Can Story of Yanxi Palace team’s new period drama be as big a hit, and will it survive China government crackdown?
- The Legend of Hao Lan, historical drama featuring stars of previous hit series Wu Jinyan and Nie Yuan, is set amid palace intrigues of Warring States era
- Amid Chinese state media criticism of period dramas for glamorising lavish imperial lifestyles, ‘Chinese Hollywood’ is bracing for slowdown
Can a new Chinese period TV drama that features the same creative team as last year’s smash hit Story of Yanxi Palace repeat the same success after the genre had been criticised by state media in China for glamorising lavish imperial lifestyles instead of promoting “the core values of socialism”?
Released in Hong Kong over Lunar New Year on TVB – and in China on streaming platform iQiyi in January – The Legend of Hao Lan is written/produced by Yu Zheng and sees actors Wu Jinyan and Nie Yuan returning to lead in another palace intrigue, this time set during the Warring States Period (475 to 221BC).
The jury is still out on the popularity of the new 62-part series – it scores only 4.7 points out of 10 on Douban, a review aggregation platform for Chinese TV shows and movies, while faring a lot better on international forum for Asian drama/movie fans My DramaList, scoring 8.3 out of 10 – but the show is among the first to go on air after the scathing commentary published in the Beijing Daily last month.
Chinese film and television are still reeling from what industry insiders call a “bitterly cold winter” of sharper government scrutiny that is expected to lead to more Communist Party-friendly content.
The entertainment sector had blossomed in recent years, with official encouragement by a government keen to replace foreign content with home-grown fare and develop the industry as a global “soft power” asset.
