CHINA: CHINESE TELEVISION VIEWERS ENJOY THEIR OWN SOAP OPERA SERIAL "JOY LUCK STREET"

Record ID: 390592

  • Title: CHINA: CHINESE TELEVISION VIEWERS ENJOY THEIR OWN SOAP OPERA SERIAL "JOY LUCK STREET"
  • Date: 2nd January 2001
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS - PERFORMANCE CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR RESALE) SCENE - HE YU, WHO PLAYS CROOKED LAWYER GAO CHENG MARRIED TO SHI WEITIAN'S ELDEST DAUGHTER SHI QIN, WALKING ALONG JOY LUCK STREET EXTERIOR SET WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF CAST SCU HE YU, ACTOR WHO PLAYS CROOKED LAWYER GAO CHENG WHO IS MARRIED TO SHI WEITIAN'S ELDEST DAUGHTER SHI QIN, SAYING: "It's (J
  • Embargoed: 17th January 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BEIJING, CHINA
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Entertainment,General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5AD0TRAQGEKRRR6A907TPAE7H
  • Story Text: Illegitimate children, steamy love affairs and bent lawyers. China's first soap opera "Joy Luck Street" -- based on Britain's long-running Coronation Street -- has kicked off in China to mixed reactions.
    Filmed in a set on the outskirts of Beijing, "Joy Luck Street" -- China's first soap opera -- has been showing nationwide to mixed reactions.
    Joy Luck Street is a joint venture funded by U.K-based Granada Television and based on Coronation Street, Britain's longest running soap opera.
    To entice viewers unused to the slow pace of soap opera stories, plots filled with steamy love affairs and illegitimate children develop among a group of upwardly mobile Chinese.
    The stories are supposed to be based on the everyday lives of Chinese people -- but they are acted out in a set designed to look like China in five years' time.
    The making of Joy Luck Street is hugely different from previous Chinese TV series.
    Instead of one director, there's three. Instead of a completed script with a conclusion, storylines are continuously developed every few months.
    Director Liu Shuliang (lee-yoh shoo-lyiang), who has directed previous Chinese TV series is doubtful of Joy Luck Street's success in a Chinese market.
    "So far, we think the script's not very good, and several of the actors and actresses aren't that talented."
    Saying that, some of the actors aren't bad at all. But a soap opera has three main elements -- and two of them are not up to scratch. So, we've concentrated on the third element - camerawork. The audio and visual side needs to be really strong".
    In order to work in China, Granada had to find a Chinese partner -- Beijing Yahuan [pronounced yah-hwan] Audio and Video, who found Chinese scriptwriters and actors for Joy Luck Street.
    The scripts and storylines are translated into English and e-mailed to the U.K. for four Granada producers to check before the crew can go ahead in Beijing.
    Characters and storylines are not modelled on Coronation Street -- which involves a more dour and working-class set of people. But there are slight similarities.
    One of the nastiest characters is shifty lawyer Gao Cheng (pronounced gao chyeung) -- based on Coronation Street's Mike Baldwin -- who is married to long-suffering wife Shi Qin (pronounced shih chyin), daughter of retired chef Shi Weitian (Shih way-tyien).
    Gao Cheng cheats on his wife with wealthy beauty parlour owner Hui Ling (pronounced hoo-way ling). When his wife gets pregnant, he slips her a lethal potion which causes her miscarriage.
    Actor He Yu (pronounced huh-yoo), who plays Gao Cheng, finds acting in a soap opera more confusing than working on Chinese TV serials.
    "It's (Joy Luck Street) very different. In previous Chinese TV series, we read the script and then understood the main thread of the story. There was a logic behind the characters and the story -- which gave us a clear idea of the plot. But even at the beginning of this soap opera, it was unclear where the plot was going. It's very impromptu because the writers are deciding as we go along how the story is going to develop....we have no idea about what's going to happen".
    Eugene Ferguson -- veteran director of Coronation Street -- has been visiting Beijing regularly since 1997 to advise on Joy Luck Street's production. Ferguson says Granada producers had to rethink their initial ideas of stories that would work well in China. One plot involving a character having an abortion, was dismissed by Chinese producers as too commonplace in a society with the one-child policy.
    "When you look at real estate families, for instance in the UK it's very unusual -- quite unusual I would say for people to be in the army, and be in the forces. Whereas in China, there is still conscription, there's still national service, so you do always get some children in the army. Now that's something that would not always occur to us and we probably would not have written anything like that into the series whatsoever. Also in the UK, the same stories play, the same stories about family affairs, love affairs, what have you -- but the same level of undress for instance would not be allowed in China that is allowed in the UK," said Eugene Ferguson.
    All scripts are vetted by censors to ensure that controversial issues such as premarital sex, homosexuality and drug abuse do not feature in the show.
    Granada is positive that Joy Luck Street will do well in China. It will be producing 500 episodes of the soap and hopes to gain an audience of 100 million. Granada refuses to say how much they have invested in Joy Luck Street.
    Joy Luck Street, which began showing last summer, is aired three nights a week on 90 cable TV stations in at least eight cities.
    Chinese and British producers agree that it will take time to build up a Chinese audience who are more used to historical dramas and kung-fu mini-series. But they are confident that stories will draw in the viewers.
    A group of students watching the show, gave mixed reactions.
    "The more I watch Joy Luck Street, the better it gets, and I want to know what's going to happen next. They're constantly shooting it and I think it's good entertainment," said 20-year-old student Ting Ting.
    "I don't really like watching Joy Luck Street because it's only twenty minutes long, which is too short. You start watching it....and before you know it, it's over. Also you have to wait a week to see the next episode. It's just not addictive enough and it's too short. In one episode, when the baby was ill and people were giving blood to help, it just wasn't very moving. I think it doesn't get deep into the subject matter because it's written in a hurry," said Fan Wei, 20-year-old student.
    Joy Luck Street is still being filmed at a break-neck speed -- but it's going to take time to see whether or not Chinese audiences will keep tuning in for the next episode.
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