C-dramas captivate global viewers for their distinctive aesthetics, improved production quality

Chinese dramas, or C-dramas, have gained immense popularity among international audiences due to their distinctive aesthetics and costumes, poetic storytelling, and, more recently, their improved production quality.

Among those drawn to their charm is Sean Doherty, an Irish viewer who particularly enjoys Chinese period dramas for their captivating storytelling and traditional clothing.

"There are actually a lot of dramas that I really love. Many are C-dramas. Many popular genres exist overseas, including modern dramas like this one here. I'll show you my favorite one. This one here 'Love Game in Eastern Fantasy,' I love it so much, so fun!" said Doherty.

In 2024, Chinese dramas saw a surge in popularity overseas. According to data from AMPD, a viewership research and consultancy firm, in the Southeast Asian market, viewership of Chinese dramas on video-on-demand (VOD) platforms surpassed that of American dramas, making them the second-largest entertainment source. In the free content category, Chinese dramas lead with a 40 percent share of users.

"Sometimes, I also post updates on overseas social media platforms, and the comments are filled with international drama fans calling me 'Miao Miao' using pinyin (the system that represents Chinese words with the Latin alphabet). I feel that more and more international friends are enjoying Chinese dramas nowadays," said Ester Yu, a Chinese actress and singer.

As Chinese dramas continue to gain international popularity, interest in Chinese culture is also growing. This creates a positive cycle, connecting the shows with their stars and further enriching Chinese content.

"I really do enjoy watching these shows, mostly because they remind me of the beautiful culture I got to experience in China, from the musical instruments to the calligraphy, to the poetry and the clothing. It's really a unique experience, and it's a wonderful aesthetic for the audience to enjoy," said Paul, another C-drama fan.

Korean C-drama fan Gil Nahyun has observed noticeable improvements in Chinese TV dramas in recent years, from tighter storytelling to better production quality.

"I enjoy watching Chinese TV dramas, and over the past few years, I've noticed significant improvements. First, with more complex storylines, the overall quality has greatly improved. In the past, even slightly longer story arcs tended to drag on, but now the pacing is tighter, and new episodes are released more quickly. Additionally, the actors in recent dramas have become even more attractive, making me even more eager to watch them," she said.

As C-dramas gain popularity overseas, their international distribution methods have become increasingly diverse.

Many high-quality domestic dramas are now translated into multiple languages and made available on platforms like YouTube, Netflix, and ViKi.

To cater to global audiences, video platforms have introduced localized operations and international versions, enabling simultaneous domestic and overseas broadcasts.

"At the beginning, our main focus was on distribution and managing our own platform. Over time, we realized that users who prefer watching content on our platform tend to explore more specialized sections. To better align with their interests, we introduced membership services and launched promotional activities for our app", said Liu Xiao, a senior operations manager in Youku's International Division.

"For the international version, our primary focus is on offering a wider selection of languages and subtitles. While the core content remains largely the same, we tailor subtitles and dubbing to suit the preferences of different countries and regions. For example, in Vietnam, viewers prefer voice-over narration. In response, we utilize AI technology and invest heavily in localized content production and translation," Liu added.

According to the 2024 China Drama Development Report released by the National Radio and Television Administration, the export value of Chinese television dramas has steadily increased year by year, rising from 24 million U.S. dollars in 2012 to 70 million U.S. dollars in 2023.

C-dramas captivate global viewers for their distinctive aesthetics, improved production quality

A World Health Organization (WHO) medical epidemiologist on Sunday sought to ease public concerns over a hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship, stressing that the virus is not airborne like COVID-19 and that the average person has no reason to worry.

Spain began evacuating passengers the same day from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius, which had anchored earlier off the Port of Granadilla on the island of Tenerife.

The MV Hondius departed Argentina on April 1 with more than 140 passengers and crew from 23 countries on board. The ship has reported eight infections, including three deaths. Six of the cases have been laboratory-confirmed as Andes virus infections, caused by a rodent-borne hantavirus endemic to South America and the only known hantavirus strain capable of limited human-to-human transmission.

Boris Pavlin, a medical epidemiologist with the WHO, said the cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak had been carefully managed by Spanish authorities and posed little risk to the general public. "This is not COVID. The average person does not need to be worried about hantavirus here in this setting. These folks are being managed very carefully, very deliberately, by the Spanish authorities; they're getting off the ship, they are getting into small boats, they are being spaced apart in the buses so there's no risk to one another. Even if one were to become symptomatic -- we know that none of them were symptomatic as they have been leaving the ship -- they're going straight to their aircraft and they're being taken to their respective national jurisdictions," he said.

Pavlin said the exact source of exposure remained under investigation, but the initial cases appeared to be linked to a pre-cruise land excursion in South America.

"From what we understand of the initial cases, there was -- as one does often on a cruise -- there was a land-side excursion before the cruise in which places were visited that are home to these specific rodents that are associated with the Andes hantavirus. These are not worldwide rodents; the long-tailed rice rat is very specific to the Andes Cordillera region of South America, and that's where people who are exposed to the rodents were. So it was in one of those places they were exposed. We don't know exactly because there are several possibilities, and I believe that the Argentinian authorities are actually even going to look at that and try to do some animal sampling to get to the very bottom of it. But that part's not unexpected at all," he said.

The official praised Spanish authorities' handling of the ship and described the response as a closely coordinated international effort.

"This has been an extremely cooperative, collegial international effort. The Spanish authorities are very diligent and deliberate about what's happening here. There's nothing that would surprise us. I think that somebody might become exposed; we want to obviously make sure that people who are coming off the ship are not newly exposed to one another as they get off and go to their respective places, and we're not seeing that," Pavlin said.

But while the immediate disembarkation process had gone smoothly, he emphasized that health officials were not letting their guard down.

"However, the contact tracing and follow-up of every person who has been in even the lightest contact with the patients will continue until a maximum incubation period. In any case, there are contingency plans should someone become ill, and we know that it doesn't just spread like wildfire, so even if they were to become ill, we don't expect a large outbreak after this," the official said.

Cruise ship hantavirus outbreak "not COVID," poses low public risk: WHO expert