數百萬的中國觀衆着迷西方電視劇
Laura Carmichael in Downton Abbey, which attracted an audience of 160 million viewers. Photograph: Nick Briggs/AP
勞拉·卡爾邁克爾在唐頓莊園劇照，該劇吸引了一億六千萬觀衆。
The fact that subtitled episodes of Downton Abbey are watched by160 million viewers shows just what a love affair the Chinese have developed with foreign television shows and formats remade for their market. With BigBrother and Educating Yorkshire the latest shows to be lined up for a Chinese makeover, it's boom time for those exporting hit western programmes to the world's most populous nation.
《唐頓莊園》該加個副標題，一億六千萬收視的愛情劇，中國人已經開始爲發展海外劇場重置節目和格式。《老大哥》和《約克郡教育紀事》最近排上了中國人的改編名單，這是西方節目出口到世界人口大國激增的時代。China is the fastest-growing market for the sale of Britishshows and formats, with growth of 40% 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), but China 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."
中國是不列顛秀和記錄片銷售增長最快的市場，去年高達百分之四十。雖然進賬還不算高，但潛力巨大。在英國最好的秀收視率會達到千萬級（在觀衆數量上），而中國有14億人，收視會是雙倍、三倍甚至四倍。BBC全球中國區副總Pierre Cheung說，這個市場潛力巨大。
China's Got Talent, a local versionof Simon Cowell's ITV hit, has seen viewers top 400 million an episode. Locally produced versions of western franchises combine the sheen of the exotic withthe familiarity of local aesthetics. Singing competitions are especially popular: China's Got Talent, The Voice of China and a version of The X Factor(China's Strongest Voice) have all been major hits.
中國達人秀，ITV本土西門克威爾電視秀的中國版，每集收視高達4億。西方授權本土製作兼具異國情調和(中國)當地審美。歌曲比賽類尤其受歡迎：中國達人秀，中國好聲音和X音素（激情唱響）均已登陸（中國市場）。Last month the BBC unveiled China's take on Top Gear on national broadcaster Shanghai Dragon TV, featuring a double Olympic gold diving champion, the presenter of Chinese Idol and a pop star turned actor in place of British hostsJeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond.
據上月BBC報道《top gear》再次被中國上海東方衛視引進，他們用一個奧運會雙項冠軍，《中國偶像》主持人和一個流行歌手來代替大不列顛版的主持人Jeremy Clarkson, James May 和RichardHammond。These shows are strikingly different from their western counterparts. The Voiceof China, the most popular show in 2013, began the nearly three-hour finale ofits third season on 7 October with 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.
這些秀和他們西方原版完全不同。中國好聲音，2013年（中國）最火的秀，9月7第三季近三小時的結局篇開頭拍了一堆長城鏡頭，畫外音還讚美了中國幾千年的歷史。接着鏡頭切到了粉絲和前選手感言：一位老人，一戶中產階級家庭，一個農民兄弟，一隻逛天安門廣場的老外。"The Voice of China lets all of us music lovers bravely pursue our dreams,"said a man carrying a lute. Sentimental ballads are the order of the es are unwaveringly supportive.
一隻琵琶哥說“中國好聲音給所有的音樂愛好者提供了追求夢想滴機會。”悽美悲涼的情歌扎堆，而評委們都毫不動搖地支持。Next up are remakes of documentary Educating Yorkshire and the potentially tricky prospect of a Chinese Big Brother. The sometimes risqué content that comes with Big Brother territory frequently lands the show in hot water with UK watchdog Of com – which has nothing on China's all-powerful State Administrationof Radio, Film and Television, a notoriously twitchy regulator that acts as acultural guardian.
再下來是重製的中國版記錄片《約克郡教育紀事》和潛力無限的《老大哥》.有時爲了拯救收視老大哥頻繁涉黃，這會招惹到英國通信監管部——比起天朝的廣電總局的權限他很小兒科，僅僅是守護文化的調節器。It has pulled shows at the first hint of attitudes or depictions that show China or its people in a poor light. In 2011 it banned X Factor-style talentshow Super Girl, which has attracted audiences of up to 400 million, and announced last autumn it would stop satellite TV stations from broadcasting more than one foreign-format show a year. Stations have replaced these programmes with others the government deems more acceptable, such asdocumentaries about Communist party history. The problem is that nobody wantsto watch them.
給中國觀衆的節目展示做的不怎麼好。2011年，一個類似X音素模式叫做超級女聲的秀被禁，它有4億觀衆，去年秋天衛星廣播電視宣佈停播了至少一個外國秀。電視臺用諸如共黨史記錄片這類可能被接受的節目填補砍掉的秀。問題是壓根沒人看。
There have been reports that the BBC's Sherlock, with Benedict Cumberbatch, was banned from major channels. However the BBC's Cheung denies this, saying itjust took time for the show to move from airing on a Chinese video site to being broadcast on China's state broadcaster CCTV.
