Chinese TV dramas and movies are becoming evermore popular in Vietnam as evidenced by their growing market share, with movies in particular posting record ticket sales with the features themselves receiving rave reviews from local audiences.
This year, the Chinese blockbuster science-fiction fantasy movie "Mermaid" directed by Stephen Chow, has swept box offices in Vietnam after debuting on Feb. 10, during the traditional Lunar New Year holiday.
The movie, an environmental parable and a comic love story between a rich businessman and a mermaid, created a "mermaid fever" in Vietnam with audiences expressing their deep enjoyment of the film that made them both laugh and cry.
In March, "mermaid fever" became even "hotter" in Vietnam after photos of a cute six-month-old Vietnamese girl wearing a mermaid costume at a swimming pool went viral on the internet.
Her parents said the idea of dressing up their daughter in a mermaid costume came as they were inspired after watching the "Mermaid".
Earlier in 2015, the TV drama "The Empress of China" also created a craze in Vietnam with audiences eagerly waiting everyday to watch the TV drama unfold on the internet.
"I was so excited to wait for the next episode to see the new developments of the story," Nguyen Ngoc Dong, 33, said.
At the same time, an online app which helps editing photos to look like characters in "The Empress of China" also went viral in Vietnam.
The makeup app adds vivid red lips, almond-shaped cat eyes with long eyelashes and a red flower mark on the forehead.
"I used the app on my own photos, and even on my husband's and my cousin's photos," Dong laughed and told Xinhua. "It was so fun."
After its huge success online, the drama, also known as the
"Saga of Wu Zetian," which is about the life of China's only known empress, was also broadcasted on Vietnamese television in 2015.
Dong told Xinhua that she likes Chinese TV dramas and movies because of the good-looking actors and actresses, as well as the magnificent, breathtaking scenes.
"The actresses are extremely beautiful and their costumes are also gorgeous," Dong said.
Nguyen Huong Tra, a 29-year-old office worker in Hanoi, is also a fan of Chinese films. Tra said she was addicted to the Chinese TV drama "My Fair Princess" (also known as Huan Zhu Ge Ge in Chinese) when she was a child.
"I fell in love with the drama and often imitated the actions of the characters in the drama," Tra said, adding at that time she would often chat with her classmates about the details of the latest episodes.
Nguyen Ha Thu, 25, said she used to collect small stickers with photos of the characters in "My Fair Princess" and "stick them all over her schoolbag and bedroom walls."
According to Nguyen Le Chi, a famous Vietnamese translator who has translated many Chinese TV dramas and movie scripts over the past 20 years, said that Chinese TV dramas and movies are quickly reworked for local audiences, particularly as film genres in China are becoming increasingly diversified.
During the traditional Lunar New Year holiday in February in Vietnam, there were four Chinese blockbusters that hit Vietnamese box
offices among a total of 14 movies being screened during the period, including "Monkey King 2," "From Vegas to Macau," "Mermaid," and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II."
"All the movies were warmly welcomed by Vietnamese audiences," Chi said.
Notably, in the first five days, the "Mermaid" raked in 43 billion Vietnamese dong (nearly 1.93 million U.S. dollars), which is an average of 8 billion Vietnamese dong (nearly 359,000 U.S. dollars) a day.
Chi said that after 13 days, ticket revenue from "Mermaid" rocketed to more than 80 billion Vietnamese dong (nearly 3.59 million U.S. dollars) with over 1 million tickets sold across the country.
"Mermaid" set the record for a movie reaching 80 billion Vietnamese dong in ticket sales in the shortest time among movies debuted in Vietnam, according to calculation by box offices.
Meanwhile, on Vietnamese television, many famous historical and martial arts films including "The Empress of China," and "The Romance of the Condor Heroes," among others, have been broadcasted.
At the same time, Vietnamese audiences can also watch modern Chinese TV dramas such as "Love You Thousands of Silk," and "Tiger Mom," among other popular titles.
"Vietnamese audiences like China's typical historical and martial arts films, and also welcome those about modern life, including storylines that span family affairs, friendship and love," Chi said.
"As China and Vietnam share similarities in culture, it is quite
easy for Vietnamese audiences to understand and empathize with characters in Chinese films and the ways they handle certain situations in the films," Chi told Xinhua.
