Bad news for all fans of Chinese historical dramas out there. Recently, China’s National Radio and Television Administration NRTA (formerly SARFT) has ordered TV stations to halt all broadcast of palace-themed dramas.
According to a post by Beijing Daily, although palace dramas can enrich the lives of the masses through entertainment, they also have negative effects: 1.) The masses have grown overly obsessed with the lifestyles of royalty. People have even used historical speech as catchphrases. 2.) The endless scheming and intrigue in certain dramas are easy for people to imitate. 3.) Palace dramas have portrayed royalty as “new idols.” 4.) Palace dramas have promoted a lavish and extravagant lifestyle which is fundamentally different from the values of hard work and virtue that present day China wants to instill among its people. 5.) Dramas have placed more emphasis on commercial interests rather than substance.
These five “deadly sins” that some dramas have committed are the reasons why Chinese officials haven chosen to ban palace dramas like My Fair Princess, Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace and Story Of Yanxi Palace. Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace which has been airing in the afternoons was pulled out before it can air its last episode. The Story Of Yanxi Palace has been replaced by a variety show.
In addition to banning palace drama series from being televised, the government has also prohibited male actors from wearing earrings. There are screencaps of actors on variety shows whose ears have been blurred out. Should their hair color stand out too much, it will be covered up in post production.
The Chinese government also has a ban to “strictly control the participation of celebrity children in variety shows.” Where Are We Going, Dad? is one such show that’s affected by this. Jordan Chan and his son Jasper were quite a crowd favorite in season 5, but season 6 has not arrived.
The government also aims to “regulate the management of minors.” This requires TV stations to prevent the commercialization and overexposure of minors. It also prohibits minors under 10 years old to endorse anything.
China’s censorship of the media is probably one of the strictest in the world. It’s ultra conservative officials may have their hearts in the right place by trying to protect its citizenry from the pitfalls of mass media but sadly, I think creativity is adversely affected.
Anonymous
Useless censor board
Anonymous
So I better not see any drama that include any palaces, kings, and queens even for a few seconds.
People should not even mention those things in dramas too.
Besides, all those negative effects apply to each and every single Chinese dramas. I wonder why the gov't personally attack Palace dramas. Some Palace directors offended them…by being too powerful and even more powerful than the gov't? Jeez they're jealous about everything.
Anonymous
China and some of its ridiculous restrictions… shaking my head..
I wish they have the same energy for drama remake especially from Korea and Japan. NRTA should ban remake and encourage their scriptwriters to be more original because their modern dramas suck.
And also ban problematic men completely from industry. Like Wu Xiubo.
sashawifey
well that's dumb
Anonymous
Take people’s only pleasure in life, entertainment away and you will shoot yourself in the leg. Also, the useless censorship is the biggest reason why Mainland entertainment will lag quite sometime.
Anonymous
Don’t they realize in the stupid censor that in the olden days, Chinese courts used to be like that? Why destroy and distort your 5000 years of history and culture? They have this little faith in the common sense of their people?
Anonymous
Thank God. Every drama I watch always has some Imperial Palace stuff mixed in (Ever Night, Tribes & Empires, Fighter of the Destiny, etc.). About time China said less is more…
Anonymous
They’d have to ban A LOT of men then. Men ain’t shit. There are many, many , many men in the entertainment industry who have cheated, visited prostitutes and used stuff that are so new they’re not even classified as drugs. Jackie Chan would get banned too with this criterion. IMO if they do serious crimes like rape, human traffic, murder, abuse of power, then they should get exiled but it happens nowhere when the man in question has too much influence and people around them have too much to lose.
Anonymous
But banning is the dumbest way possible. People should ’vote’ by opting out from watching these shows.
Anonymous
Chinese govt is on a high after successfully going after actors/actresses for tax evasion. Then a bunch of upcoming dramas had to be revised or got delayed for unknown reasons. It's like they actively want to cripple their own entertainment industry. Viewers will just turn to other countries' work like Korean or American dramas. I thought the ban on time travel was pretty ridiculous already, this is just… crazy. Palace dramas have been around since forever… what's next… banning all costume/ancient dramas because they're not based on reality? All crime/action dramas because they're too violent? Modern dramas because too much product placement? Sad day indeed for creativity in China.
Anonymous
Well, dang. I don’t even really know what to say. This is just absurd and ridiculous. I understand if people are becoming “obsess” with a certain lifestyle seen on TV but dang, they’re really pushing it with all the strict bans and regulations. Before we know it, Chinese dramas will be ban overall at the rate it’s going. RIP to Chinese dramas. Best of luck to everyone.
Anonymous
should we said goodbye to wuxia next???
NO. i want my Ever Night season 2. you better dont banned that NRTA!!
Anonymous
Agreed…soon they will ban dramas for getting too many discussions by the netz too.
