Chinese tv drama"The King of the Yeh Ling tribe

Recently, I bought a tv drama from china, it was called "The King of the Yeh Ling tribe", it was about an ancient tribe in southwest china.The drama described how the King and his sister, "encouraged" their people to join the Great Han Empire, in order to enjoy civilization and better life.

Of course, the drama was made under the executive order of the Chinese government, so good guys were those who wanted to join the Han Empire, bad guys were those who opposed the han Empire.The drama stated clearly that the King was a hero, sinceunder the guidence of his han mistress, he had the courage to take his people to the civilization, and fulfilled the "unification" of Great China.

But under the table, IT SEEM TO ME THAT THE DIRECTOR AND THE producer blamed the Han Empire and their imperalist policy, the coming of Han people created trouble within the tribes, civil war broke out between the King and the Chief who refused to join the Han Empire, but before the han came, they lived in hamonary, and many Yeh Ling people were totured and abused by the Han colonial officiers.Finally, the drama stated that even his native queen was in great sadness since she had argued with the han mistress of the King,and the King locked her up, and then later she was killed in the civil war. The King sister, the princess, also left the tribe in sadness, since her husband, a great general and the close friend of the King, was killed in the civil war,and by that time , she was suppressing her own people who opposed the colonial rule of Han.finally,The King was alone, no sister, no wife, no friend,only himself and the Han mistress. And in the drama, many Han colonial officiers were cruel and corrupt.

So the dram is blaming the Han, but the director used a more indirect way in order to avoid the direct conflict with the Chinese government. Chinese movies and literature always use indirect way to express different viewpoint

leung

The king looks like he got dressed in a hurry. LOL

In any case it can be hard to make a historical drama without somehow touching on modern politics, for the portrayal of events, organisations and individuals is often inseparably connected to political agendas.

I'm a fan of Chinese historical dramas myself, but I'm guessing this is Chinese only with no subtitles?

Originally posted by tommy

Recently, I bought a tv drama from china, it was called "The King of the Yeh Ling tribe", it was about an ancient tribe in southwest china.The drama described how the King and his sister, "encouraged" their people to join the Great Han Empire, in order to enjoy civilization and better life.

Of course, the drama was made under the executive order of the Chinese government, so good guys were those who wanted to join the Han Empire, bad guys were those who opposed the han Empire.The drama stated clearly that the King was a hero, sinceunder the guidence of his han mistress, he had the courage to take his people to the civilization, and fulfilled the "unification" of Great China.

You sound like one of those people who believed that the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony was made under the order of the Chinese government. So I am guessing that you are not that familiar with the subtlety or multitude of information control techniques like licensing, censorship, promotion of policies, etc.-- which are in use all over the world.

Originally posted by tommy

But under the table, IT SEEM TO ME THAT THE DIRECTOR AND THE producer blamed the Han Empire and their imperalist policy, the coming of Han people created trouble within the tribes, civil war broke out between the King and the Chief who refused to join the Han Empire, but before the han came, they lived in hamonary, and many Yeh Ling people were totured and abused by the Han colonial officiers.Finally, the drama stated that even his native queen was in great sadness since she had argued with the han mistress of the King,and the King locked her up, and then later she was killed in the civil war. The King sister, the princess, also left the tribe in sadness, since her husband, a great general and the close friend of the King, was killed in the civil war,and by that time , she was suppressing her own people who opposed the colonial rule of Han.finally,The King was alone, no sister, no wife, no friend,only himself and the Han mistress. And in the drama, many Han colonial officiers were cruel and corrupt.

So the dram is blaming the Han, but the director used a more indirect way in order to avoid the direct conflict with the Chinese government. Chinese movies and literature always use indirect way to express different viewpoint

But now you just seem to be contradicting yourself-- so did the film-makers have their own ideas and the freedom to express it, or not? If you are really into historical Chinese (PRC) TV drama, you might as well learn about how their industry REALLY functions. E.g.

1) 2003, the state/nationally-funded CCTV produces the early-Republic Era drama "The Road to (or "Birth of") the Republic" which uses as veiwpoint characters the Empress Dowager Cixi, General Yuan Shikai, and other historical figures who were instrumental in the downfall of China/the Qing Dynasty-- thus presenting them in a personal/ positive light. It was broadcast in a censored version in its first run on CCTV itself and achieved high ratings before being banned in mainland China, but is still freely sold/broadcast in Hong Kong and overseas. Note that DVD sales are NOT banned and the full/uncensored versions may be bought from Hong Kong, etc.

