Dopo che quasi un mese come l'co-ospite “di salute di amore di I„ che sto cominciando a capire una cosa o due circa il cinese TV. L'osservazione che principale sento parlare spesso del cinese TV (dal cinese e dagli stranieri egualmente) sono che è pieno di programmazione di qualità cattiva. Ora ho parecchi amici vicini cinesi con gli inglesi di merce che trasferiscono frequentemente le esposizioni dal sistema centrale verso i satelliti americane della TV dal Internet. Tutti hanno tutti inequivocabilmente detti a me che le esposizioni americane siano superiori al cinese un e dicano che una volta data la scelta, non guarderebbe mai un programma di cinese TV più di americano anche. Sulla base della mia propria esposizione limitata personale alla televisione cinese (ed alla TV nell'insieme), dovrei dirlo accosento con questa asserzione.

Ci sono parecchie teorie perchè il cinese TV è così… come posso metto questo piacevolmente? … crappy. Uno è che la formazione cinese non dà risalto alla creatività ed alle arti tanto quanto quella dell'ovest e questa è riflessa dall'industria della televisione e della pellicola. Mentre ci è la verità a questa dichiarazione, penso che rappresenti soltanto una parte del puzzle. Un altro fattore è la gioventù relativa dell'industria di cinese TV/film. Mentre l'industria in se non è quel giovane, deve essere messa nella prospettiva che soltanto tre decadi fa, l'uniche TV e pellicole consentite erano quelle che glorificano il partito comunista.

But another reason I am finding for the severe lack of quality programming in China is massive dilution of the talent pool. Much of this is because the Chinese media is still runs essentially like a 单位 (danwei), the old work units which were the building blocks of Socialism. While private enterprise is rapidly rendering the concept of a danwei job obsolete, government offices, schools, public hospitals, and the media all still operate under the old danwei system. What this means is endless levels of hierarchy, webs of bureaucracy, and at the very top cadres with leather day planners who don’t seem to do any actual work, but somehow have the highest salaries and the personal drivers.

Chinese TV operates under this system. Chinese TV has 3 levels: Central Television (CCTV) which is based out of Beijing, provincial television, and city television. CCTV is available all over China. Provincial channels are usually available regionally (i.e. Fujian Provincial TV in most Southeastern provinces, as well as most major cities), and local channels are typically only available in the cities they are broadcast from.

Unlike the US however, where local stations are typically only responsible for local news, in China local stations are often responsible for their own programming. Because of this, production, directing, and acting talent are all spread around the country, rather than being focused on several major TV networks, and then syndicated across the country. Consider my show as an example. My co-host, Zheng Zheng, is only one year out of college. She is attractive, speaks perfect Mandarin, and does a decent job reporting news with me on “I Love Health.” However, she is probably one of several thousand, and would not stand a chance compared to the announcers on CCTV. Then there is Ting Ting who writes and directs all of our material. Ting Ting does an excellent job preparing the material, and coaching Zheng Zheng and my performance. However, she just graduated college this spring…with an advertising degree…and she is the writer for a TV show. I know friends in the US who studied screen writing 4 years in college, waited tables in Hollywood another 4, and still never got their chance to write anything. Then of course there is me. Granted I speak Chinese, but so do several tens of thousands of other foreigners in China. I think I do a moderately decent job overall as an announcer, but there is no chance I would be on TV if shows if they were all centralized, even accounting for the fact I am a Westerner.

When you consider how dispersed the talent is over China, it starts to become clear why programming is so sub-par. The last two shows I was a contestant on, SuperMe and Superstar were both ripoffs of the famous Hunan TV show Super Girls, which is the famous Chinese clone of American Idol. They were both were produced by Fujian provincial TV, yet had no local connection to Fujian. Instead, they were just another one of the several hundred American Idol ripoffs currently in production in China. I can’t help but posit that if TV were centralized, and they rounded up all of the best talent from the hundreds of stations across the country, held try-outs, and began production with a top-notch staff, the quality would vastly improve. Instead, what we are stuck with are hundreds of small local TV stations, all producing their own redundant clones of the same TV shows.

Personally, I sense that a big reason TV centralization has yet to occur is because it would necessitate a restructuring of the system. This would require firing a great deal of the TV deadweight (cadres) as well as trimming down the personnel to only the best the country has to offer. This would not bode well with most of the people who would have the power to bring about such a change, and also would stand to cause considerable “instability,” the ultimate pet peeve of the CCP. Until this happens, we are probably stuck with the same stagnant programming.