Anonymous
More than sure they will cheat those votings, when they want something their way, they gonna…get it to their way
Unknown
Virtue untried is no virtue at all. This isn't conservatism as much as Communism…
Anonymous
I am agreeing with China banning Palace drama. Should focus instead on sci-fi and outdoing Hollywood. Box office will still be owned by Hollywood productions 5 yes down the road.
This is China's way of sayin, EFF that u guys should put your energy on charging the youthful new gens to innovate stuff more instead of glorying Kings n Queen titles that no longer exist..
Anonymous
Nope, Hollywood currently rules Chinese box office coz every Chinese company outputing Palace dramas not competing with Hollywood at all.
Watch how the funds will now be diverted into other genres like sci-fi Chinese style. CPC is smart, wants to tell producers to EFF-off the Palace dramas and compete with Western/foreigners genres instead…
Anonymous
@6.a Hollywood rules because of quality. China is great at producing period xianxia/wuxia. Nordic countries are good at Nordic noir, French and Europeans generally are good at noir. Hollywood is good at scifi because it has the years of experience in it. C-ent, Bollywood and all other industries can try half assed super hero scifi films but the fact is, it's not their strength
Anonymous
But creativity can never be adversely affected. It's boundless and will in time work its way around walls and fences because it is as strong as the force of life.
I may not agree with the authoritative tone as a method, but it's difficult for a child to understand where a protective parent is coming from, and the difficult decisions of a parent with good intentions for their young. Some parents relinquish responsibility, willingly offer to be their children's best friends instead – act more peer-like, you know – but the result comes back decades later to haunt them. Their children are the generation of emperor's sons and daughters who can only have their way and nothing else. They are fragile, narcissistic, and lazy. Yes, lazy.
Many of the dramas, particularly fantasy-related/period pieces, are exactly those opium rooms where the young become addicted to dreamy existences and abandon their own lives away. You know about the opioid epidemic these days, so how can any sane parent simply let their children puff their lives away without intervention?
Alas, life is not just black or white, so can't say all palace dramas are opium rooms. I have seen enough that are downright rotten to the core trying to convert young minds, however. 🙂
Anonymous
I don't see how a palace drama cannot outdo Hollywood if they would write good storylines and direct with reasonable pacing about everything. The ancient costumes are beautiful. Asians in Ice Fantasy couldn't wear the weird fantasy costumes the way white people did in Game of Thrones (not the best but not that bad too), but white people also cannot wear Chinese clothings the way Chinese wear their clothings. Same things about indian clothings, nobody can wear those and dance as good as their own kind. Bollywood was doing fine…in the past, when they still wear their traditional saris.
And with the issues about different cultures…I think it's hard for Chinese to do shows the American ways. American humors are all different. They can sometimes have characters who have more than 1 sex partner, 1 night stand, etc. and we're ok with their comedies about those things bc that's their culture, we get it, it's not like it's going to influence all the watchers or whatever but they can be enjoyable and just pure funny sometimes.
So far it's still only Chu Liu Xiang and Lu Xiao Feng in China who are allowed to be play boys, because asian society just don't really enjoy philandering characters.
What made American shows way better is, they're not always about young girls with the young looks and tons of make ups. They are more creative with their story and arc, and the pacing is amazing. Although today they're also running out of ideas and using too much technology.
I think Chinese dramas were also not so bad in the 90s, if they keep improving it would've been great. But instead of going up, all they want to do is grooming idols and competing for the most fans.
Anonymous
Anon 6.a
The problem is not "palace drama"
The problem is "scheming women drama + slow pacing drama"
The scheming women thing happen everywhere like a virus, it can happen in Fantasy dramas, Family dramas, War dramas, etc.
But it's only when a Chinese drama has the scheming women theme, plus slow pacing altogether. That's when it would not work out. And amazingly, so many directors went this route.
Look at Yanxi Palace, they handled the scheming women thing so well that it wasn't a problem at all, we were finally able to enjoy that theme at last, because the pacing was really good. There hasn't been a single 30min crappy conversation for fillers, but constant plottings after plottings so it was fun!
Anonymous
To all people trying to make up excuses for this kind of censorship; please, do be serious. How is this about trying to protect children? We're talking about China here.
Unknown
I feel like china is sabotaging her own industry
Anonymous
LOL yeah, the gov't is no parents. They're controlling and brain washers.
I'm aware some people do took dramas to another level and copy some characters. But those are the psychos and irrational ones, would they count?
I have heard there's been rumors before that a girl did ran away from home, and one even tried to hang herself like Xiao Yanzi after seeing Vicki performing those scenes…and people attempting to time travel after BBJX. But that's not neccessarily dramas fault? Maybe a little, but mostly parenting faults. Or why not government fault for not providing education so people won't be that dumb? Some people are either dumb or too young to understand how the world works. I feel bad for the young ones but that's again the parenting issues. Kids can copy whatever they see, not always dramas, it can be anything they pass by and just wanted to copy then copy. If people can't be good parents the gov't should research at what those parents obstacles are…instead they blame…the dramas!! LOL!!!
