MCLC: Deng Xiaoping tv thriller

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Deng Xiaoping tv thriller
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Source: The Guardian (8/15/14):
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/15/big-budget-drama-china-preside
nt-deng-xiaoping-at-historys-crossroads

Deng Xiaoping TV thriller serves Chinese president's agenda
Deng Xiaoping at History's Crossroad celebrates life of former leader
whose reforms transformed China into economic giant
By Tania Branigan in Beijing

It is not exactly House of Cards, despite one state newspaper's breathless
claim that the first episode "resembles a typical Hollywood political
thriller".

But China's latest television drama depicts a turbulent time. Launched to
mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of Deng Xiaoping, who emerged as
China's paramount leader in the years after Mao Zedong's death, it follows
his return from the political wilderness and pursuit of the reform that
transformed his country into an economic giant.

Deng Xiaoping at History's Crossroad spans 48 episodes, took three years
to write and cost 120m yuan (£11.7m), a lavish sum by the state
broadcaster's standards. Party bodies oversaw the production.

Lest anyone miss the possible contemporary parallel with the story of a
bold leader pursuing economic changes while maintaining the party's
political grip, state media have carried a commentary stressing president
Xi Jinping's veneration of Deng.

This is the anniversary year and of course they will give Deng Xiaoping
status as the architect of reforms; it's on the agenda anyway. Then, there
is whatever Xi can do to put his ideas into this programme and highlight
some aspects [of Deng] or obscure others to serve his agenda," said Feng
Chongyi, associate professor in China Studies at the University of
Technology, Sydney.

For Chinese authorities, dramas are about education as much as
entertainment. In addition to the Deng series, broadcasting authorities
have ordered channels to devote primetime to screening "anti-fascist"
shows - about battling the Japanese occupation - and "patriotic"
programmes, such as those which focus on military life and model
officials. They are to run from early September to the end of October,
before and after National Day.

While early Communist history has been covered, Chinese television dramas
rarely tackle the party's more recent history.

"In the past, if we wanted to make a TV series like this, I fear that it
would have been almost impossible. And even if we could have made it then,
the show would not be as rich as it is now," director Wu Ziniu told state
news agency Xinhua.

An editorial in the state-run Global Times described the new show as
"significant progress", although the paper conceded: "Some issues still
remain sensitive, which the TV series [doesn't] touch upon." Others are
referred to only briefly or obliquely.

That such a sedate show should become a talking point reflects how
neutered political dramas usually are in China. The series sidesteps the
two purges Deng endured in the Cultural Revolution and the bloody
crackdown on Tiananmen Square's pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989 by
covering only late 1976 to 1984. He died in 1997.

Chief scriptwriter Long Pingping, of the party's Literature Research
Centre, told Xinhua that "the history after 1984 is too difficult to be
written" and that some events "could be written in books but would be very
difficult to dramatise".

But Chinese media said it was the first time a TV drama had included Hua
Guofeng, who initially succeeded Mao, and Hu Yaobang, the reformist
general secretary of the party who was later ousted.

Hua, who would be outmanoeuvred by Deng, is seen announcing the Gang of
Four's arrest, marking the end of the Cultural Revolution. But his comment
that Mao had planned the Gang's downfall came as a surprise to viewers and
historians.

With some of the heaviest-handed meteorological symbolism since the story
of Noah, his announcement is preceded by cataracts of rain, crashing
thunder and flashing lightning but followed by a rosy new day.

"China saw the dawn after the fall of the Gang of Four," explained the
director.

Ratings have been boosted not just by extensive coverage in state media
but the efforts of officials in Deng's native province of Sichuan.

The Sichuan News Online website said propaganda officials in Guang'an,
where Deng grew up, sent text messages to officials and party members
urging them to watch the drama and organise discussion sessions. The
websites of other cities said authorities had asked party members, the
public and schools to schedule viewing and discussion sessions.

State media articles have spelt out the connection
<http://m.english.caixin.com/m/2014-08-14/100716901.html> between Deng's
anniversary commemorations and the party's plans for reform.

Thursday's commentary, in the overseas edition of the People's Daily,
said: "Some people say, in the past it was 'If there is hardship along the
road, just think about Deng Xiaoping'; now it's 'If there is hardship
along the road, just look to Xi Jinping'.

"This proves that for the general public, Xi Jinping, who's ambitious
about furthering reform, has much in common with Deng Xiaoping, who
decided to take the road of reform and opening a few decades ago."

The speed with which Xi has consolidated power since becoming general
secretary of the party has taken many by surprise, and prompted
comparisons to both Deng and Mao.

• Additional research by Luna Lin