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Novel Military TV Series Popular with Chinese Audiences

My Chief and My Regiment, the latest war-themed series, dominated evening prime time on the Chinese small screen in the weeks following its debut in March. The word is out that domestic television stations paid a record RMB 1 million for the rights to a single episode. Its producers bragged “the figure actually reached RMB 1.5 million.” For many, the sum is too staggering to be true for a drama without big-name actors or romantic twists. Some suspect it is merely a promotional stunt. But the jostle among TV stations for preemption of the pilot broadcast was real enough.

The media reported that four television stations – Jiangsu TV, Dragon TV of Shanghai, Yunnan TV and Beijing TV – had initially settled on the date they would simultaneously broadcast the first episode, but all found ways to get a competitive edge without technically violating that agreement. Jiangsu TV slipped the show into its first hour of airtime that day, and without any commercial insertion. Yunnan TV immediately followed suit, airing two episodes in the wee hours and rebroadcasting them later in prime time. Dragon TV condensed and edited the first three episodes down to two for the first day of broadcast, jumping an episode ahead. And Beijing TV, which started the drama three days later than the others for some reason, aired three episodes a day to catch up.

In Chinas TV series market, around 14,000 episodes are produced and about 7,000 broadcast every year; those with military themes account for a small proportion. “There are about 300 episodes of military dramas produced every year,” says Yin Hong, a celebrated specialist in Chinas film and television circle. Disproportionate to its percentage of productions, many examples of the genre have entered the top rating rank in the past three years.

Besides My Chief and My Regiment, several other military dramas dominate the screen this year, including Red Sun, Chinese Bands of Brothers and Lurk. Ratings in this regard keep hitting new highs. This years releases focused on military subjects to mark the 60th birthday of the PRC. Since the beginning of this year various television stations have offered military dramas back to back. “Initially we were worried it would tire our audience if we broadcast similar dramas continuously. But so far we have received quite a volume of positive responses from fans. They think these stories, no matter if re-filmed or newly-scripted, all give them a completely fresh perspective,” claims a director under the surname Li in Beijing TV Station.

Complexity of the Characters

“War-themed dramas of recent years show more humanistic traits,” comments Zhou Zhentian, vice president of Chinese Television Artists Association.“Directors have ventured away from a strict focus on historical facts, exploring characters personal lives and deeper nature.The good guys, such as Shen Zhenxin in Red Sun, no longer appear asimpeccably flawless. New interpretations of heroes and villains make characters more vivid and appealing to audiences.”

TV drama Red Sun, adapted from a novel of the same name, is set during the Menglianggu Campaign in Shandong Province in 1947, which is the best example of the weaker defeating the stronger in the War of Liberation. In this battle the Communist-led army, with fewer people and inferior weapons, fought with great valor and smart tactics, eventually defeating the famous No. 74 Division of the Kuomintang forces.

The novel has been repeatedly adapted for the big and small screen, but the latest series has a different take on the lead Shen Zhenxin, a commanding officer in the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army. Now his love story has a place in the plot.For the first time, Shen is allowed to have an affair and look rough and ungroomed. The man is firm and brave, but also crude and fierce. From time to time he contradicts his superior, violates military discipline and even gawks at women through a telescope. Imperfection and complication is the intention of the director. “Nowadays directors realize that the traditional characterization of people in the war is oversimplified and insipid. To cater to the tastes of todays viewers and add new dramatic elements, they have begun to depict a fuller human nature,” says You Fei, a professor of the Communication University of China.

Retrofitting characters in military dramas was pioneered as early as 2005. An example is Li Yunlong, lead role in that years hit Drawing Swords. The man is a synthesis of the fearless warrior, autocratic commander and loyal friend. Whats more, his roots as a farmer give his character cunning and practicality. “He is just like any person youd meet on the street, someone with many small defects,”comments You Fei.

Another telling example is Zhang Lingfu in the Red Sun, chief commander of the No.74 Division of the Kuomintang Army. In the past directors tended to show Zhang as a classic baddie who serves as a foil to the heroic lead, but not this time. Zhang is played by Li Youbin, an actor who used to play good guys. “The story as I see it is more about the contest between two men than the fight between two armies. In my understanding Zhang Lingfu cannot be seen in black and white. He fought valiantly for his country during the wars against feudal warlords and Japanese invaders. As an actor, I keep telling myself I should perform this role in an objective way and be true to the history as much as possible,” says Li Youbin during an interview.

Recreating History

Reactions to Chinese Bands of Brothers flooded the Internet soon after its release.

“The drama is the first of this kind in Chinas TV history and has epoch-making significance. A Kuomintang officer can now be a lead character.”

“The play is very good. In spite of the many fictional elements, it recalls to me a past which still moves everyone. I believe more people will come to understand the Kuomintangs dedication and sacrifice in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.”

