"Shaolin Temple Legend: Heroes of the Desert" (Shaolin Temple Legend 3), heavily funded by Henan TV, has reached new heights in viewership since its broadcast on CCTV-8. According to reports, on the first day of its premiere on July 19th, it achieved a high viewership rating of 1.4%, setting a new record for this year's prime-time TV drama ratings on CCTV-8. "Shaolin Temple Legend 3" is the first major production after CCTV-8's new schedule arrangement, and can be considered a highly popular hit. Recently, a seminar on "Shaolin Temple Legend" was held in Beijing, jointly organized by the China Television Artists Association, the Publicity Department of the Provincial Committee, the Provincial Radio and Television Bureau, and the Provincial Film and Television Artists Association. While winning the market and audience, "Shaolin Temple Legend" also received high praise from experts and industry professionals.
Conveying Pure Chinese Values
The reason why all three parts of "Shaolin Temple Legend" have been so successful lies particularly in three aspects.
Firstly, it successfully tells a very pure Chinese story. Although the creation themes of current TV dramas have diversified, the choice of theme remains an important creative element for creators. From our advocacy perspective, theme selection should either reflect contemporary life or tell Chinese stories. "Shaolin Temple Legend" has a high grasp and insightful choice in telling Chinese stories. This is Henan's unique cultural resource.
In recent years, we have been considering how domestic TV dramas can go global. Some people propose creating a 'Chinese wave'. If we are determined and confident to create such a wave, Chinese elements must be the mainstream advantage.
Secondly, this work vividly conveys pure and authentic Chinese values. The concepts of benevolence, wisdom, courage, and faith-based ideas in Buddhist culture, such as sincerity and broad-mindedness, are core traits of Chinese culture.
Finally, martial arts culture represents the cultural height of this series. The success of this drama signifies that we can unify the main melody with marketization, commerciality, and artistry at the cultural and artistic level, which is an experience worth learning from for the entire TV drama creation industry.
Li Jingsheng (Director of the Management Department of the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, Vice Chairman of the China Television Artists Association)
A Visually and Spiritually Nourishing TV Drama
"Shaolin Temple Legend" is another Chinese Kung Fu TV drama following "Bruce Lee Legend."
The cultural orientation of "Shaolin Temple Legend" is very rich. It promotes the Shaolin spirit, and after watching the episodes, I understand that the Shaolin spirit embodies the values of kindness and patriotism.
While promoting the values of kindness and patriotism of the Shaolin Temple, the drama also has a clear cultural critique stance, criticizing personal desires like those of the crown prince, Mr. Bai, and Mr. Ha. A TV drama without a cultural position cannot be considered a successful or good one.
What makes "Shaolin Temple Legend" especially valuable is not just allowing viewers to stay on the visually stimulating, violent actions but moving from visual nourishment to spiritual nourishment, promoting truth, goodness, and beauty in the battle between good and evil. Entertainment is the most basic function of literature and art, but there is good entertainment and bad entertainment. Good entertainment nourishes the mind, while bad entertainment can corrupt it. "Shaolin Temple Legend" is a TV drama with a positive social theme and moral quality, and it also has rich entertainment significance.
Wang Weiguo (Professor at Communication University of China)
Collection of Opinions
Li Zhun (Former Vice Chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles)
"Shaolin Temple Legend" uses history to summarize religion rather than using religion to interpret history. This drama conveys the ultimate concern for humanity, transcending life and death, pain, and pursuing freedom and eternity in life.
Fan Yongge (Former Editor-in-Chief of Literature and Arts Daily, literary critic)
Besides digging into Shaolin culture, this drama also deeply interprets China's Jianghu culture.
Yin Hong (Executive Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University)
"Shaolin Temple Legend" more importantly provides young people with a kind of masculine and righteous spiritual nourishment, fully embodying the function of education through entertainment. (Source: Jinbao Network)