Collaboration reconfigured: The evolving landscape of entertainment TV markets between Taiwan and Mainland China

Abstract

This article examines the evolving landscape of variety show markets in Taiwan and Mainland China. It begins with an overview of the role of Taiwan in the initial development of variety show production in Mainland China. It then analyses the factors behind Taiwan’s declining position in distribution to the Mainland and its weakened role as a knowledge broker, which parallels the evolution of Mainland productions from copycats to licenced format trade and adaptation and subsequently original programming concepts. Following this is an analysis of recent movements of Taiwanese talent and capital to the Mainland and, increasingly, to online platforms. While digital technologies and platforms present new collaboration opportunities, and format trade facilitates production, this article points to potentially intensified tensions arising from cross-strait cultural production that often intends to address multiple audiences with hybrid content.

Keywords

inter-Asia format Mainland China online video platform Taiwan television variety show

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Beeden

De Bruin

(2010) The Office: articulations of national identity in television format adaptation. Television and New Media 11(1): 3–19.

CCID (2011) Qiyi collaborates with Taiwan’s Gin Star in variety show production. Available at: http://news.ccidnet.com/art/951/20110511/2387105_1.html (accessed 21 February 2016).

Chalaby

(2015) Drama without drama: The late rise of scripted TV formats. Television and New Media 17(1): 3–20.

Chan

(1996) Television in greater China: structure, exports, and market formation. In: Sinclair

Jacka

Cunningham

(eds) New Patterns in Global Television: Peripheral Vision. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 126–160.

Chen

Y-H

(2008) Looking for Taiwan’s competitive edge. In: Zhu

Keane

Bai

(eds) TV drama in China. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, pp. 175–186.

Chua

B-H

(2012) Structure, Audience and Soft Power in East Asian Pop Culture. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

CNNIC (2015) Statistical report on internet development in China. Available at: http://www1.cnnic.cn/IDR/ReportDownloads/201507/P020150720486421654597.pdf (accessed 21 February 2016).

Curtin

(2007) Playing to the World’s Biggest Audience: The Globalization of Chinese Film and TV. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Dou

(2013) Taiwan’s troublesome obsession with Chinese TV show. The Wall Street Journal, 18 April. Available at: http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/04/18/taiwans-troublesome-obsession-with-chinese-tv-show/ (accessed 21 February 2016).

10.

Fang

(2014) Artists from Hong Kong and Taiwan flow to the Mainland. Sina.com, 26 August. Available at: http://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/20140826/164820125235.shtml (accessed 21 February 2016).

11.

Gold

(1993) Go with your feelings: Hong Kong and Taiwan popular culture in Greater China. The China Quarterly 136: 907–925.

12.

Han

(2015) Web shows shape future of programming. China Daily, 11 June. Available at: http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2015-06/11/content_20973305.htm (accessed 21 February 2016).

13.

Hoskins

Mirus

(1998) Reasons for the US dominance of the international trade in television programmes. Media, Culture & Society 10(4): 499–515.

14.

iQiyi.com (2015) Qipashuo Season 2 launches at iQiyi at eight pm on 26th June. iQiyi.com, 29 June. Available at: http://www.iqiyi.com/common/20150629/9360a16438b5dd32.html (accessed 21 February 2016).

15.

Iwabuchi

(2002) Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

16.

Keane

(2004) A revolution in television and a great leap forward for innovation? China in the global television format business. In: Moran

Keane

(eds) Television across Asia: Television Industries, Programme Formats and Globalization. London: Routledge, pp. 88–104.

17.

Keane

(2015) The Chinese Television Industry. London: British Film Institute/Palgrave Macmillan.

18.

Keane

Fung

AYH

Moran

(2007) New Television, Globalisation, and the East Asian Cultural Imagination. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

19.

Lewis

Martin

Sun

(2012) Lifestyling Asia? Shaping modernity and selfhood on life advice programming. International Journal of Cultural Studies 15(6): 537–566.

20.

F-R

(2011) Damingxing le mei: Dianshiquan de weiji jiemi (Wikileaks of TV circles). Taiwan: Unitas.

21.

(2012) Li Fangwu: Mainland can not produce anything like ‘Here Comes Kang Xi’ in ten years. Southern Metropolis Weekly, 9 January. Available at: http://www.nbweekly.com/news/people/201201/28770.aspx (accessed 21 February 2016).

22.

(2013) Taiwanese producer speaks on idol shows in the Mainland. Southern Weekly, 24 May. Available at: http://www.infzm.com/content/90721 (accessed 21 February 2016).

23.

Y-C

(2013) Culture minister urges soft power boost. Taipei Times, 14 April. Available at: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/04/14/2003559577 (accessed 21 February 2016).

24.

Qin

(2013) Taiwanese TV station accused of illegal transmission of I am a singer. iprchn.com. Available at: http://www.iprchn.com/Index_NewsContent.aspx?newsId=58994 (accessed 21 February 2016).

25.

Shao

Chu

(2014) What happens to variety shows in Taiwan? Artists moving up north and producers leaving the industry. qq.com, 29 July. Available at: http://ent.qq.com/a/20140729/023561.htm (accessed 21 February 2016).

26.

shcaoan.com (2012) Zeng Guocheng dissatisfied with Tudou, may withdraw from Mingxing doudizhu. shcaoan.com, 13 July. Available at: http://www.shcaoan.com/wy/Monroe/80885.html (accessed 21 February 2016).

27.

Sina.com (2011) Godfather of Taiwanese variety show production helps Chen Handian to break into the mainland market. Sina.com, 27 June. Available at: http://dailynews.sina.com/bg/ent/tv/sinacn/20110627/01192556770.html (accessed 21 February 2016).

28.

Sinclair

Harrison

(2004) Globalization, nation, and television in Asia: the cases of India and China. Television and New Media 5(1): 41–54.

29.

Tsai

(2012) NCC eases policy on product placement, title sponsorship. Taiwan Today, 9 August. Available at: http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=194577&ctNode=413 (accessed 21 February 2016).

30.

Wang

H-I

(2009) How are Taiwanese shanghaied? Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique 17(2): 321–346.

31.

(2011) Taiwan TV industry at death’s door. bbc.com, 14 July. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/taiwan_letters/2011/07/110714_twletter_ent_program (accessed 21 February 2016).

32.

(2014) Wang Weizhong: Mainland owes kangxi six concordes. Forbes China, 23 October. Available at: http://www.forbeschina.com/review/201410/0038304.shtml (accessed 21 February 2016).

33.

(2013) Ten million goes to the born-digital young generations. Qianjiang Evening News, 17 January. Available at: http://qjwb.zjol.com.cn/html/2013-01/17/content_1963584.htm?div=-1 (accessed 21 February 2016).

34.

Yang

(2012) Entertainment shows in prime time reduced by 70% within three months of Entertainment Limit Order. people.com, 9 April. Available at: http://culture.people.com.cn/GB/87423/17600712.html (accessed 21 February 2016).

35.

Yar

(2005) The global ‘epidemic’ of movie ‘piracy’: crime-wave or social construction? Media, Culture & Society 27(5): 677–696.

36.

Zhao

Keane

(2013) Between formal and informal: the shakeout in China’s online video industry. Media, Culture & Society 35(6): 724–741.

37.

Zhu

(2008) Television in Post-Reform China: Serial Dramas, Confucian Leadership and the Global Television Market. London: Routledge.

38.

Zhu

Berry

(2009) TV China. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.