A Korean wave is sweeping across China, with many Chinese women worshipping South Korean actors Kim Soo-hyun and Lee Min-ho as demigods. Chinese netizens have always been divided over South Korean TV dramas, but there is no doubt that programs from the neighboring country are now enjoying a new round of popularity in China. And a big part of the credit for that goes to You Who Came From The Star, the South Korean TV series which is on the air now.
Top South Korean actors Jun Ji-hyun and Kim Soo-hyun recently earned a popularity rating of 24.8 percent in their country, considered strong by Nielsen Korea. You Who Came From The Star and The Heirs have been subjects of hot online discussions throughout Asia. Besides, the book, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, read by the hero in You Who Came From The Star was a hard-to-get item on Amazon for a while.
The two TV programs have several common elements: a tall, handsome, and rich hero who loves the heroine blindly and always protects her, and an equally handsome man madly in love with the same woman. Both programs portray the purity of love, which is expressed through a kiss or a warm hug. Perhaps that's the secret of their success; perhaps people are still fascinated by Cinderella-type stories.
The widening wealth gap is a matter of social concern both in South Korea and China, and the challenges that young people face in their quest for a better life might have prompted many ordinary girls to dream of marrying rich, caring men. This is precisely what the popular South Korean TV dramas portray. In fact, South Korean TV dramas are tailored to meet the market's demands.
In contrast, Chinese TV screens are flooded by knock-off and/or poorly made soap operas. Most of the Chinese TV dramas either distort the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, which is a distortion of history, or blindly copy foreign programs. The lack of good stories has of late resulted in loads of TV series on time travel or fights in the harems of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) emperors. These, in short, are the bane of Chinese TV productions.
In contrast, South Korean TV dramas have re-invented themselves. In fact, 2013 could be said to be the year of rebirth of South Korean TV dramas. Shortly after the enormous craze generated by Great Jang-Geum in 2003, South Korean dramas lost much of their popularity in other Asian countries thanks partly to better produced works from the United States and the United Kingdom.
Many netizens even said at the time that South Korean TV dramas had become pass because of their stereotyped themes: traffic accidents, and cancer and other incurable diseases. But all that has changed with the success of You Who Came From The Star and The Heirs, which Chinese directors can use as examples, as well as inspiration, to improve their productions.
The resurgence of South Korean TV dramas can be attributed to the joint efforts of the country's government and TV series makers. The South Korean government implemented a policy to help TV productions back in the late 1990s, when the first wave of popular dramas emerged from the country to capture the imagination of the people in the rest of Asia. Just before the turn of the millennium, the South Korean government issued regulations saying at least 80 percent of the TV programs had to be domestically produced. It also fixed the minimum number of homemade TV series to be broadcast in the country. That not only helped South Korean TV productions gain a firm foothold in the domestic market, but also laid the foundation for their successful foray into overseas markets.
Recent years have seen great innovations in South Korean TV productions in terms of themes and narrative patterns. Take You Who Came From The Star as an example. Although aliens visiting Earth is an oft-used theme, You Who Came From The Star's script remains logical and fast-paced. It mixes the plot with romance and murder and keeps the audience guessing about how the story will unfold. When it comes to love stories, the new South Korean teleplays no longer use the distress card; instead, they intersperse them with whimsy and romantic punch lines.
The three TV stations, SBS, KBS and MBC, control the majority of South Korean TV market, each specializing in a different area and catering to people of different ages. The productions are sleek and use advanced technologies such as high-speed photography and computer-generated effects, creating a real-life visual impact.
Moreover, the shooting for South Korean productions generally starts when the scripts are just one-third ready. Many popular productions have their own websites, where scriptwriters post part of the finished scripts, inviting viewers to leave messages, discuss the plot and come up with suggestions for future episodes. This not only keeps viewers' interest in the TV dramas alive, but also helps scriptwriters and directors make changes to the storylines to suit the audience's demand.
Hopefully, the innovation-induced success of South Korean TV programs will prompt Chinese TV drama makers to think up new ideas and abandon their bad practice of copying foreign productions in order to attract more viewers at home, and possibly abroad.