Qn. Was it made under the order of the Chinese government and did it take an indirect approach to avoid direct conflict with the Chinese government? Discuss.

2) 2007, 2 competing early Tang Dynasty drama are produced and broadcast (after censorship, of course) in mainland China, the more historical "The reign of Zhenguan" (with very few chairs and colors) and the more melodramatic "The Song of Zhenguan" (with very big, colorful costumes). Both dramas center around how the founding ruler of the Tang Dynasty unified and created the Tang Dynasty-- a subject matter which has already been dramatized before in even more fictionalized versions.

Neither productions achieved particularly high ratings in the deluge of historical and period (which includes period romance/ comedy/ fantasy/ action/ etc.) TV drama available in China-- with "The Song of Zhenguan" being bought and broadcast on the state/nationally-funded CCTV, while "The Reign of Zhenguan" got better critical reviews (by historians/ film-makers) than ratings on regional TV stations (which still broadcasting nationally). Both are in their second runs, but "The Reign of Zhenguan" might be giving better returns with its lower production costs and overseas rights being sold.

Qn. Were they made under the order of the Chinese government and did they take an indirect approach to avoid direct conflict with the Chinese government? Discuss.

P.S. In the film/TV industry-- if you haven't realized by now-- the script approval, broadcast approval and DVD approval authorities all have different criteria/concerns, not to mention the investors/ producers, scriptwriters/ directors, historians/audiences, etc. And all pre-Republic history are fair game for novelist/dramatists/computer game programmers, etc. if you can SELL it-- because it's mass entertainment after all.

P.P.S. That Imperialism (& including Han Imperialism) is bad is not taboo to the Chinese-- that's why they brought down the Qing Dynasty and kicked out the Colonialists of the last 2 centuries. Not to mention that Sima Qian was criticizing the Han Dynasty 2000 years ago in historical works which are now canon. Whether there is hidden commentary on modern politics or whether the target audiences care to see a TV drama about it, are seperate questions.

Edited by wang yun - 19-Nov-2008 at 22:01

Today, in those more democratic nations, when they talked about the contact or conflict between the majority group or the minority group on film on tv, they would be so careful, they will not state that those ethnic minority leaders who opposed the invasion of the ethnic majority as bad guy, usually, they were described as hero, Now, I mean nowaday, Native American are not barbarian or barbarian anymore in the Usa movie, they are even the hero,the directors usually use a more balance view to describe the westward movement, such as Into the West, In Geronimo, or the last of the dogmen, those Native American who opposed the Usa will nor be blamed or branded as bad guys. All over the world, nowaday, they will use a mulit culture view to describe the conflict and contact between the ethnic majority and the minority, the culture and independent position of the minority group would be respected, but not China, still talks about the great unification of the nation and culture.

Wang, anyway, Do you really think that Olympic game was not carried out under the order and direction of the Communist dictators?

leung

"The king looks like he got dressed in a hurry"

The" King" had to rush to another place to film another drama

leung

At the past 20 years, really, even the national historians would blame the Han imperalist, but not now, when China is rising, nationalist feeling, (or Han nationalist feeling, appears and becomes stronger and stronger, this is reflected in the mass media and the drama,Tv series Hang Wu-ti,or The Reign of Zhenguan" and the song of Zhenguan were made under this trend, dictators always praise the former great rulers, in order to extend the nationalist feeling, nothing unusual, Hitler also praised the Great German Kings in ancient time, he liked

Barbarossa, and Frederick the Great much.

leung

what is Yeh Ling?where is the country?

People see what they look for in any form of entertainment, and because they only see what they look for, they'll always find it. With all due respect, I'd say you people are looking way too deep. People are even saying that Red Cliff is symbolic of Mainland China's struggle with Taiwan, even though the story of Red cliff was written hundreds of years ago and the writer probably didn't even know about Taiwan. The theme of unification has been existent ever since the Han dynasty. If movies such as "Hero" can be considered propaganda, then how much more so is "The Patriot" or "Braveheart"? Both good movies, but they have as much of a political ideology as Hero. However, I'd say they are more entertainment than propaganda.

Btw, I really liked Forrest Gump. How is it a Nazi movie?

Two people,

One intelligent, independant, politically radical, supports racial equality and gay rights, protests against the government and war, embraces sexual freedom.......... Naturally gets hooked on drugs and dies of aids.

The other is stupid, never questions authority, joins the military, loves his mother, is sexually chaste and religious......... Naturally out of pure luck becomes rich.

Haha, that's a good one. Oh well, Nazi or not, it's still a good movie!