Anonymous
This is just insane, not to be rude but most of the modern dramas are quite lacking and the weird censorship keeps screwing off the shows that could've been good.
Why do old chinese men get to rob normal people of entertainment and control their appearance.
Anonymous
Are you yourself high on opium right now?
Your comment is high af
Unknown
If they ban xianxia/wuxia dramas, I am out of here, returning back to korean dramas. What a sad news is this..banning art in this year, 2019, it's just so sad. Let's not forget that chinese entertainment only got more attention for the last 2-3 years, because the quality of the dramas increased. Now with this ban the creativity will be affected and we will see a decrease in the quality of dramas. And i am afraid this is only the beginning..
Anonymous
I am speechless now…Time travel restriction was enough already! Can't believe China right now, they control everything on the media even the most ordinary things like what men wear on TV now, are you serious??
MissValentine
People who support banning things….Shaking my head. Banning anything only makes it more attractive. They should let the market decide. At a certain point, over-saturation will have the exact effect this ban is hoping to do, however, this will not only make people crave it
Anonymous
All u guys r wrong! Chinese producers r lazy arses who want to make a quick buck on a drama, and it seems their weapon of choice is the Imperial Palace drama genre…
This ban gonna inject some vitality and additional creativity into CN-dramas from now on…
Anonymous
Why ban Imperial Palace and not ban "laziness" "quick buck" "boring story" "slow pace drama" "idol dramas" ?
All the other non-imperial palace dramas are also nothing but the same lazy quick buck boring shitz that are over 70 episodes
Anonymous
I am so with you here, the last couple of years have seen amazing development of artistry both in content and visuals in C-dramas. What a pity! I can hear a roar of laughter coming from the direction of Taiwan, they can now specialize on palace dramas all they want. Still, I'd urge everyone here to stay correct and remember, this is not our place as foreigners to criticize the decisions of C gov, as the chinese are free to regulate or not all the aspects of public life in China. And we are free to go and spend our free time on K-dramas: Haechi will start in a couple of days.
Anonymous
Know how many times I saw the release of a new Palace drama and went "who gives a EFF?" Plenty!
China getting worried ppl like me stop watching their dramas or not pay ATTN to them at all…
Anonymous
People like you are likely to be those crazy idol shippers who are jealous your idol didnt get to star in a very good palace drama. Otherwise y would you want to sabotage palace drama alone, when ALL chinese dramas are the same freagen damn thing. You can change the setting into xianxia instead or family drama, and whatever you name it and so on… but the storylines are always the same dumb thing no matter how you try to deny it, they're all what they are.
Meaning you are not someone who watches drama for the story aspect at all, what else would it be for you besides idols? China doesn't know how to be worried about idol shippers like you, know how many times have I saw the release of a new idol drama and went "who gives a EFF?" Plenty! But the fans would still worship them anyhow. The problems with bad chinese dramas today is not even the fault of being palace related. It's obviously the lazy writers, and obsessive fans!
Anonymous
@anoy17 LOL But you know how many dramas i've seen that are wuxia/xianxia and modern based? PLENTY as well so your opinion is invalid.
What frustrates me about China banning this type of genre is the fact that they don't realize how much beauty of China is portrayed through their dramas. I'm constantly blown away by the beauty of China whether through fashion (their clothing), building structure, literature, arts, or just the culture then. Palace dramas are what makes Chinese drams unique and different from other Asian dramas as well. These types of dramas are not what Hollywood can make. They're both different in their own ways with different cultures and target audience. Both cannot be compared in every aspect. The government banning palace dramas due to the "5 sins" is pretty ridiculous. People will still scheme and/or try to live a luxurious lifestyle regardless. It's human nature to do those things whether palace drama exists or not. Not every person will live like that so the Chinese government should not assume that everybody is trying to live the life of those seen on TV just because of the few bad apples amongst the millions of people. There are much more important things to worry about both in China and on this world, but I guess the Chinese government thinks otherwise.
shai
The head of NRTA must be Professor Umbridge. Hates everyone and everything.
Anonymous
If everybody is living the luxurious lifestyle then it must be from the government's corruption by allowing the rich to be too rich. They wouldn't blame themselves and instead blame dramas, how funny and ridiculous? This is how they fix things.
I agree the 5000 years culture is very unique and beautiful. Even today when people try to play ancient people they are not convincing anymore and still look very modern. It is already starting to disappear. Now, it's such a big shame they want to throw this away completely.
Anonymous
even after their so famous "bamboo curtain" era, they managed to rise up pretty fast, so i think this is their "culture" to "prohibit" this and that, but overall doesn't mean bad / would like destroy them.