How Wee Ng 2026. The Bane of Chinese Civilisation: Pruning Gangtai Dramas and Meteor Garden. in: How Wee Ng (ed.) The Chinese Censorship Discourse on Television Dramas: Worrying about the Audience in Postsocialist China Routledge.
| Chapter title | The Bane of Chinese Civilisation: Pruning Gangtai Dramas and Meteor Garden |
|---|---|
| Authors | How Wee Ng |
| Editors | How Wee Ng |
| Abstract | Focusing on the fraught reception of Gangtai television dramas, this chapter focuses on how their popularity from the 1990s to early 2000s provoked anxieties over vulgarisation, youth corruption, and cultural sovereignty. While commercially attractive and cost-effective for television stations, these dramas were framed as “spiritual pollutants” that degraded public taste and Chinese cultural values. Figures like Wang Shuo who was accused of vulgarisation for his tongsu works, ironically condemned Gangtai culture as vulgar, a stance shaped by his personal frustration with his daughter’s fandom. This chapter examines the discourse surrounding the highly popular Taiwanese idol drama Meteor Garden (2001), which was controversial for its depictions of school violence, celebrity worship, and effeminate masculinity. Its suspension prompted illegal circulation and discussions among students, parents, and teachers. Censorship proved productive, generating a domestic alternative, Meteor Showers (2009) that aligned with state-sanctioned youthhood and behaviour. The discourse surrounding the morally rehabilitated series revealed a gap between its high ratings and the conflicting moral views it provoked. Renowned playwright Wei Minglun, who championed women’s emancipation through theatre, condemned the fandom surrounding Meteor Garden. His defence of “individuality” in elite theatre while disqualifying its popular expressions on television reflects a deeper anxiety over the erosion of cultural authority. |
| Book title | The Chinese Censorship Discourse on Television Dramas: Worrying about the Audience in Postsocialist China |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publisher | Routledge |
| Publication dates | |
| Published | 22 Jan 2026 |
| ISBN | 9781003471684 |
| 9781032749549 | |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003471684-6 |
| Web address (URL) | https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003471684-6 |