Culture programs in Chinese TV

[Luxi]

This article from the state sponsored "The World of Chinese" magazine talks about something a cultural rennaissance in Chinese TV. I'm not sure that's true, cultural content and quality of dramas and documentaries has plummeted compared to those in the 2000-2010 period.
http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2017/12/tvs-cultural-revolution/

The article mentions 3 interesting programs. Here are the links to their respective CCTV web pages where there is a helpful introduction to each program (at least in the Poetry series) and a full archive of past offerings. All these programs now have clear Chinese subtitles. 

 

 The Chinese Poetry Competition《中国诗词大会》
I would need many long hours to get through the subs and unravel the very basics of what goes on in each program, but the short introduction in the web site is very helpful to get an idea of what is going on. The subs are very helpful!
http://tv.cctv.com/2017/01/22/VIDAQoJpwyHDfoVTAuFqjrFd170122.shtml

There already is a thread about the program in this Forum: 
https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/51296-classical-poetry-quiz-show/?tab=comments#comment-393164

 

Reading Aloud 《朗读者》
I've watched a few. Some readers are very good and some of the texts are interesting, but why is it that women guest readers feel they must read in a faltering voice while shedding glycerine tears?
http://tv.cctv.com/lm/ldz/

 

National Treasure 《国家宝藏》
http://tv.cctv.com/2017/11/29/VIDAjmY28VSqK4hfQtHw0yJE171129.shtml

Looks promising and there may be English subs coming up in the CCTV/ CNTV 4 version. 

 

 

[Tomsima]

國家寶藏 has been really good so far in my opinion, the stage acting is good quality with A-list actors by the looks of things. You learn not just about the history of the 'objects', but also about the historical figures surrounding them and the opinions modern day Chinese people have of them, eg. 文人宋徽宗，土豪乾隆. Good to start watching now, as it's already becoming a popular topic of conversation in everyday life right now

[abcdefg]

On ‎12‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 10:59 PM, Luxi said:

The Chinese Poetry Competition《中国诗词大会》

 

I always watch this one when it's available (on my TV, not on my laptop.) Lively, well done, lots of fun. Hostess is skilled, commentators are knowledgeable. They often have re-runs and shows that distill some of the best bits. Plays here (Kunming) prime time on weekends. 

[Luxi]

On 12/14/2017 at 3:14 PM, Tomsima said:

國家寶藏 has been really good so far in my opinion

 

I agree. National Treasure is supposed to be for young people, but the 2 programs I saw were a very high standard, not at all dumbed down.  Looks like  it has become quite important in the authorities' view., it seems to be everywhere now. The episodes are already repeated in the international channel CCTV 4/ CNTV, it won't be long before an English subtitled version appears. This is a much more intelligent way to apply 'soft power' than the mind-numbing, war-mongering, propaganda TV of previous several months.

 

Here are more catch up places:

 

You Tube (semi-official channel)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyJ1nUfiitDgyAhn9yPUqrSGp24S47_oe

Part of the CCTV 综艺 (performing arts) You Tube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/entcntv/featured

Ximalaya
http://www.ximalaya.com/98542732/sound/o2/

Having the sound tracks seems useful for practice. 

 

Baike/Baidu
https://baike.baidu.com/item/国家宝藏/22226325

This gives a short explanation of each episode and lists additional resources.

 

There must be transcripts somewhere!

[Tomsima]

2 hours ago, Luxi said:

This is a much more intelligent way to apply 'soft power'

 

Funny you mention it, don't know if you've seen the most recent episode yet (Hubei museum), there was a segment on 秦簡 with 撒貝寧 as the guest, it ended up being designated as the propaganda section of the night as it were. Policemen and women came out to talk, and they actually shouted some statement along the lines of 'passing on traditional culture is real soft power!' at the end

[Luxi]

@TomsimaHa-ha-ha!

I haven't reached there yet, only started watching the series yesterday, but I did notice 1 or 2 little hints of propaganda in the episode on the 千里江山图 scroll，as well as one quote from Chairman Mao. But I like those bits of subtle propaganda, it quite is good fun to identify them and they don't disrupt the program too much.

 

30 minutes ago, Tomsima said:

passing on traditional culture is real soft power!'

 

Wouldn't it be wonderful if they finally acknowledged that?

 

 

[Zbigniew]

I really can't see much wrong with wanting to communicate Chinese culture to non-Chinese, as long as deliberate untruths aren't disseminated along the way and "culture" is not synonymous with "culture as the CCP wishes people to understand it". I've personally done my bit over the years to promote Chinese culture in my own country and hope to continue to do so. 

[abcdefg]

3 hours ago, Luxi said:

National Treasure is supposed to be for young people, but the 2 programs I saw were a very high standard, not at all dumbed down.  Looks like  it has become quite important in the authorities' view., it seems to be everywhere now.

 

It's usually quite worthwhile. Produced with skill. I watch it once or twice a week (on TV.)  Host puts things into their historical context well.   

[Luxi]

Alongside the all-whistling-all singing  国家宝藏, there is a more sober CCTV9 series presenting Chinese treasures from Stone Age to Qing Dynasty in exquisite detail: 《如果国宝会说话》( "If the national treasures could speak" ). 

 

This page introduces the series: 《如果国宝会》   
http://jishi.cctv.com/special/guobao/   

 

The program seems to have been launched online as an interactive series, it is described as 网络版 - I haven't yet looked into what that entails, but it sounds like an interesting inter-fingering of documentary and social media, I've seen a dedicated page in Weibo in passing. The series comprises 100 short documentaries (5 - 10 minutes) introducing treasures from at least 100 museums and 50 archaeological sites around China. The documentaries are beautifully filmed,  informative and the pieces very well presented. The videos are easily accessible in CCTV 9 website, Youku, and several other Chinese sites, some have appeared also in You Tube.  

 

This is a list of available videos 

http://tv.cntv.cn/videoset/VSET100372654207

 

An additional bonus for Chinese learners: the voice-over descriptions are spoken very clearly and rather slowly, and all videos have Chinese subtitles.  
 

[Tomsima]

Sounds great, will have to check it out, thanks for the heads up