How Henan TV went viral promoting Chinese traditional culture and values instead of the usual star-studded soaps and reality TV
- When most other Chinese TV stations are pushing celebrity-studded shows, reality TV and soaps, regional station Henan TV is bucking the trend, and it’s working
- Its recent Mid-Autumn Festival drama, an underwater dance for Dragon Boat Festival, and a recreation of an ancient musical performance, have won it many fans
Henan Satellite TV is an anomaly in China’s popular entertainment landscape, where terrestrial TV stations and streaming platforms fall over themselves to produce sentimental soap operas and sensational reality-TV shows to attract viewers.
While most of the industry chases TV ratings and advertisers using star-studded shows, Henan TV sticks to its formula of shunning pop culture in favour of tasteful content promoting traditional Chinese culture.
Defying industry norms, the station, which is under the supervision of the Henan provincial government, hit the headlines several times this year after its traditional Chinese culture shows went viral.
Its latest success is the Mid-Autumn Wonderful Tour, shown on video platform Youku and Henan TV on September 19 to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. On the night it was broadcast, five topics to do with the show were among the top 50 search terms on China’s popular microblogging site Weibo, and discussions about the show were viewed more than three billion times on the site.
The one-hour Mid-Autumn Wonderful Tour revolves around a daughter’s quest to find her royal musician father in the ancient city of Luoyi. Shuttling through different ancient dynasties, she has to overcome various challenges to be reunited with her father.