有報道說BBC家卷福的夏洛克在（中國）主要電視臺被禁止。不過BBC的張否認了這點，解釋說節目從國家視頻站挪到中國國家廣播電臺CCTV後換了時間段。Martha Brass, chief operating officer at Big Brother producer Endemol, says careful collaboration with its partner Youku Tudou – China's answer to YouTube – willsee a sanitised version make it past the censor. "In any country you obviously have to look at the cultural and regulatory environment, and we are well awareof that in relation to China," she says. "Big Brother is actually a veryflexible format. In the Philippines it is very much a family show, and inAustralia we have run it in different time slots for different audiences. We feel confident about our ability to address the particular TV regulations inChina."
瑪莎布拉斯，《老大哥》首席運營官說，跟優酷土豆——中國的油土鱉合作要小心翼翼——（中國）爲營造一個乾淨的環境正在各種審查。“去任何國家，你都要注意它的文化和監管環境，我們跟中國相處的還不賴。”她說，“老大哥其實可以很靈活，在菲律賓他是個很棒的家庭秀；在澳大利亞，不同時間段我們滿足不同觀衆。在中國的電視廣播規則下我們也很有信心。”The rise of Chinese video services such as Sohu TV, Tencent and iQiyi hasopened a huge new potential market for foreign programme rights third series of Sherlock has notched up more than 70 million views online,while US show The Big Bang Theory, the most popular foreign show in China, has been viewed more than 1.4bn times on video sites."New media platforms are just starting to get into deals for more and more foreign shows," says Paul Sandler, managing director of Objective Productions."That could have a massive impact on the market for content."
中國的視頻行業正在崛起，諸如搜狐、騰訊、愛奇藝已經爲外國節目版權開放了一個巨大潛力無限的市場。夏洛克第三季視頻點擊超過7億，而生活大爆炸作爲中國最受歡迎的美劇，點擊次數超過14億。“新媒體平臺開始涉足並不斷擴大外國節目交易量，”節目總監Paul Sandler說“這個市場的容量影響巨大。”However the rise in online viewing, and the popularity of foreign shows has been seen as a threat by the state regulator. In April, video streaming websites were told to "clean up" and stop 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 recently as three years ago China was considered something of a "Wild East" for foreign production companies, replete with tales of the impossibility of doing deals and a culture of ripping off hit foreign formats without paying for rights.
然而在線視屏地崛起，英美劇的流行也讓監管部門感受到了威脅。今年4月，網絡視頻掀起“整頓風”，生活大爆炸、傲骨賢妻、NCIS和律師本色被查辦。而那些很大可能被監管部門認爲不適合的——行屍走肉，紙牌屋和絕命毒師——都沒事。三年前，中國還被某些外國公司認做是沒有人權做不成事以及排斥外來文化的“野蠻的東方”。"If China wants to be taken seriously in the international market they have totreat intellectual property with proper respect," says Sandler, who has donedeals for three series of a Chinese version of gameshow The Cube. "There is awill from the government to have a proper IP protection structure; it isnowhere near as bad as it was a few years ago."Sandler believes that for the Chinese TV industry the aim is to collaborate andlearn about how to develop hit shows that they can a has some interesting homegrown hits, including a nationwide competitionin 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.
“中國要想在國際市場受到重視，他們必須尊重知識產權，”剛同中方交易完三期遊戲節目《魔方》版權的Sandler說，“政府現在很有意願構造保護體制，遠比幾年前好多了。”Sandler認爲中國電視業的合作目標很清晰，那就是要學習如何發展並出口。中國有一些好玩的本土流行玩意，像不列顛烘焙大賽那樣的全國性競賽，不過都是一些文字藝術，簡單說點就是成語英雄啦這類。用些方法包裝下也是有國際吸引力的節目。"The truth is the real aim of all the broadcasters and government in China isto develop homegrown 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 some genuinely good formats."
“事實上中國電臺和政府的真實目的是發展中國本土秀並出口，”他說，“同樣的事已經有很多先例，汽車、電腦、你能想到的大個家用電器。我們正在努力合作並爭取多想出些好點子來。”Not everyone is impressed. For a market of 1.4 billion people, a total of ￡17m in sales of British programmes and formats in 2013 seems like a "long walk for a short drink", says one senior UK TV executive. But Cheung counters that. He says it is a slow-burn culture about building relationships, and the real cash will follow: "You have to get involved and engage the partners personally; proper trust takes time. It is challenging but at same time exciting. If you can crack China, it makes any other market easy."
當然也不是每個人都印象深刻。2013年，不列顛在這個14億人口市場的節目和讀物銷售額總數是一千七百萬英鎊，看上去“功倍事半”英國某資深電視管理層說。但是張不同意他的看法。他說文化交流的構建是慢工細活，賺錢要循序漸進：“你必須要跟合夥人兼容，相互信任需要時間。這不僅是挑戰同樣也令人振奮。如果你能打開中國市場，進入其他市場會變得相當容易。”
