viewers about the types of families in the modern American society and what the lives of these families would be.  

While the society of China is experiencing structural reform and economic development, young urban Chinese nowadays are influenced by the Western ideologies of consumerism. Shows like “Friends’’, “Gossip Girl”, and “Sex and City” satisfy the taste of those viewers, who embrace a ‘lifestyle of economic prosperity, comfort, material and spiritual enjoyment, a keen interest in fashion, and a just little sentimentality’ (Xiaolei Jiang, 162).

“Friends”, for example, tells stories of six friends who live in a desirable and comfort apartment located in the big city. The viewers would assume that the life of a New Yorker could be like what is represented in the show: people are well off with nice jobs, having busy lives and spending time at the coffee shop. “Gossip Girl”, which featured with abundant stylish outfits, luxurious houses, and random sexual relationships, can be considered as a representation of an upper-east high-class lifestyle in the States by those young urban Chinese viewers, who have never been to the States but wondered the live of upper-class Americans. Many young urban Chinese viewers are hailed by the portrait of wealthy, luxurious and stylish lifestyle that they are yearning for, and they gain pleasures by associate themselves with the lifestyle.

U.S. TV dramas guide young Chinese viewers through the lives of Americans, meanwhile, satisfying their tastes of certain lifestyle. However, without the high quality production, well-written scripts, and intriguing narratives, it would not gain such popularity in China. U.S. TV dramas, such as “Heroes”, “CSI”, and “The Walking Dead”, contain extensive special effect or special make-ups, which can rarely be seen in Chinese TV dramas. These special effects and make-ups make the show appear to be more authentic, which makes Chinese viewers to perceive the drama to have better quality than those of the Chinese TV drama.

Dramas like “The Game of Thorn”, “Dexter”, and “Breaking Bad” draw the attentions of views by embracing controversial topics such as sexuality, drug, offensive language and violence. Topics like these are also hard to find in the mainstream Chinese TV dramas, which are often considered as too conservative and dreary by many young Chinese viewers. Also, the complexity of the narratives, which require the viewer to solving the puzzle by connecting all plots in each episode (Zimdars, 2013), give an exciting and pleasure viewing experience to young urban Chinese, who are mostly well-educated and like to engage in such activity.

Moreover, by comparing to the mainstream dramas in Chinese television market, U.S. TV dramas have the strength of being exotic. Lots of young Chinese are bored by the routines and cliches in Chinese TV drama. As a result, they seek for a different watching experience, and U.S. TV dramas certainly provide that new experience for them in terms of the casts and stories. Dramas like “Vampire Diaries”, “Pretty Little Liars” and “Supernatural” attract a lot of young Chinese fans because of desirable actors and actresses in the show, and they tell stories about mysteries that are exotic and different from those of Chinese culture.

 U.S. TV dramas expand young urban Chinese viewers’ horizons by providing insights into Americans’ lives. At the same time, they feed the viewer with an ideology regarding to the desirable lifestyle. Comparing to the mainstream Chinese TV dramas, U.S. TV dramas are better in terms of production. They are featured with puzzle-like narratives, exciting topics, and desirable casts. All these reasons together created the U.S. TV show fever in China and brought a brand new viewing experience to many young urban Chinese.

Work Cited

Beattie, C. Anita. Why China Obsesses Over 'The Walking Dead. 08 April, 2013. Advertising Age Global.  Web. 26 Sept. 2013. <http://adage.com/article/global-news/china-obsessing-walking-dead/240725/>

Chen, Linda. Chinese Addiction Makes US TV Shows a Popular Pastime. 26 May, 2013. Sino-US.com.Web. 26 Sept. 2013. <http://www.sino-us.com/64/Chinese-addiction-makes-US-TV-shows-a-popular-pastime.html >

Coonan, Clifford. Chinese Appetite for U.S. TV Shows Grows. Variety. 28 March, 2013. Web. 26 Sept. 2013. <http://variety.com/2013/tv/international/chinese-auds-appetite-for-u-s-tv-shows-grows-1200330257/>

Jiang, Qiaolei; Leung, Louis. Lifestyles, gratifications sought, and narrative appeal: American and Korean TV drama viewing among Internet users in urban China. 21 Feb, 2012. International Communication Gazette. Web. 26 Sept. 2013 <http://gaz.sagepub.com.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/content/74/2/159.full.pdf+html>

Zimdars, Melissa.  Television Stories:  Narrative Structure & Complexity. TV Criticism. United States,   Iowa City. 10 Sept, 2013. Lecture.