TV Dramas Launched to Celebrate 40th Anniversary of Reform and Opening-up

In order to celebrate the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy, many contemporary TV dramas have been launched this year.

They either showed the reform process from an economic perspective, portrayed changes in China's economic and social life since the reform and opening-up, or focused on the China Communist Party's (CPC) governing philosophy and strategy of governing the country in the new era.

The TV drama Setting Sail, which was launched in Beijing recently, aimed to demonstrate a series of changes in concepts, China's industrial restructuring, the green economy and smart cities in the process of urban reform and development in the new era.

It was the first major TV drama in the Chinese mainland to reflect political and social life since the 18th CPC National Congress.

When establishing the characters, Setting Sail got rid of the traditional binary opposition model of “good vs evil”, described the differences and games between two leading cadres with different concepts in the new era and showed the core concept of "governing for the people."

The director, Wang Xiaolie, said that TV dramas with political themes in the past mostly used anti-corruption as their main entry point. Setting Sail has taken another path, focusing on the theme of urban development, telling the story of the conflict between different concepts of governance.

Because of this uniqueness, Wang was quite passionate about the TV drama.

The TV drama Entering A New Era, starring Lu Yi and Yuan Quan, took the economic development after the reform and opening up period as the backdrop, and followed the different developmental paths of three young people.

One of them seized the opportunity for development and struggled hard to create a business to the envy of others. One worked in enterprise restructuring, witnessing the change from traditional ideas and concepts to more open-minded thinking, whilst the last one couldn't resist temptation and went to jail, but, was fortunately able to turn over a new leaf.

These three different kinds of lives were the epitome of ordinary people in the torrent of reform.

The TV drama Like a Flowing River, starring Wang Kai and Dong Zijian, took economic reform as its main theme, vividly and accurately portraying the representatives who were active in the frontline of reform and opening-up and demonstrating the history of changes in China's economic and social life since the reform and opening-up period.

Hou Hongliang, producer of Like a Flowing River, said that the 40 years of reform and opening-up have been of special importance to everyone in China.

The stories that happened during this time cannot be summed up in one TV play.

He hoped that Like a Flowing River could reveal the different fates of ordinary people in the new period of historical transformation.

The 2018 China TV Industry Development Report released in Beijing this year showed that more than half of all contemporary TV plays have been set up in the last three years.

Among them, the number of contemporary TV dramas in 2017 accounted for nearly 60 percent, while the proportion of modern and ancient TV dramas declined.

In February, the China Television Artists Association announced their script solicitation plan in Beijing and stated that it would select and fund 100 TV drama scripts over the next four years which are designed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the

People's Republic of China, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC.

(Source: People.cn/Translated and edited by Women of China)