一股韩流正席卷中国，很多中国女人迷恋金秀贤（Kim Soo-hyun）和李敏镐（Lee Min-ho）那样的韩国明星，把他们尊为男神。在韩国电视剧的看法上，中国网民历来意见不一，但毋庸置疑的是，如今这个邻国的节目在中国越来越火。这很大一部分功劳要归给正热播的韩剧《来自星星的你》。
韩国一线演员全智贤（Jun Ji-hyun）和金秀贤近来在韩国赢得了24.8%的收视率，这在韩国尼尔森市场调查公司看来是颇高的。《来自星星的你》和《继承者们》在整个亚洲都是网上热议的话题。另外，《来自星星的你》主人公读的《爱德华的奇妙之旅》一度在亚马逊上一书难求。
这两部韩剧都具备几个相同的元素：矢志不渝爱护、保护女主角的高富帅男主角，同样深爱这个女人的帅气男二号。两部剧都以一个吻或一个温暖的拥抱传达爱情的纯净。或许这就是它们成功的奥秘；或许人们还渴望着灰姑娘式爱情故事。
无论在韩国还是中国，贫富差距都已是一个社会问题，年轻人在寻求更为美好生活的途中遭遇了一定的挫折，于是很多平庸的女孩开始幻想嫁入豪门，投入温柔男人的怀抱。这恰恰是大热的韩剧所描绘的场面。其实，韩剧就是顺应市场需求而生的。
与之相反，中国的电视荧屏充斥着抄袭作品以及（或者）粗工滥造的肥皂剧。大多数中国电视剧要么歪曲抗日战争那段历史，要么就是盲目抄袭外国节目。因为缺乏好的故事题材，近来也就出现了大量的穿越剧和清廷（1644-1911）争斗剧。这些简而言之就是中国电视制造业的祸害。
而韩国的电视剧却不断在推陈出新。2013年其实算是韩剧的重生之年。自2003年《大长今》创下收视狂潮后，韩剧在其他亚洲国家失去了很大市场，这部分要归因于英美国家的好作品。
很多网民那时甚至扬言韩剧已成为过去，因为他们的主题总是围绕交通事故、癌症或是其他不治之症，缺乏新意。但是《来自星星的你》和《继承者们》改变了这一切，中国导演们应当以此为鉴，以此激励自己提高电视作品的质量。
韩剧的重生要归功于韩国政府及韩国电视剧制作者的共同努力。早在20世纪90年代末期，韩国掀起的第一股收视热潮激发其他亚洲人想象力时，韩国政府就出台了一项政策，用来扶持电视制造业。本世纪初，韩国政府颁布法规，明确规定80%以上电视节目须为本国制作。同时也明确了导出国外的自制剧的最低下限。那一举措不仅为韩国电视业在本国市场赢得了强劲份额，也为其成功进军外国市场打下了基础。
近年来，无论是在主题还是记叙方法上，韩剧都有了极大的创新。就以《来自星星的你》为例。尽管外星人访问地球这一主题早已用得泛滥，但《来自星星的你》的剧本还是很有逻辑，剧情还是很紧凑的。故事情节杂糅了浪漫、凶杀的元素，观众们也一直关注着剧情的走向。至于爱情故事，新的韩剧不再走悲情路线，而是融入了奇妙与浪漫。
株式会社（SBS）、韩国放送公社（KBS）、文化广播公司（MBC）这三家电视台掌控了韩国绝大部分电视市场，每一个都在各自的领域上有专攻，满足不同年龄人们的需求。电视制作过程相当流畅，采用了高速摄影、电脑特技等先进技术，制造出一个近乎真实的视觉体验。
而且，韩剧往往在剧本刚创作三分之一时就开拍。很多热播剧都有自己的网站，编剧会把部分成稿贴上去，供网友查看留言，讨论故事情节，提出剧情走向的相关建议。这样一来，既留住了观众对该剧的热情，又可让编剧以及导演对情节作出改动以满足观众的口味。
所幸的是，韩剧这种创新造就的成功会激励中国电视剧制作者摒弃以往抄袭外国作品的习性，做出新的思索，借此吸引国内甚至国外更多观众。