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The Chinese variety show industry has recently witnessed the rise of a new black horse. After its debut on December 3, “National Treasure," originated by China Central Television (CCTV), has made quite a splash on China’s social media.
After airing just one episode, the show has received a score of 9.3 points on douban.com, one of China’s Rotten Tomatoes-like review aggregation websites. It also endured the evaluation of Bilibili.com, which is believed to be China’s biggest community for young people and the touchstone of pop culture.
Judging by the dense bullets of comments, it is not difficult to see how popular the show is among the younger generation.
A screenshot of the show
Bring relics back to life
Aiming at “bringing life to the national treasures," the show has collected 27 pieces of cultural relics from nine museums across the country, including the Palace Museum, Shanghai Museum, Shaanxi History Museum, Hubei Provincial Museum and Liaoning Provincial Museum.
The producers also invited 27 actors and another 27 ordinary people to be the “guardians” of the relics, to tell the “previous and present life stories” of the relics. The celebrity guardian would stage a short play about the origins of each relic, and the other guardian would tell their own stories in relation to the relics.
Curators from the nine museums have formed a jury, who give expertise to the relics on display.
Curators from nine museums form the jury for the show
Audiences were not only attracted to the priceless cultural relics, but also by the story narrations, which have been adopted for many sensational online topics and jokes, in efforts to bring the museums and relics closer to the public.
For instance, in the first episode, a vase dubbed by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) as “Mother of Porcelains” was introduced to the audience.
Emperor Qianlong is notorious for the massive stamps and comments he left on China’s ancient calligraphies and paintings, which nearly ruined the masterpieces. He is often judged by modern Chinese social media users as having a poor taste in aestheticism.
A piece of Chinese ancient calligraphy covered by Emperor Qianlong's stamps.
The vase has 15 layers of glazes and colors, and has combined the craftsmanship of various types of porcelains. It is the masterpiece of the best artisans of the time, and is a demonstration of the highest porcelain-making skills. However, it also posed a huge contrast to the traditional Chinese aestheticism of simplicity and elegance.
In the playlet, Emperor Qianlong, starred by sensational Chinese actor Wang Kai, was given the chance to defend himself against the modern judges and criticism. He explained that by making such a vase, he was attempting to combine the essence of Chinese porcelain culture and was expressing his inclusiveness towards culture.
The vase dubbed "Mother of Porcelains" in the Palace Museum
Why did the show go viral?
However the show is not going viral by accident. Every detail of the show was elaborately designed and repeatedly amended and refined, according to Yu Lei, chief director of the show.
Many people took to China’s Twitter-like social media Sina Weibo to express their fondness for the show. “The lighting, music and the stage arrangement really gave me a surprise,” exclaimed the social media users.
Actor Wang Kai plays Emperor Qianlong.
Breaking the dreary stage arrangement of the usual cultural programs, the stage of the “National Treasure” has adopted an IMAX-sized LED screen and holograms, which presents almost the best effects of all Chinese variety shows. Its adoption of the language and catchwords of the young generation also helps the show garner more fans.
“By telling stories and involving dramas and celebrities, the show has successfully transformed the abstract culture into figurative expressions. It was a real creative program of Chinese characteristics,” said Yin Hongru, professor of School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University.
A screenshot of Episode 1 of the show
Chief director Yu Lei wrote in her notebook that she was deeply touched by the online comments and compliments, describing the show’s debut as “the wedding night with her own ideal after a long and heartbroken love."
“National Treasure” is not the first original cultural program produced by CCTV. Earlier this year, two other variety shows featured ancient poems and book-reading “The Chinese Poetry Competition” and “Reader” have also led the trends during broadcast.
The popularity of the cultural program is only the tip of the iceberg for the Chinese people’s growing demands for high-quality cultural productions. Culture-related topics, from exhibitions to variety shows, have become frequenters of trending search lists on China’s social media.
Note by chief director Yu Lei, after the show was debuted
For media and cultural spreaders, new challenges were also posed – how to cater to the tastes and interests of the audience while at the same time meeting their expectations?
Yu Lei has her own answer for the question.
“The social value of the show is more important than anything else,” she said. “Our original purpose is just to bring life to the relics and encourage more people to go to the museums and take a look at the country’s most precious and shining treasures.”
(CGTN)
