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Caught in-between: Chinese feminism in contemporary script writing for TV dramas
Author(s)
Date Issued
2025
Publisher
Routledge
ISBN
9781032431055
Citation
In Seethaler, I. C., & Pillai, Tripthi (Eds.). (2025). The routledge companion to global women's writing (pp. 186-198). Routledge.
Type
Book Chapter
Abstract
The last two decades have witnessed a flourishing development of the Chinese television industry, with the emergence of a large number of TV dramas that have gained popularity in the greater China areas including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Some of the dramas were even translated into English and broadcast on Netflix (e.g., Empresses in the Palace, 甄嬛傳, zhenhuan zhuan), providing Western viewers with a chance to understand Chinese culture. While most contemporary productions of dramas contain a common theme of women’s self-empowerment, the script writing for these dramas often does not conform to the Western definition of feminism. The present chapter takes A Dream of Splendor (夢華錄, menghua lu), a 2022 Chinese mainland costume drama, as an example to demonstrate that the feminist representation in contemporary Chinese script writing is trapped between the pursuit of independence promoted by Western feminism and the adherence to traditional Chinese cultural values that prevent women from liberating themselves. The chapter sheds light on the understanding of Chinese feminism from a global perspective.
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