Television Drama in Contemporary China

Political, social and cultural phenomena

Shenshen Cai

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317239512
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politica e relazioni internazionali
• Subtopic: Politica asiatica

Due to high audience numbers and the significant influence upon the opinions and values of viewers, the political leadership in China attributes great importance to the impact of television dramas. Many successful TV serials have served as useful conduits to disseminate official rhetoric and mainstream ideology, and they also offer a rich area of research by providing insight into the changing Chinese political, social and cultural context.

This book examines a group of recently released TV drama serials in China which focus upon, and to various degrees represent, topical political, social and cultural phenomena. Some of the selected TV serials reflect the present ideological proclivities of the Chinese government, whilst others mirror social and cultural occurrences or provide coded and thought-provoking messages on China's socio-economic and political reality. Through in-depth textual analysis of the plots, scenes and characters of these selected TV serials, the book provides timely interpretations of contemporary Chinese society, its political inclinations, social fashions and cultural tendencies. The book also demonstrates how popular media narratives of TV drama serials engage with sensitive civic issues and cultural phenomena of modern-day China, which in turn encourages a broader social imagination and potential for change.

Advancing our understanding of contemporary China, this book will appeal to students and scholars of contemporary Chinese culture, society and politics, as well as those with research interests in television studies more generally.

1 Empresses in the Palace

Historical drama and its reflections on the political and workplace culture in contemporary China

Introduction

The TV drama Empresses in the Palace (Zhenhuanzhuan, 2011) became an immediate hit in mainland China upon its debut in 2011. Different from many of the previously made historical dramas of the 1990s and 2000s in the mainland region, which highlight court infighting, struggles for power and corruption by ministers in the male-dominated official circle, Empresses in the Palace (hereafter Empresses) focuses on the struggle for favor among the many concubines in the imperial harem. This chapter discusses the factional rivalry and wrangling among the concubines in their attempts to gain favor with the Emperor. This “favor” or recognition by the Emperor would sustain their own status, glory and wealth in the imperial palace, as well as that of their family members. The correlation of the historical drama with contemporary Chinese political and workplace cultures in terms of the desperate pursuit of power, factional squabbling and the unscrupulous and vicious means used to achieve one’s own goals that are revealed in the following analyses strikes a chord of familiarity with the TV audience.

Empresses in the Palace

Empresses is a seventy-six-episode TV drama serial that was produced by the Beijing TV Art Center between 2010 and 2011. It first aired on local satellite TV stations in mainland China in 2012, and due to its popularity it was purchased and shown by the local TV channels of Taiwan, Hong Kong and later Japan and other Asian countries. In March 2015, the American version of Empresses¹ was released on Netflix, a global provider of on-demand streaming movies and TV series, and it ranked third in its audience ratings (Baidu Encyclopedia 2015). To date, Empresses is the first and only mainland-produced TV serial that is aired on Netflix, the biggest pay-per-view video website in the world, which only broadcasts the most popular movies and TV shows. Within the following half month after its release on Netflix, Empresses scored 3.8 out of the highest 5 marks on Netflix, which almost approached the record 3.9 mark set by Ang Lee’s groundbreaking film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Wohucanglong, 2000). The storyline of Empresses tells about the life journey of Zhen Huan, the daughter of a high-ranking government official of the Qing Dynasty under the rule of Emperor Yongzheng (1678–1735). Zhen Huan, at the age of sixteen, participates in the selections for imperial concubine, which are held once every three years during the rule of Qing Dynasty. If selected, she would be conferred with honorable entitlements and become an imperial concubine in the palace. Plus, if Zhen Huan wins the Emperor’s favor, or if she gives birth to a son, she could be promoted quickly, and if her son becomes the successor, she could become Empress Dowager after her son ascends the throne.

