Classic Chinese tales thrive in modern times

Finding wider audiences

Wang Wei, president of the Chinese Society of Archaeology and a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, agrees that the next phase of programs on traditional culture should transcend the "treasure" quotient.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of modern archaeology in China, following the discovery of the Yangshao Neolithic culture, around 7,000 years old, in Henan province.

Wang is currently cooperating with China Media Group to produce a variety show called Chinese Archaeology Conference. Though Wang did not reveal too many details about the show, he said the original idea of making just a quiz contest has been changed considering that such a format could distract attention about the significance of key archaeological discoveries.

"When it comes to such productions, there is not much that China has as reference as most of the similar overseas programs use the documentary form for narratives," he said. "We have made some achievements but that does not mean that we are satisfied with the current results. Cultural heritage values still need to be elaborated."

Wang, a leading archaeologist in China, said scholars need to be better trained in media interactions as the general public is becoming "more professional" due to the popularity of such TV shows in the past few years.

"People's interest in archaeology is sometimes beyond our expectations," said Wang.

Last year, online livestreams were organized for the first time to show the final round of appraisals to choose the country's 10 best archaeological discoveries. To Wang's surprise, the sessions full of archaeological terminology attracted over 28 million views. Since then, using livestreams to introduce the latest discoveries to the public has become a common practice for Chinese archaeologists.