There is so much headdesking here I don’t know where to start. Let’s just go down the laundry list of future prohibitions a C-ent insider claims is about to be handed down by the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) of China. The first part is the rule, in parenthesis I try to make sense of it. (1) No romance in any military themed drama (because soldiers are robots who don’t have feelings). (2) Costumes in historical dramas must be correlated to a real Chinese dynastic period (because everything was China created as opposed to influenced by travelers and cultural exposure), (3) No star with either sickly looks or plastic surgery can be used, especially not in military or police themes dramas (because every soldier and police officer looks like they wouldn’t recognize face wash and moisturizer if it fell on their head), and no feminine looking makeup on male stars. (4) Liulang stars, any singing or dancing variety show idol cannot be cast as the first male or female lead (because our legit actors or actresses cannot also know how to sing or dance well).
(5) Strong encouragement to produce real life inspiring themed dramas (because that’s all that is worth watching). (6) Supernatural mystery, excessively sweet and charming relationships, and demons and monsters – those dramas are to decrease and no such drama can have less than 60% content be actual real life uplifting material (I can’t even commentate on this…..), (7) Drama titles must be inspirational and likely for audiences to approve of (yes, because the title is so important). (8) No shipping CPs (why even watch dramas at this point). (9) Decrease in volume of streaming dramas, especially targeting period dramas and xianxia dramas which will be hard to get airing permits now (death knell of C-dramas, start sounding). And lastly (10) If it doesn’t pass permit review three times, it will be permanently denied (three strikes, you’re out!). And let’s not forget all prior regulations in recent years from ban on time-traveling to real historical periods and ban on BL novel adaptations into dramas.
.png)
If too many regulations with “No” may as well “No” drama. Too controlling….scary!
My C-dramas!! 😭
They’re gonna take away most, if not all, that I love about C-dramas!! Might as well watch a documentary.
LOL. Why would anyone bother to make a Cdrama now? Doesn’t seem to be worth the hassle. They should have just banned all dramas & only allowed documentaries.
I hope the god that this is a joke. These rules are too ridiculous to be true. These rule makers are trying to make entertainment in China depressing. The rule about less streaming dramas is mind boggling. They are trying to put youku iQIYI and ten cent out of business. Everywhere in the world people are moving forward. Some people in China seems to believe that backward is the way to go.
Chinese people will have to watch Teletubbies at this point…
WOW..!!! Just wow…!!!
Though the sickly look most likely derived from the excessive ‘THIN’ culture was something worrying. But man these bans are just wow..
Most likely they are saying, let’s all be boring…!
People really need to take “C-ent insider” aka YXH’s words with a grain of salt. NRTA doesn’t specifically list out rules so clearly like what you see up there. They only give out vague words that can be interpreted in multiple ways so that they can backtrack whenever they want to. So all in all, it’s just fake news made up by YXHs to drag Liuliangs again.
Funnily enough, YXH used Xiao Zhan’s picture in Ace Troops for the “No romance in any military themed drama” when it’s Huang Jingyu’s part of the story in the drama that’s embroiled heavily in romance, not to mention Huang Jingyu also has plenty of other military themed dramas focused on romance like My Dear Guardian.
I watch Ace Troops and was laughing the whole time at how ridiculous they make the main couple romance story is. Cringe is beyond description especially when they flew on plane through the cloud (really fake-looking cgi taking place here) 😂 AT can do so much more without the romance part, they actually have a good core story, if they just properly build it up, it would be one good military drama for sure.
Huang Jingyu’s scenes in that drama were so cheesy as FUQ. My mom was watching it too so I as able to follow. I dare everyone here to watch it, it’s a cringefest.
-Giving a girl multiple dresses falling down from a wire
– Flirting with the girl even if she already has a boyfriend
– Girl proposing to him in a chessy manner in the middle of a military practice
– Nepotism- befriending girl’s father who is higher ranked, and this dad constantly “forgives” his constant failures
I just want to roll my eyes whenever his scene appears.
Pardon me, what the purpose of that policy (if true)? To sabotase their own drama industry that starting to gain popularity with international audience?
Maybe I am old-school, but I agree with more restrictions. Too much fluff is being produced, and I feel that most dramas are just trying to outdo one another visually, be it casting idols, make-up or costumes, or setting up the most romantic scenes.
The only point that alarms me is that no idols in main roles (how would they define who are idols or not ? there are many talents who can act/sing/dance, I still want to see them getting main roles)
Its their country so they can set their own rules but I am wondering what kind of c-dramas will air with those kind of restrictions. I feel like this will lead to family+terminal disease dramas. Just reading about the whatnots is freaking snoozefest and suffocating but maybe it will lead to better quality dramas. Who knows?
I am just glad that Love like the Galaxy aired before all that censoring. To think that an awesome drama like that not seeing the light of day is just depressing. Maybe it will be the last cdrama worth watching.
Good luck to future cdramas because they will definitely need it.
Not a fan of Cdramas but there are 2 or 3 that i like very much . At this point why bother to make dramas ? They better ban every fiction and make puppet’s shows !
At least Love like the galaxy aired before all those restrictions. To think that if it aired later means an awesome drama might not have seen the light of day is just depressing.
Are those restrictions for real? I mean what drama can possibly sell with all of those rules? Terminal disease family drama? Historical drama with no romance? Maybe producers will switch to documentaries. Who knows?
Good luck future Cdramas cos they’ll definitely need it.