Zhen Huan is chosen by the Emperor and becomes one of his concubines, although at the time this was against her wishes. As an imperial concubine in feudal China, women like Zhen Huan had to be favored by the Emperor in order to secure their status and a wealthy life in the imperial harem. In addition, the fate of their family and the promotion of the male family members as officials depended on this status. According to traditional Chinese culture, whether a woman could produce a male offspring for the family line was the pivotal factor in deciding her position and destiny in her husband’s family, and the imperial concubines were no exception. Concubines, therefore, put a lot of effort into attracting the Emperor, encouraging him to spend more nights in their bed in order to give themselves a better chance of becoming pregnant with the Emperor’s child. Zhen Huan is not only young and pretty, but also intelligent and knowledgeable and she soon stands out amongst the other concubines and wins ongoing favor from the Emperor. At first she is a low-level concubine who is innocent and kind-hearted, but over time she changes and after several decades of living in the imperial harem and of being locked in constant strife with other concubines, she has been turned into a tactful and “cruel” woman who is adept at intrigue, infighting and power struggles in the imperial harem when she finally becomes the most honorable Empress Dowager. Zhen Huan is the nominal mother of Crown Prince Qianlong, who eventually ascends the throne after Yongzheng’s death.

Emperor Yongzheng has more than a dozen concubines and they are granted hierarchical titles from the highest to the lowest ranks. These titles include the Queen Empress (huanghou, the highest title for imperial concubines in the Qing Dynasty), Imperial Noble Empress (huangguifei), Noble Empress (guifei), Empress (fei), Dame (pin), Noble Lady (guiren), Attendant (daying) and Respondent (changzai, the lowest title), and all of these imperial women compete to have children (preferably sons) with the Emperor. For those who are not successful in giving the emperor a male heir, they find different ways to compensate in order to secure favor from the Emperor and their status in the imperial harem. For example, Empresses Jing and Duan adopt babies from other concubines who have either passed away or lost favor with the Emperor; Dame Shen risks becoming pregnant by an imperial doctor; Noble Empress Hua and Empress An put poison or harmful medicine in other pregnant concubines’ food in order to induce abortions; Noble Empress Hua also tries to kill other pregnant concubines; and even the Queen Empress kills her biological sister’s (one of Yongzheng’s favorite concubines) unborn baby.

Because of their desperate and fierce competition to win the favor of the Emperor, the relationships among the concubines are complicated and often very hateful. Similar to the minister’s political strife, the concubines of the Emperor fight a largely unseen war in the imperial seraglio. These mentally fatiguing battles lead to drastic decisions, often with dire consequences. For example, Zhen Huan’s first fetus is aborted due to her persecution by Noble Empress Hua; and Zhen Huan’s childhood best friend, Dame Shen, almost drowns after she is pushed into a pool in the imperial garden by Noble Empress Hua’s servant due to Noble Empress Hua’s jealousy. Furthermore, because of the coldness of the Emperor, and the conspiracies of other concubines, Zhen Huan is expelled from the imperial palace after she gives birth to a princess. As a result, Zhen Huan lives in a remote temple where she must endure bullying from some of the nuns who run the temple. Her father is also implicated by her loss of favor with the Emperor and his own favor with the Emperor and thus his influence and standing within the official circle at court is jeopardized.

However, during her time outside the imperial palace, Zhen Huan finds her soulmate, Emperor Yongzheng’s younger half-brother, Prince Guo. Believing that Prince Guo died on the frontline during war, and in order to save her dying father who has been framed by corrupt officials, Zhen Huan, who becomes pregnant with Prince Guo’s child, decides to return to the imperial palace upon the pardon and amnesty of Emperor Yongzheng. Prince Guo survives the cruel battle; however, he is finally killed by Emperor Yongzheng when he finds out about the adultery between Zhen Huan and his brother, thus pushing Zhen Huan to take fierce revenge. Since her return to the imperial palace, Zhen Huan is no longer a naïve and simple girl but a woman who is very adept at scheming and acting entirely strategically. In doing so, she hides her capabilities, but cleverly uses flattery, cheating, mischief-making, circumvention and backstabbing, in order to put her rivals into weak and vulnerable positions. Finally, Zhen Huan defeats all her adversaries, including Emperor Yongzheng, and takes revenge for the death of her lover, her friends and her servants. After Emperor Yongzheng’s death, Zhen Huan becomes one of the most honored and powerful people in the imperial palace; second only to Emperor Qianlong.

