Every year, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television's (SAPPRFT) annual "drama administration" meeting highlights the government's opinion on domestic TV shows, which in turn helps set the tone for upcoming productions that Chinese studios will produce in the future.
At this year's meeting, held Saturday, the watchdog held up several popular dramas from 2015 for both praise and criticism.
Big winners when it came to viewership numbers and reputation last year, period dramas Nirvana in Fire and Legend of Mi Yue were given high scores by the government.
"They not only feature outstanding production quality, but also are rich in artistic and spiritual values. It's safe to say they represent the highest standards of domestic TV drama productions," Li Jingsheng, director of SAPPRFT's TV Drama Department, said.
However, another hot drama, Dream Land Does Not Believe Tears, was criticized at the meeting for inappropriate promotion of sex scenes.
"The drama itself doesn't have any problems, but its promotional material focused too much on racy shots that misled audiences," Li said.
Looking at the overall meeting, spiritual direction is still the NO.1 evaluation criteria SAPPRFT uses to examine TV shows. Elements such as sex and violence are discouraged from appearing in domestic TV shows.
As a new entry to the TV industry, streaming sites were encouraged to establish systems to self-censor shows for unacceptable content.
