数百万的中国观众着迷西方电视剧

Laura Carmichael in Downton Abbey, which attractedan audience of 160 million viewers. Photograph: NickBriggs/AP

劳拉·卡尔迈克尔在唐顿庄园剧照，该剧吸引了一亿六千万观众。

 

 

The fact that subtitled episodes of Downton Abbey are watched by160 million viewers showsjust what a love affair the Chinese have developed with foreign television shows and formatsremade for their market. With BigBrother and Educating Yorkshire the latest shows to be linedup for a Chinese makeover, it's boom time for those exporting hit western programmes to theworld's most populous nation.

《唐顿庄园》该加个副标题，一亿六千万收视的爱情剧，中国人已经开始为发展海外剧场重置节目和格式。《老大哥》和《约克郡教育纪事》最近排上了中国人的改编名单，这是西方节目出口到世界人口大国激增的时代。

China is the fastest-growing market for the sale of Britishshows and formats, with growth of40% last year. While it is still relatively small in revenue terms, the opportunity is immense. "In the UK a top-rated TVshow may just get into double-digit millions (in audience size), butChina has1.4 billion people and gets easily double, triple or quadruple that," says PierreCheung,vice-president of greater China for BBC Worldwide. "The market is amassive opportunity."

中国是不列颠秀和记录片销售增长最快的市场，去年高达百分之四十。虽然进账还不算高，但潜力巨大。在英国最好的秀收视率会达到千万级(在观众数量上)，而中国有14亿人，收视会是双倍、三倍甚至四倍。BBC全球中国区副总Pierre Cheung说，这个市场潜力巨大。

China's Got Talent, a local versionof Simon Cowell's ITV hit, has seen viewers top 400 million anepisode. Locally produced versions of western franchises combine the sheen of the exoticwiththe familiarity of local aesthetics. Singing competitions are especially popular: China's GotTalent, The Voice of China and a version of The X Factor(China's Strongest Voice) have all beenmajor hits.

中国达人秀，ITV本土西门克威尔电视秀的中国版，每集收视高达4亿。西方授权本土制作兼具异国情调和(中国)当地审美。歌曲比赛类尤其受欢迎：中国达人秀，中国好声音和X音素(激情唱响)均已登陆(中国市场)。

Last month the BBC unveiled China's take on Top Gear on national broadcaster ShanghaiDragon TV, featuring a double Olympic gold diving champion, the presenter of Chinese Idoland a pop star turned actor in place of British hostsJeremy Clarkson, James May and RichardHammond.

据上月BBC报道《top gear》再次被中国上海东方卫视引进，他们用一个奥运会双项冠军，《中国偶像》主持人和一个流行歌手来代替大不列颠版的主持人Jeremy Clarkson, James May 和RichardHammond。

These shows are strikingly different from their western counterparts. The Voiceof China, themost popular show in 2013, began the nearly three-hour finale ofits third season on 7 Octoberwith a soaring shot of the Great Wall; avoiceover praised China's thousands of years of history.The show then cut to testimonials from fans and former contestants: an elderly man, a middle-classfamily, a farmer, a foreign tourist in Tiananmen square.

这些秀和他们西方原版完全不同。中国好声音，2013年(中国)最火的秀，9月7第三季近三小时的结局篇开头拍了一堆长城镜头，画外音还赞美了中国几千年的历史。接着镜头切到了粉丝和前选手感言：一位老人，一户中产阶级家庭，一个农民兄弟，一只逛天安门广场的老外。

"The Voice of China lets all of us music lovers bravely pursue our dreams,"said a man carrying alute. Sentimental ballads are the order of the day.Judges are unwaveringly supportive.

一只琵琶哥说“中国好声音给所有的音乐爱好者提供了追求梦想滴机会。”凄美悲凉的情歌扎堆，而评委们都毫不动摇地支持。

Next up are remakes of documentary Educating Yorkshire and the potentially tricky prospectof a Chinese Big Brother. The sometimes risqué content that comes with Big Brother territoryfrequently lands the show in hot water with UK watchdog Of com – which has nothing onChina's all-powerful State Administrationof Radio, Film and Television, a notoriously twitchyregulator that acts as acultural guardian.

再下来是重制的中国版记录片《约克郡教育纪事》和潜力无限的《老大哥》.有时为了拯救收视老大哥频繁涉黄，这会招惹到英国通信监管部——比起天朝的广电总局的权限他很小儿科，仅仅是守护文化的调节器。

It has pulled shows at the first hint of attitudes or depictions that show China or its people in apoor light. In 2011 it banned X Factor-style talentshow Super Girl, which has attractedaudiences of up to 400 million, and announced last autumn it would stop satellite TV stationsfrom broadcasting more than one foreign-format show a year. Stations have replaced theseprogrammes with others the government deems more acceptable, such asdocumentariesabout Communist party history. The problem is that nobody wantsto watch them.

给中国观众的节目展示做的不怎么好。2011年，一个类似X音素模式叫做超级女声的秀被禁，它有4亿观众，去年秋天卫星广播电视宣布停播了至少一个外国秀。电视台用诸如共党史记录片这类可能被接受的节目填补砍掉的秀。问题是压根没人看。

 

 

Fans of the talent show Super Girl in 2005. The hugely popular programme was banned byChina's broadcasting regulator in 2011. Photograph:China Photos/Getty Images.

2005年超级女声秀粉，这具有庞大收视率的节目在2011年被中国电视台砍了。

There have been reports that the BBC's Sherlock, with Benedict Cumberbatch, was bannedfrom major channels. However the BBC's Cheung denies this, saying itjust took time for theshow to move from airing on a Chinese video site to being broadcast on China's statebroadcaster CCTV.

