Rulers reign in booming China film industry

– Chinese film and television are reeling from what industry insiders call a “bitterly cold winter” of sharper government scrutiny, which is expected to lead to content that is more Communist Party friendly.

The entertainment sector has blossomed in recent years, with official encouragement from a government keen to replace foreign content with homegrown fare and to develop the industry as a global “soft power” asset.

But a nationwide push for more party-approved material across media, music and entertainment has combined with a clampdown on spiralling screen-star salaries and has now clouded the outlook.

“[It’s been a] cold winter, a bitterly cold winter,” said Yu Zheng, screenwriter and producer of the hugely popular series Story of Yanxi Palace.

The period drama, set amid Qing dynasty court intrigue, drew 18 billion views on Chinese platform iQIYI and was the most Googled TV show in the world last year – due in part to popularity among the Chinese diaspora.

The programme, since concluded, was filmed at Hengdian World Studios in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang.

Widely considered “China’s Hollywood”, the sprawling studio complex has around a dozen film sets, including faux versions of Beijing’s Forbidden City and, soon, Shanghai’s Bund riverfront.

Around 70% of China’s film and television shows are shot there, Chinese newspaper Economic Observer reported in 2017.

But studio chairperson Sang Xiaoqing told AFP in an interview that Hengdian is bracing for a slowdown, particularly after tax authorities late last year targeted A-list actress Fan Bingbing in a crackdown on alleged widespread tax dodging and exorbitant pay for big-name stars.

“Judging from the current situation, [the entertainment industry] will be in the process of slow recovery in 2019,” Sang said.

“Some crews have postponed their shooting plans and some have even cancelled. The business operations of film and television companies were also impacted by the strengthened tax reform.”

Sang said he expects to see a shift to more films or TV programmes focused on the revolution that brought the Communists to power in 1949, particularly as this October will mark the event’s 70th anniversary.

Krypt Chen, a Shanghai-based media analyst, said: “[Government] scrutiny has been stricter year after year since 2016. It was already quite harsh last year and may be even stricter this year.”

China’s film industry earned a record of nearly 61 billion yuan ($9.1 billion or R1,240 trillion) in box-office revenue last year, up nine percent from 2017, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, though growth slowed from the previous year. –

Dongyang, China