The Friendly Face of Chinese Censorship
Issue #3 of The Drama Notes
I'm constantly conflicted when I recommend C-dramas online.
Just like with K-dramas, when a Chinese drama resonates with me, I enthusiastically tell people around me to watch it.
I gush about character arcs, performances, the music, the clever use of tropes. Every word I write or say online is imbued with my affection for the story. I'm an enthusiastic endorser, an avid cheerleader. I use my tiny presence on the internet to push this story I like in front of more people.
All the while, I know that all of these stories had to first go through a process of vetting by the government of China.
The censorship conducted by the Chinese Communist Party is somewhat misunderstood. They don't just remove scenes and themes from stories according to their current social and political mood, they also add and modify the stories to support the Party's vision for the country.
When I'm watching a well made Chinese drama about a woman in her 30s navigating a relationship with a much younger man or two gamer boys becoming friends across time as they enter true adulthood, I don't want to think about the CCP vetting these stories to ensure nothing they say runs counter to the Party's policies.
I don't want to think about Uyghurs in detainment centers, suppression of protests, disappearance of activists, actors, and business leaders.
I just want to watch a story unfold that strikes a chord in me. I don't want to think about the politics of the country which the creators of these dramas have no control over.
But dramas aren't isolated from politics.
And because of the stranglehold of the CCP on the movie and drama industry, every piece of work they produce is injected with a little bit of the government's propaganda.
It could be something quietly omnipresent in every drama, like the unusually high level of citizen trust in all government bodies.
Or it could be something the writer is forced to change major plot structures to accommodate.
For instance, in the 2021 drama, You Are My Glory - a romance drama full of wonderful couple moments - you have this secondary track of the male lead's career in aerospace.
He talks about how Chinese aerospace is 30-40 years behind the US but "it won't take them 30-40 years to catch up".
And sure enough, as the romantic relationship evolves over a decade you see his project to launch a deep space explorer slowly taking shape.
And this is something Chinese aerospace is actually planning to do over this next decade.
The climax of the 32 episode drama is the successful launch of this deep space explorer at around about 2030.
This is no coincidence.
I originally assumed that the writer wrote this ending with a goal of aspirational storytelling. It was wonderfully spun over years of the characters' lives, with their hard work and sacrifices inevitably bearing fruit.
However, according to fans (1) of the original written work that the drama was adapted from, this side of the male lead's career was not a big part of the story.
The author of the original story, Gu Man, is also the scriptwriter for the drama, and therefore, the plot moves so seamlessly that if the change hadn't been pointed out to me by a reader, I would never have realised that anything had been changed.
Unsurprisingly, this part of the show is very focused on national pride, the hard work required to build a nation's infrastructure, and the personal sacrifices that help a country move forward.
Truly inspiring stuff.
Brought to you by CCP's censorship board. (Or people in production trying to get on the good side of the CCP to get the script passed.)
If you are of a mind to figure out just how deeply the censor board is involved in any production, you can take a look at the access they've been allowed.
The drama crew of You Are My Glory got to film extensively on the grounds of different aerospace facilities.
And yes, other countries do this too. Governments like to help their movie industries tell stories of their hopes, achievements and ambitions. That's how they support the growth of their soft power.
But getting access always means proving to the government that you won’t “misuse” their trust. And the CCP has a high bar for that trust.
Of course, the creators of You Are My Glory make good use of the CCP's support to tell the best story they can.
There are these ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS wide lens shots of the varied Chinese landscape as the male lead travels from one part of the country to another. The sheer vastness of China is incredible and mind boggling.
They show the night train traveling through hundreds of miles of completely flat land, buses carrying aerospace engineers into immense deserts, endless coastlines next to the launch center...
Everything inspires admiration.
You understand the pride the Chinese people must feel towards their country.
And then they further underline the themes of pride and loyalty towards the nation by describing the male lead's work in haloed terms. His choice to invest his youth and intelligence in a government job that asks for daily overtime for very little pay is romanticized to the point where it starts to feel like a recruitment ad (2). His colleague's troubled marriage because of his absence from the side of his ailing wife is resolved by the wife witnessing the fruit of her husband's years of labour - the successful launch of the explorer.
