WITH lavish costumes and exquisite props as well as period architecture, Chinese TV drama “Song of Youth” has been well received overseas, exemplified by its 9.2 out of 10 score on the U.S. video streaming site Rakuten Viki.

    Li Qian, distribution director with Huanyu Entertainment which produces the 43-episode series, notes that “Song of Youth” has also been broadcast in Southeast Asia and North America since late July.

    “Many foreign viewers are pushing us to upload the latest episodes with English subtitles as soon as possible. For us, it’s a great encouragement,” says Li.

    Latest available figures from the National Radio and Television Administration, the country’s top regulator of the sector, show that TV dramas account for around 70 percent of Chinese television programs screened abroad. Currently, domestic dramas have been distributed to more than 200 countries and regions.

    Analyzing this momentum, Li says that she believes the popularity of “Song of Youth” has benefited from the rapid development of the country’s sizable TV drama sector, which has made a number of costume dramas that foreign audience members favor. With ample investment, producers were able to create top-quality dramas with exquisitely tailored garments, eye-catching props and intricate makeup and effects.

    Although such tales are interwoven with a complex historical background that may not be so familiar to people in the West, the protagonists and the situations they face have a universal appeal, Li adds.

    For instance, Lin Shaochun, the heroine in “Song of Youth,” is depicted as a gritty and brave woman with versatile talents. Once she has a comfortable life as the daughter of a rich official, but experiences a fall from grace after her father is wrongly accused of corruption.

    Lin uses a number of innovative methods, including disguising herself as a man to sit an exam vital for promotion and get established in the business community, in her bid to clear her father’s name. And she also finds a passionate romance.

    Song Xiaotao, the drama’s fashion director, says around 2,000 costumes were tailored for the TV drama. The embroidery technique employed on major characters’ dresses is a decorative needlework cleverly blending painting and embroidery. The designs draw inspiration from paintings dating back to the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties. 

    Like preparing an exhibition to showcase ancient fashion from over 500 years ago, the costume and prop designers dive into antique collections and paintings, seeking inspiration from women’s hairstyles to jewelry patterns and ceremonial attire.(China Daily)