To prevent young minds from rotting away over the summer vacation, China Central Television has announced that over the next few weeks it will be broadcasting television adaptations of the four Great Classic Novels. Though the series, Dream of Red Mansions, Outlaws of the Marsh, Journey to the West, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, have all been shown on television in the past, this will be the first time they are all broadcast together.
CCTV producers point to series that claim to have an uplifting message but which are essentially standard teen-idol soap operas whose message is nothing more than “Forsake everything for love.” And the “Red Classics” – patriotic war dramas – have neither the quantity nor the quality to make much of a dent in viewing habits. With such a gap in educational programming, CCTV must fall back on the old standards so as not to lead children astray.
Ironic, then, that the most recognizeable image of Dream of Red Mansions, even in its bowdlerized CCTV version, is that of Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu reading Romance of the Western Chamber, a book that was considered unhealthy for children.
The four series are in fact rarely ever off the air and form a staple of local TV station programming. So with three episodes airing every morning, this might just be a crafty plot to get kids to turn off the TV and do something more constructive with their time.
- Mirror (Chinese): CCTV broadcasts the four classics together for the first time
- Photo is from promotional material for the VCD version of the CCTV production of Dream of Red Mansions