Sad, the amount of $ they would be banking in but nope they continue to restrict. China entertainment would have far surpassed any by this point.
…damn. No comment. *running out the Cdramaland door
OK. Good riddance 😂
Why they’re killing their drama industry lol. Cnets will even more incline to watch kdramas now
If true (which I wouldn’t put past the gov), you ain’t making no money then, country. 💆🏻♂️💀
What are they gonna show then?
Some of these rules seem to reflect the problem known as ‘appearance anxiety’. According to some news reports, the unrealistic pressure of beauty standards lead many down the route of excessive/unneeded/botched/experimental plastic surgeries, excessive dieting/anorexia, mental health issues/suicides, social isolation and anxiety etc etc. All of this is pegged to the influence of social media, influencers and the heavy marketing around impossible beauty standards. Hence, the clampdown from the regulator to try curb some of these excesses and attempt to route people back to more healthy and natural beauty standard.
To get an understanding, check out these news videos on youtube:
CNA Insider — “Is China facing plastic surgery addiction” — Published March 2022
Vice Asia news — “China’s Viral “Skinny Enough” Challenges Are Making People Sick | Gen 跟 China” — Published March 2022
So the rules may seem funny on first read but not necessarily so if you place this in context within social issue of appearance anxiety.
How is this true? Asian beauty standards have always been unrealistic even before Chinese dramas became famous. They can’t blame it on influencers or social media when the root of the problem is in the culture of having to look a certain way, pale skin and thin as a stick. Maybe teach it in school first or at home? Asians can’t accept darker skin or oversized people compared to the west who actually want to sit out in the sun to get a darker shade.
Even if true, I doubt it’s going to affect viewers much besides international fans considering that their highest grossing film ever is a state-commissioned propaganda film lol. China is impressive because they’re able to have financial success despite heavy censorship.
By the way, I kind of agree with number 3. As someone who has been watching kdramas for a long time, I thought I’m already used to the emphasis on actors’ visuals, but I feel it’s on another level in cdramas. Some C-actors/actresses just look too perfect. The only cdrama that I really enjoyed was The Longest Day in Chang’an because besides the great directing (goodness, that stunning cinematography) and writing, the actors looked down-to-earth lol. Any other recs from cdrama fans?
@Guest – 琅琊榜/Nirvana in Fire. End of discussion. If you want contemporary, try 沉默的真相/Long Night. Subject matter is heavy though.
There’s been a huge decrease in quality of c-dramas in the last 5-7 years due to increasing regulation and censorship. Most of the recent “big” dramas are junk food quality, bearing little depth and subpar dialogue.
I hope this list isn’t true. While I do think some of the fandom culture has become very toxic, especially CP fans, this list is too restrictive. I disagree with a lot of these things, like costume accuracy, I feel like would take away from artistic creativity. Does it apply to costume dramas that take place in a fictional world/dynasty? Or is that not allowed anymore either? Some idols can act. Some people who join those variety show competitions actually have very strong artistic backgrounds such as Beijing Film Academy or Central Academy of Drama.
I give it up to production companies for remaining creative even with these restrictions. It interesting that the govt is more focused on the entertainment world rather than on declining population. Same thing is frustrating about the U.S and with both that and climate change.
At this rate is not even worth it to have kids
Point number 3 is off base. China was absolutely the cultural hegemon of East Asia for most of its existence. Dramas should stick to authentic costume styles where able unless the drama is overt fantasy. I don’t support censorship, of course, but the Queen Lau production really made some stupid decisions.
Most of you never lived in a communist country. You cannot outshine others, you have to stay sheep forever. It’s either you follow the rules or you’ll have to leave your birth place and family members for good.
If this is true then NRTA strikes Again! There goes our hope that Love Between Fairy and Devil will get a sequel in either S2 or special movie because it just ticked off so many of those:
– Idols can’t be main leads (Esther and Dylan are considered idols)
– Supernatural dramas to be decreased and must not be lest than 60% realistic (LBFAD is like 60/80% fantasy)
– No shipping CPs (WTF with this — we live for Canglan Jue CP!)
– Decrease in streaming dramas (we know it’s only the streaming platforms that provide big budget at this point)
Are you kidding me? What are these dumb rules? What is the point of watching any C-drama if there are so many weird restrictions on “fictional” dramas. This is the most ridiculous and hilarious take. It’s like some group of oddballs decided to make their own criteria for “inspirational” themes. Boring! China is trying to kill it’s own entertainment industry so I guess they will probably lose audience.
Their country their law like it continue to watch if not just leave. Their country population enough audiences.
Ju jingyi no more😭😭😭
Hahahahahaha. They must have exaggerated the rules. No to shipping CPs??? Some dramas haven’t aired & they’re selling CPs already.
what is CP guys?
short for COUPLE or COUPLE PAIRING or CHARACTER PAIRING
WOW! BORING is the new IN!! Yikes! way to go CHINA! good riddance to C-DRAMA WORLD then!
With China’s economy weakening, I wouldn’t be surprised if they made boring entertainment in an attempt to increase worker productivity. Next thing you know they’ll limit screen time to one hour per day as they did for gaming.
There are actually too many trash dramas nowadays. With these restrictions, hopefully the new C-productions will be well researched and of the best quality. Still lots of J- or K- or Thai- dramas to choose from. Or, I can always resort back to Webtoons which is still abundant… Some HBO series are excellent too. Time to switch gears…