ABSTRACT
This chapter shifts gears to focus on the narrative strategies of the serialized
political dynasty drama in China. Despite a proliferation of new program formats on Chinese television, the serial drama continues to dominate. In
2002, for instance, serial drama programs brought in 90 per cent of all
advertising revenue on television.1 As other program types waxed and
waned, the serialized dynasty drama never failed to come back from any lull
in its own popularity. What narrative strategies have been utilized to sustain
Chinese dynasty drama’s vast viewership? The development of Chinese
serial dramas is informed by both China’s own rich narrative tradition and
by Chinese television’s exposure to serial narratives from around the world, particularly the US, Latin America, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and more
recently Korea. Research on serial narratives in the US, the UK, Australia,
and Latin America has been abundant and fruitful.2 Research on serial
narrative programming on primetime television in Asia, particularly in
Japan and Korea, is catching up.3 Research on the evolution and mechanisms
of the serial narrative in primetime Chinese television has yet to take off.4
This chapter thus situates the development of Chinese primetime television
drama within the evolution of the serial narrative form in China and elsewhere and it examines the narrative strategies of two dynasty dramas of
particular interest, Yongzheng Dynasty and Marching towards the Republic,
in some detail. Given the relatively early establishment of the US serial
narrative and its impact around the world, the chapter will begin by tracing
the development of the serial narrative in the US and then move on to discuss
serial narratives in China and the East Asia region. My analysis of Yongzheng
and Republic will be situated within the legacy of serial narrative in both
daytime and primetime hour long drama in the US and elsewhere.
