In recent years, Shanghai has relied on the China (Shanghai) Internet Audiovisual Industry Base to continuously cultivate high-quality online drama content and achieve high-quality overseas sales through policy guidance, financial support and mechanism innovation. Focusing on the expression of modern civilization and the characteristics of Shanghai culture, online dramas "produced in Shanghai" have emerged in the international market, demonstrating the confidence of urban culture and the charm of Shanghai culture, and injecting fresh vitality into the global dissemination of Chinese contemporary culture.
Policy-driven, fostering new momentum for high-quality online dramas to go global
As early as 2005, Tudou.com, the first domestic online audio-visual platform, took root in Shanghai, laying a solid foundation for the development of the audio-visual industry. In 2010, the State Administration of Radio and Television approved Shanghai to build the country's first national-level online audio-visual industry park. After more than ten years of development, the base has attracted more than 2,880 companies to settle in, including well-known local production organizations in Shanghai such as Lemon Studios and Yaoke Media, and has initially formed a full-industry chain ecosystem covering content production, copyright trading, and communication and distribution. In 2023, the base will generate more than 1.7 billion yuan in annual tax revenue and more than 18 billion yuan in technical, industrial and trade revenue, driving the scale of Shanghai's online audio-visual market to 225.5 billion yuan, accounting for 1/3 of the national total, further consolidating Shanghai's leading position in the domestic online audio-visual industry.
The cultivation and development of industrial clusters is supported by systematic policy support as an "industry engine". In 2023, Shanghai will use the special fund of "Chinese culture going global" to focus on supporting the translation and production of online series, international promotion, overseas exhibitions and copyright sales, aiming to break down language and cultural barriers. Shanghai has also established a database of key online audio-visual projects to provide full-process support from topic selection to film distribution for the projects in the database. Relying on a dedicated guidance mechanism, the quality of series content will be continuously optimized to enhance the ability of local production institutions to create internationally competitive works.
At the same time, Shanghai continues to optimize the business environment and provide systematic guarantees for the overseas expansion of online dramas. It gives preferential policies to Internet platforms such as Bilibili and iQiyi, and formulates "one company, one policy" special service plans for local production organizations such as Shanghai Penguin Pictures and Mingjian Pictures to comprehensively enhance their production capacity and international competitiveness. The holding of activities such as the Online Audiovisual Content Creators Conference has built an exchange platform for the connection between online dramas and the international market, helping "Shanghai-made" to move to a broader international stage.
"Made in Shanghai", online dramas go global and demonstrate international cultural influence
The "Shanghai-produced" online drama has become a cultural benchmark for domestic dramas to "go global" with its high-quality content and innovative model, promoting the accelerated integration of Chinese culture into the global context, and showcasing Shanghai's urban cultural life and values to the world.
On the one hand, the youth inspirational web series "Twenty Not Confused 2" produced by Shanghai local film and television production agency Lemon Studios was purchased by the American streaming platform Netflix and broadcast globally; "Little Min's Family" was purchased by Disney+ for global copyright and included in the Asia-Pacific premiere list before it was broadcast; "Nothing But Thirty" is even more popular on international platforms such as Netflix and YouTube, covering more than 100 countries and regions, and became the most viewed Chinese web series in Malaysia in 2020. Shanghai production agencies such as Lemon Studios continue to innovate, from a single costume drama to a diversified realistic drama that can carry China's modern culture. The dissemination channels cover the entire media network, including streaming media, TV stations and social platforms, forming a full-scale cultural output model. These dramas not only show the modern characteristics of Chinese urban life, but also deepen the international audience's understanding of Chinese society through diverse cultural narratives. "Nothing But Thirty" also won the International Communication Award at the 27th Shanghai TV Festival, fully demonstrating the global influence of Shanghai's cultural products.
On the other hand, the combination of "selling out" and "broadcasting out" has significantly enhanced the industrial chain influence and cultural output momentum of "Shanghai products". The remake project of "Nothing But Thirty" is progressing steadily, and has also obtained copyright intentions from European countries. The urban landscape and modern life scenes of Shanghai shown in the series are very popular with overseas audiences, and the value theme of "women's growth" has also resonated with audiences around the world, becoming an innovative expression of Shanghai's Haipai culture.
As one of the core cultural symbols of Shanghai, Shanghai culture is characterized by the integration of tradition and modernity, East and West, and has been given new vitality in the context of globalization. In the consumer landscape of the digital cultural industry, online dramas have the characteristics of deeply depicting culture and permeating communication, allowing the audience to "step into a scene, walk into a story, and form a memory" more deeply. On the one hand, the "Shanghai production" of online dramas combines historical precipitation with modern spirit, using prosperous cities, cultural memories and fashion styles as carriers to create a distinctive image of Shanghai city; on the other hand, through the gentle expression of life-like narratives and the detailed display of urban style, overseas audiences can further understand Shanghai, an international metropolis, while also deeply feeling the charm of open, inclusive and tolerant Shanghai culture.
(The author Liu Boyang is a doctoral student at the School of Journalism, Fudan University, and Jiang Hai is an associate professor at the School of Public Administration, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Journalism, Fudan University)
This article was published in the "This Issue's Planning" column of the 2nd issue of "Shanghai Propaganda Newsletter" in 2025. It is one of the series of articles "Shanghai's Practice in Cultural Overseas Expansion in the Internet Age" launched by "Shanghai Propaganda Newsletter" and the expert team of the Institute of Media Management of Fudan University.