Through an in-depth textual analysis of the plot design and character building of Empresses, this chapter examines the practical significance of the drama when it is correlated alongside the socio-political reality of present-day China. Empresses reflects much of the current political, social and cultural dynamics and associated problems of China today, especially its allusion to the complex and officially unseen corruption within the political arena. The factional power struggles, backbiting and ethically challenging strategies displayed in Empresses mirror the flagging modern-day political and workplace ecology and moral standards. In doing so, Empresses skillfully and effectively weaves its plotlines and characters into the political struggles and social malaises of today’s China, and thus fulfills the civil function of cultural works, which is to provide timely public commentary and engagement with major civic issues. Moreover, by creating a strong, determined and iron-fisted concubine figure, Zhen Huan, the show indirectly endorses the arguably positive image of the current Chinese president Xi Jinping, which is in line with the state propaganda discourse.

Empresses engages with government policy and propaganda

Since the middle of the 1990s, historical or dynasty TV serials have been a success in the mainland TV drama market and have created the phenomenon of “empire fever” (Qian 2015: 175). Employing an “orthodox” interpretation of history, dynasty TV dramas eulogize benevolent and responsible rulers such as the great Han Emperor Wu in The Emperor of the Han Dynasty (Hanwudadi, 2005), Emperors Yongzheng and Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty in Yongzheng Dynasty (Yongzheng wangchao, 1997) and Kangxi Dynasty (Kangxi wangchao, 2001). This “emperor fever” such as exhibited in The Emperor of the Han Dynasty is a domestic product of “the confluence of intellectual discourses and government policies in conjunction with public appeal” (Qian 2015 cited in Bai & Song 2015: 12). These shows provide a much-needed assertion of faith in the government and the state leaders and “a rejuvenation of imperial thinking that inspires and justifies contemporary policy” (Qian 2015: 188).

Popular dynasty dramas of the 1990s and 2000s, Yongzheng Dynasty and Kangxi Dynasty, were “informed by the major political and intellectual debates of the time” and were generally “aligned with the intellectual Left, in all its variations” (Zhu 2008: 22). These variations would include neo-authoritarianism, neo-conservatism and the New Left schools, which agree that contemporary China is best served by an authoritarian government and a strong leadership. In the case of Chinese historical drama production, it is clear that it is not the state that embraced the intellectual Leftist vision and superimposed it on the manufacture of TV dramas; instead, TV dramas arise from vigorous dialogues between political and economic influences and the convergence of intellectual ideas of China’s future, which is projected onto China’s imperial times (Qian 2015: 186). From another perspective, this “self-imposed” political conformity demonstrated in the dynasty shows is a result of the “soft” censorship applied by the government, such as the incentives it provides for the production of “ideologically obedient” content rather than one that is “politically unconventional and challenging” (Schneider 2012: 157).

There is an array of factors that creators and producers must take into consideration when making a TV drama in contemporary China, and this includes current conventions, the popularity of a genre and political concerns and commercial deliberations. It is this intricate, interactive and interdependent relationship among these various considerations that eventually turns a TV serial into reality (Schneider 2012). Amongst these influences, political suitability and conformity are certainly critical in the concern of the TV producers. Although previous dynasty dramas provide anecdotes of the past that allude to the present and would feature broadminded leaders and ethical officials, they also shed light on the ferocious political infighting and maneuvers between upright bureaucrats and those corrupt ones that may voice hidden criticism of the political reality of current China, which is a very sensitive topic for the Chinese government (Schneider 2012: 175). This coincidental and unintended correlation between ancient history and present political occurrences contributes both to the appeal of the dynasty dramas and to their potentially problematic situation of being regarded by the state’s propaganda institutions as highlighting negative elements of the society and misguiding public opinions. Thus, over the past decade, a de-politicizing trend has been noticed in the production of dynasty dramas.²