The TV drama Chinese Bands of Brothers tells the story of how a Communist army and a Kuomintang army transformed themselves from enemies to allies under adverse conditions. They fought side-by-side like brothers against the Japanese invaders, and in the end all of them died together on the battlefield. During Chinas War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945), which is part of the international anti-fascism war, the Kuomintang forces, equipped with better weapons, confronted the Japanese on the major front in the early period of the war, and suffered grim losses. The Communist-led forces, with poor weapons and meagre supplies, weakened the enemy through guerrilla warfare in the flank. Although no one can deny the Kuomintangs role in the war against Japanese invaders, it was seldom given much of a profile in TV dramas and films from Chinas mainland.

“Chinese Bands of Brothers is the first drama on the alliance between the CPC and the Kuomintang in the war against the Japanese invaders,” comments Feng Lei, a play reviewer. It throws light on the flexible and intelligent attack strategy of the Communist-led guerrilla forces, and whats more, vividly highlights the discipline and prowess of the Kuomintang army. During the battle they behaved like children in the same family, sometimes competing with each other, sometimes defending each other. “Emphasis on their brotherhood passes on a new message: that the soldiers of both armies are Chinese. Probably this kind of change in emphasis comes from the intensified communication and cooperation between the mainland and Taiwan,” says Feng Lei.

My Chief and My Regiment features the same kind of praise for the Kuomintang Army and has garnered lots of attention from the Taiwan media. The historical context is the Kuomintang expedition assisting the people of Myanmar to ward off Japanese invaders in 1942. A total of 400,000 Chinese soldiers were sent for the mission that took three years and three months, and nearly half died. The drama is centered on this single company wandering the China-Myanmar border in isolation from their regiment.Those soldiers had no appetite for fighting, and just fought to survive from day to day. But at this crucial point in the war, their chief Long Wenzhang roused the groups battle spirit and united them to mount a fierce challenge to the enemy. The squad not only saved a British army pinned down by Japanese troops, but also restored Chinas only lifeline to international suppliers, which Japan was trying to cut off. They led the expulsion of Japanese troops from the southwest border of China, then delivered a heavy assault on Japanese troops in north Myanmar and west Yunnan Province, creating conditions for the Allies to recover Myanmar. Unlike previous dramas with an anti-Japanese theme, which mostly fall into the stereotype of united and tough Chinese versus weak and vile Japanese, My Chief and My Regiment shows the agony of the Chinese defeat under the powerful offensive and tight defense strategies of the Japanese army.

To some Chinese a drama such as this is totally unacceptable, but many viewers show their support for these fresh interpretations. Representative of these fans is Zhu Xueqin, a professor of history in Shanghai University who has never missed a single episode. He admitted that in the past he would never have thought military dramas attractive because he believed the stories were too far off historical truth, the reality of war, and the fullness of human nature. My Chief and My Regiment with its departure from former styles and patterns changed his mind.

Beyond the Heroism

For a long time almost all military dramas in China tended to appeal to the audience by depicting undiluted heroism. My Chief and My Regiment is unprecedented for its sympathetic portrayal of this group of shabby, defeated soldiers shifting between hiding places at the China-Myanmar border. It is their pitiful and sometimes laughable experiences that move the plot along.

In another break from tradition, there is also no clear hero in the drama. Long Wenzhang, one of the lead roles, is a phony who steals the identity of a deceased colonel. Long never hesitates to use any dirty trick to arouse his fellow soldiers fighting will. Another lead role, Division Commander Yu Xiaoqing, gets promoted by relying on Longs help, but later gets Long into situations that nearly prove fatal. Besides these two, the other main characters in the drama are all ostensibly rogues in uniform.

Viewers who look forward to seeing conventional heroism in the play say that they simply miss the point of these new angles on characterization. “This drama is not meant to be an ode to the glory of war or the courage of the men in it,” explains Duan Yihong, who played Long Wenzhang. “During the shooting of a scene about clashes between my team and the Japanese, the director told us not to be so calm and intrepid, insisting we are just ordinary humans after all, with a natural fear of death. The soldiers we play, remnants of a defeated army, have actually lost hope and their will to fight, but eventually make the choice of returning to combat the invaders. People tend to think that soldiers always have a firm will and invariably act resolutely in battle. But how is that possible? Peoples inner conditions are different. They may act out of disparate motivations. This is what we want to explore in the drama.”

Some play critics laud My Chief and My Regiment as a milestone in Chinas TV drama industry. It cant be denied that the new approach certainly brings novel and exciting elements to Chinese military epics.

This years releases focused on military subjects to mark the 60th birthday of the PRC.

Directors have ventured away from a strict focus on historical facts, exploring characters personal lives and deeper nature. New interpretations of heroes and villains make characters more vivid and appealing to audiences.