有报道说BBC家卷福的夏洛克在(中国)主要电视台被禁止。不过BBC的张否认了这点，解释说节目从国家视频站挪到中国国家广播电台CCTV后换了时间段。

Martha Brass, chief operating officer at Big Brother producer Endemol, says carefulcollaboration with its partner Youku Tudou – China's answer to YouTube – willsee a sanitisedversion make it past the censor. "In any country you obviously have to look at the cultural andregulatory environment, and we are well awareof that in relation to China," she says. "BigBrother is actually a veryflexible format. In the Philippines it is very much a family show, andinAustralia we have run it in different time slots for different audiences. We feel confidentabout our ability to address the particular TV regulations inChina."

玛莎布拉斯，《老大哥》首席运营官说，跟优酷土豆——中国的油土鳖合作要小心翼翼——(中国)为营造一个干净的环境正在各种审查。“去任何国家，你都要注意它的文化和监管环境，我们跟中国相处的还不赖。”她说，“老大哥其实可以很灵活，在菲律宾他是个很棒的家庭秀;在澳大利亚，不同时间段我们满足不同观众。在中国的电视广播规则下我们也很有信心。”

The rise of Chinese video services such as Sohu TV, Tencent and iQiyi hasopened a huge newpotential market for foreign programme rights ownersl.The third series of Sherlock hasnotched up more than 70 million views online,while US show The Big Bang Theory, the mostpopular foreign show in China, has been viewed more than 1.4bn times on video sites."Newmedia platforms are just starting to get into deals for more and more foreign shows," says PaulSandler, managing director of Objective Productions."That could have a massive impact onthe market for content."

中国的视频行业正在崛起，诸如搜狐、腾讯、爱奇艺已经为外国节目版权开放了一个巨大潜力无限的市场。夏洛克第三季视频点击超过7亿，而生活大爆炸作为中国最受欢迎的美剧，点击次数超过14亿。“新媒体平台开始涉足并不断扩大外国节目交易量，”节目总监Paul Sandler说“这个市场的容量影响巨大。”

However the rise in online viewing, and the popularity of foreign shows has been seen as athreat by the state regulator. In April, video streaming websites were told to "clean up" andstop showing The Big Bang Theory as wellas US shows The Good Wife, NCIS and The Practice.Shows that might be thought much more likely to outrage the watchdog – The Walking Dead,House of Cards and Breaking Bad – were unaffected.As recently as three years ago China wasconsidered something of a "Wild East" for foreign production companies, replete with tales ofthe impossibility of doing deals and a culture of ripping off hit foreign formats without payingfor rights.

然而在线视屏地崛起，英美剧的流行也让监管部门感受到了威胁。今年4月，网络视频掀起“整顿风”，生活大爆炸、傲骨贤妻、NCIS和律师本色被查办。而那些很大可能被监管部门认为不适合的——行尸走肉，纸牌屋和绝命毒师——都没事。三年前，中国还被某些外国公司认做是没有人权做不成事以及排斥外来文化的“野蛮的东方”。

"If China wants to be taken seriously in the international market they have totreat intellectualproperty with proper respect," says Sandler, who has donedeals for three series of a Chineseversion of gameshow The Cube. "There is awill from the government to have a proper IPprotection structure; it isnowhere near as bad as it was a few years ago."Sandler believes thatfor the Chinese TV industry the aim is to collaborate andlearn about how to develop hit showsthat they can export.China has some interesting homegrown hits, including a nationwidecompetitionin the vein of Great British Bake Off but based on calligraphy; roughly translated,its title is Idiom Hero. But there is some way to go to make internationally appealing shows.

“中国要想在国际市场受到重视，他们必须尊重知识产权，”刚同中方交易完三期游戏节目《魔方》版权的Sandler说，“政府现在很有意愿构造保护体制，远比几年前好多了。”Sandler认为中国电视业的合作目标很清晰，那就是要学习如何发展并出口。中国有一些好玩的本土流行玩意，像不列颠烘焙大赛那样的全国性竞赛，不过都是一些文字艺术，简单说点就是成语英雄啦这类。用些方法包装下也是有国际吸引力的节目。

"The truth is the real aim of all the broadcasters and government in China isto develophomegrown Chinese shows and export them," he says. "The same way as(they have) with cars,computers, white goods, you name it. We are trying to collaborate to come up with somegenuinely good formats."

“事实上中国电台和政府的真实目的是发展中国本土秀并出口，”他说，“同样的事已经有很多先例，汽车、电脑、你能想到的大个家用电器。我们正在努力合作并争取多想出些好点子来。”

Not everyone is impressed. For a market of 1.4 billion people, a total of ￡17m in sales ofBritish programmes and formats in 2013 seems like a "long walk for a short drink", says onesenior UK TV executive. But Cheung counters that. He says it is a slow-burn culture aboutbuilding relationships, and the real cash will follow: "You have to get involved and engage thepartners personally; proper trust takes time. It is challenging but at same time exciting. If youcan crack China, it makes any other market easy."

当然也不是每个人都印象深刻。2013年，不列颠在这个14亿人口市场的节目和读物销售额总数是一千七百万英镑，看上去“功倍事半”英国某资深电视管理层说。但是张不同意他的看法。他说文化交流的构建是慢工细活，赚钱要循序渐进：“你必须要跟合伙人兼容，相互信任需要时间。这不仅是挑战同样也令人振奋。如果你能打开中国市场，进入其他市场会变得相当容易。”