Dramas spread wings

Contemporary Chinese productions are not only taking off in Southeast Asia but are also enjoying growing popularity in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Xu Fan reports.

Inoka Weerasinghe, second secretary at the embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing, says the hit Chinese TV series Ode to Joy has just become her latest mustwatch show.

The drama, which tells the story of five women striving to make a life for themselves in contemporary Shanghai, is airing in Sri Lanka after a deal was signed in November last year between China Radio International and Rupavahini, Sri Lanka's national television network.

Among the Chinese dramas set to air in Sri Lanka under the deal is Xuan Zang, a biographical movie starring Huang Xiaoming as the titular Tang Dynasty (618-907) monk who made a 17-year overland journey across Central Asia and India in his quest to acquire Buddhist knowledge.

"The women (the protagonists of Ode to Joy) are very dynamic and independent. They reflect modern China and modern Chinese women," Weerasinghe tells China Daily during the 15th China International Film and TV Program Exhibition in Beijing. At the event, she invited Chinese producers to shoot films in the South Asian country, and she approached Chinese broadcasters about telecasting Sri Lankan TV dramas in China.

Held at the Beijing Exhibition Center from May 17 to 19, the annual event attracted hundreds of participants from more than 50 countries and regions around the world who were showcasing around 80,000 programs.

With the rising overseas popularity of Chinese movies and television series in recent years, "going abroad" has become a buzzword for many attending the exhibition.

Last year, China exported more than $400 million worth of movies and television productions and related services to the rest of the world, said Ma Li, director of the international cooperation department of the State Administration of Radio and Television, at an event during the exhibition.