Where the original work had entirely focused on the choice between dreams and practicality, the second half of the drama became largely about the personal sacrifices needed for a nation's progress.
Did it make the story any less enjoyable? Absolutely not. I loved the drama so much, I've been talking about it for a week and I'm half way through a re-watch.
And this is the reason I feel conflicted.
When I sincerely recommend these dramas to friends and strangers online, it's because they are thoughtful and well made and I admire the work of these writers and directors.
But in doing so, how much am I spreading the words of a government that brutally squashes all criticism and demonizes citizens who raise their voices in protest?
You see, the sympathy and admiration You Are My Glory creates within the viewer with its skillful storytelling also benefits the goals of the CCP.
For instance, let's take the scenes where the male lead and his colleagues compare their current technology with the U.S.A.'s.
This is an old trick that helps the Chinese government constantly claim the role of underdog fighting to make its way to the top in a world where everybody wants it to lose.
You will find this theme repeated in most contemporary dramas where at some point the main characters will talk about how they're desperate to prove to the world that China can be the best in every field.
It willfully ignores the reality of China's dominance in politics and trade across the world, because acknowledging that would hobble the underdog narrative.
So, yes, even when I'm recommending a sweet romantic drama with a harmless parallel plot of China's dreams of expanding its reach into space, I'm indirectly supporting this narrative.
It's a bizarre quandary and I wish it didn't have to be this way.
I'm vehemently against placing blame on artists working in the Chinese drama industry because they're the ones living and surviving under a totalitarian government.
But I can't ignore how much the country's politics colours every aspect of storytelling in Chinese dramas.
So, my compromise (with my self) is to only recommend the dramas I feel strongly drawn to and never without pointing out problematic instances of clear government influence.
Cause talking about it is better than pretending it never happened.
Hi Paroma - I totally agree with your article. I've recently started watching C-dramas (for about an year now vs kdramas which I've been watching for years now) and have been binging c-dramas due to emotionally wholesome factors like many many awesome CP moments, Happy endings, multiple couples is most series, etc., not to mention they make amazing slice of life series based in school, college and urban work life dramas apart from romantic comedies. Especially needed something like this during COVID depression times (as you had pointed out in your another article) when the time and emotions spent watching many kdramas was not worth the pay-off.
However, the CCP propoganda is so strong in most of the popular C-dramas. As per these shows - cops are the honest and humble, military can do no wrong and exists only for the Chinese people, the legal System is for the protection of the weak and down-trodden and protects thier human rights, in case of sexual harassment, the institutions and society will protect the victims etc. I can go on and on. In all series hardwork without any returns is propogated.
Sometimes, the propoganda is in your face in some series like "you are my hero", "you are my glory" (both of which I've watched multiple times) CPsor so many e-sports based series like gank your heart and go go squid 1&2 (loved both series and watched them multiple times with awesome music, excellent production, cute and sweet CPs moments etc but OMG so much propoganda throughout from start to finish) or other sports based series which I love.
Sometimes, the propoganda is subtle for e.g. in so many idol romantic comedy series where villain is an American (male/female) or going abroad is frowned upon (relationships are broken over it) unless the character has gone abroad to learn some skill and utilise that skill/technique back home (idea of individual sacrificed for society), most people abroad are divorced or not happy and want to return home, parents are God, respect your elders, irrespective of a fulfilling career, a woman gains true happiness only with marriage and kids (family first propoganda), you can marry only with parents blessings, elopement leads to divorce, anything and everything that you do has to benefit the Motherland in some manner (I was watching a romantic comedy where the main M/F lead occupantion is voice dubbing and they discuss how dubbing benefits Motherland blah blah) etc., oh and most importantly I thought mother sentiment was hyped in so many Indian films and society generally until I came across C-drama mothers - they can murder and would still be forgiven.
However that way in many slice of c-dramas like school/college life or work related or theme based series like crime or thriller or female driven stories, the propoganda is less or sometimes barely existent.
So C-dramas are lots of fun as long as we are conscious, aware and acknowledge the problematic parts or themes in those dramas. That's my view!
Anyways thank you Paroma for sharing your thoughts in this articles and otherwise (I follow you and @dramasoverflowers on twitter). You've made some excellent points and it's important to have these discussions while we enjoy our dramas.