Empresses follows this de-politicizing path in terms of distancing its plotlines and character design from court intrigues and political power struggles. Dynasty dramas such as Empresses, which have shifted their focus from the intrigues in the political arena to the intrigues in the domestic field, demarcate themselves intentionally from the previously manufactured historical TV serials which foregrounded power struggles among male officials in the political field. The plots of Empresses revolve around the Emperor and his concubines, with the Emperor always at the center of power and dominance over all his women. Instead of attending to national events and coordinating the relationships among ministers and government officials, the authoritarian Emperor is the final arbiter of who wins and who loses a particular round of infighting within the imperial harem. In addition, rather than establishing an image of a clean, respectable and hardworking Emperor, Empresses endeavors to create for the Emperor or the most honorable concubine such as Zhen Huan the persona of a clear-minded yet iron-fisted judge with veracity over the matters of the imperial seraglio. Although Empresses has reoriented the narrative emphasis from politics to domestic matters, it is still noticeable that it differs from those purely entertainment-driven historical idol dramas and time-travel costume dramas, as it could be read as a coded political tale, and its self-imposed political concerns demonstrate its ideological imperative. As Chinese audiences have become accustomed to read between the lines of media and cultural texts, Empresses shows its potential to be read as a veiled political narrative which engages in a subtle manner with the official Party line and propaganda. Instead of directly portraying the struggles and conspiracies in the political domain, the show reveals the equally brutal infighting in the domestic arena within the imperial harem and thus cleverly mirrors the political reality of contemporary China.

In the case of Zhen Huan, absolute power and overall control of the imperial seraglio is what she needs to restore justice for herself and all the people who have been wrongly persecuted or killed, including her family members, lover, friends and servants. Thus, the second half of the show, which begins from her return to the imperial palace, is predominantly concerned with her journey to secure exclusive power, and her maturation process as she becomes a strong and decisive ruler within the imperial harem. Here, the grip of power befits the pivotal point in Zhen Huan’s voyage of retaliation. From the quasi-power that is the favor of the Emperor to the real power that enables her to take control of her own fate, Zhen Huan achieves what she wants – justice and virtue. Here, the imperial harem that is permeated with unscrupulous infighting among the Emperor’s concubines serves as a metaphor for the corrupt officialdom and a political environment riddled with frantic power struggles that have become a vicious circle and are considered by many Chinese people as beyond any cure. However, as the end of the show approaches, the imperial seraglio under the rule of Zhen Huan (a person who believes in justice, although she was not above using covert strategies to destroy her enemies) returns to being a place that is once again ethical and peaceful. Justice is ultimately restored in the imperial harem by a capable, iron-handed and strong leader who has control over all of the concubines.

In order to realize her goals, Zhen Huan waits until her status and influence in the imperial harem grows and consolidates, and only then does she begin to find opportunities to defeat all her rivals. Zhen Huan has many rivals and some of them are still very powerful, such as the Queen Empress and Noble Empress Hua. However, due to her intelligence, determination and courage, Zhen Huan overthrows her enemies one by one and eventually reinstates righteousness in the seraglio. Here, Zhen Huan’s struggle to reestablish justice in the imperial harem could be read as a coded political message that hints at the current Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership’s competency to rebuild impartiality into China’s official circle. It is a message which is embedded delicately and adroitly in the storyline of the show and is conveyed to the viewers in an elusive mode. Particularly, Zhen Huan’s ruthless eradication of the evil concubines tacitly endorses the iron-handed crackdown on both the high- and low-ranking corrupt officials launched by the former Hu Jintao administration, and which is being continued by the current Chinese president Xi Jinping and his colleague Wang Qishan, the Secretary of the Central Commission of Discipline Inspection, who has emerged as the public face of Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign.

The situation faced by Zhen Huan in the imperial seraglio is similar to the political circumstances confronting Xi Jinping in that Xi’s allies were not strong enough in the years when he was still a designated successor of Hu Jintao, thus he had to wait patiently until the opportunity arose for him to gain the highest and most powerful position within the Party. Only then, and with the help of close colleagues, did he have the ability to remove those high-ranking corrupt state leaders in government administration, the military and public security services. Soon after becoming the new General Secretary of the CCP in 2012, Xi Jinping, with the help of Wang Qishan, removed the following offici...