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Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between revolutionary history television dramas and the social context in which these dramas are televised in China with In Those Passionate Days serving as an example. Specifically, the paper focuses on the construction of the hero in the drama and the ways in which audiences' interpretations of the drama are indicative of a contemporary revival of Confucian values and practices in Chinese society. The audience is people born after 1980 as this generation is often related to a new generation in China that values independence and hedonism, unlike their parents. Based on a reception analysis of the 1980s-generation viewers of the drama, the paper shows that In Those Passionate Days in the participants' views is structured around the Confucian values of benevolence, qing, and filial piety – values the viewers also found desirable and practiced in their daily lives. The study concludes with the view that the media is key to promoting historically grounded values and practices that legitimize the leadership of the state and provide a moral code for social relationships in contemporary China.
Notes
1. The Chinese Civil War began in 1927 and ended in 1949 when the Communists controlled most of mainland China and established the People's Republic of China (PRC).
2. Mentionable news related to this drama involves the players of the two leading roles Shi and Chu, Sun Haiying and Lu Liping. This famous screen couple turned the on-screen romance into reality and married in May 2002, several months after the debut of the drama.
3. In Those Passionate Days was the top television drama in 2002, with 43 channels airing the drama and an average rating of 4.5 (CVSC-Sofres Media, 2004). An average rating of 4.5% can demonstrate the popularity of a drama in China. Here the figure is interpreted by comparing it with the average rating of the nationwide news program, Xinwen Lianbo. Xinwen Lianbo is a daily primetime news program produced and aired by China Central Television, making it one of the country's most watched television programs since 1978. According to CVSC-Sofres Media's (2007) statistics, the average rating of Xinwen Lianbo in 35 major Chinese cities, from January to May 2006, is 5.6%. This means that there are 72,800,000 people watching this program every day. The rating of the drama In Those Passionate Days is close to that of Xinwen Lianbo, which shows its popularity in the country.
4. The generation of the 1980s in China refers to people born between 1980 and 1989.
5. Stakhanov was a miner in the Soviet Union. He was praised for his superior work productivity and promoted as a model to mobilize people to make contributions to the economic development of the Soviet Union.
7. In the early stage of the study, the researchers analyzed various information including articles, pictures, and videos posted online by viewers and got in touch with some potential interviewees (e.g., reading their blogs, conversing with them through online chat software, such as ICQ and MSN). The video clips prepared for the interview are some of the most discussed ones online. They include several scenes such as Lin's reunion with Shi, the dying of Shi's father-in-law, and Shi's protection of one of his previous underlings during the Cultural Revolution.
8. The Analects is also known as The Analects of Confucius. It records the Confucius teachings, which were carried out in the form of discussions between Confucius and his students.
9. Terms were italicized by authors for emphasis.
10. The interviewee was referring to a scene in the drama in which Shi got up at a stormy midnight to take care of the pumpkins he had planted in the backyard.
11. In the drama, Shi is born in Mushroom Village, a remote and impoverished rural area. He was orphaned at the age of eight and raised by the villagers, especially his neighbor Aunt San. The Mushroom Village plot features Shi's return to the Mushroom Village to express his gratitude to the villagers and Aunt San.
12. It refers to Shi and his wife Chu.
13. LaoShi is Shi Guangrong's nickname. Some of the viewers used this term when they talked about Shi, which to some extent showed their strong identification with this character.
14. Lin is Shi's first child.
15. “Brother” means “sibling” here, so the relationship of “brother to sister” is also included.
16. Backgrounder: Cultural icons in Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. See http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/08/content_9053273.htm
17. Crony capitalism refers to a capitalist economy marked by “a balance of power among a small and stable set of government and business elites” (Kang, Citation2002, p. 3). This type of “money politics” (Kang, Citation2002, p. 3) can easily bring about massive corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency (Kang, Citation2002).