2019-03-25

A hit TV series in China skewers cranky old parents

Defying the cult of filial piety thrills viewers
The Economist 2019-3-23

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IT IS NO mean feat to be one of the top-ten trending hashtags on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, for 20 consecutive days and counting. “All is Well”, a show on provincial television which premiered on March 1st, has done just that. The show tells the story of a fictional Chinese family torn by internal conflict. The female protagonist, Su Mingyu, is barely on speaking terms with her widowed father and one of her two brothers. The father is a nagging crank who expects his two adult sons to bankroll his lavish tastes. This leads to constant bickering between the brothers, neither of whom wants to be called unfilial.

Episodes of “All is Well” have been streamed more than 390m times. That exceeds the online viewership of the next most popular television series by 278m. From “The Simpsons” to “Game of Thrones”, dramas about bickering families are common in many countries. But in China, the Communist Party prefers entertainment to be unchallenging. So the questioning of blind attachment to traditional values in “All is Well” is causing a stir. Viewers are transfixed by its rare portrayal of middle-class life, warts and all.

Many Chinese can relate to the Su family’s troubles. The daughter holds a grudge against her father (the two are pictured), and especially against her late mother, for having mistreated her while pampering her brothers. As a child she was made to wash her brothers’ clothes. Her parents turned a blind eye when one of her brothers beat her. For many female viewers born before 1979, when China introduced a one-child-per-couple policy (changed to two in 2016), such scenes have brought back painful memories. Some have used social media to share their own tales of sexism within the family.

But the biggest reaction has been to the drama’s critique of filial piety. Even today, the Confucian principle of unswerving loyalty to one’s parents remains hallowed. Many people say the best measure of adherence to this virtue is whether a son takes good care of his parents in old age. A recent poll by Toutiao, a Chinese news app, found that 54% of elderly people in China get more than half of their expenses covered by their adult children. Partly, no doubt, this is due to a patchy pensions system. But it also reflects a culture of “never saying no to your parents”, says an “All is Well” fan in Beijing.

In the series, however, the widowed father does not attract much sympathy. He throws tantrums and insists that his eldest son buy him a three-bedroom apartment (the son grudgingly does so). Commentators on social media have taken to calling the father a juying (“giant baby”)—a characteristic common among parents in real life, they say. The Su children do their duty, but the audience is supposed to applaud the resentment they express.

There have been mixed reviews in state media. One newspaper said that the “realistic plot and acting” had touched the “pain points” of many viewers. Beijing Daily, however, said the drama was “unrealistic”. It said it caricatured elderly parents by “unreasonably” ascribing “every possible bad quality” of old people to one character. Someone representing every virtue admired by the party would be just fine for television, presumably.

Notes

IT IS NO mean feat to be one of the top-ten trending hashtags on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, for 20 consecutive days and counting.
绝非易事；十大热搜；怎么描述Weibo？the equivalent of Twitter.
Ex: Alipay, China’s equivalent of Paypal

The father is a nagging crank who expects his two adult sons to bankroll his lavish tastes.
纠缠不休的坏脾气人；提供资金，耗资巨大的品位（需求要求）

This leads to constant bickering between the brothers, neither of whom wants to be called unfilial.
持续的争吵；不孝顺

dramas about bickering families are common
翻译成宅斗剧？Games of Thrones也算吧。

So the questioning of blind attachment to traditional values in “All is Well” is causing a stir.
对于传统观念盲目遵循的质疑；引起了很大的震动，stir是搅拌的意思

Viewers are transfixed by its rare portrayal of middle-class life, warts and all.
惊呆了怎么说？；赤果果的描述；毫不遮掩

holds a grudge against her father
对。。。怨恨

having mistreated her while pampering her brothers
对比：一个虐待，一个精心护理

China introduced a one-child-per-couple policy
计划生育怎么说？

such scenes have brought back painful memories.
回想起痛苦回忆

share their own tales of sexism within the family.
性别歧视，尤其是对女性的

But the biggest reaction has been to the drama’s critique of filial piety.
直接翻译：孝顺，虔诚

the Confucian principle of unswerving loyalty to one’s parents remains hallowed.
孔夫子的观念，什么观念？对父母坚定不移的忠诚；受崇敬的（尤其是对古老事物）

Many people say the best measure of adherence to this virtue is whether a son takes good care of his parents in old age.
对这种品德的追求（和前面的一个意思：attachment to traditional values）; 养儿防老嘛

due to a patchy pensions system.
之前学过一个词patchwork，拼接布，patchy就是零散的散落的，意思是参差不齐，不完善的养老体系

throws tantrums

tantrum: a sudden short period of angry, unreasonable behaviour 名词耍脾气，耍性子

扔脾气，就是发脾气了，怒了

the “realistic plot and acting” had touched the “pain points” of many viewers.
碰到了痛点

It said it caricatured elderly parents by “unreasonably” ascribing “every possible bad quality” of old people to one character.
直接意思是画成漫画，其实就是夸大了；ascribe some quality to sb，将一些品质赋予给这个人，意思就是这个具有这些品质。太夸张了，因为把所有可能得坏品质都集中赋予给了一个角色