Serial thrillers

The latest series in the genre includes Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace, which stars Zhou Xun, one of China's leading stars and a winner of the best actress award at both the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival.

These changes in the film and TV industries also owe a lot to the cash-rich internet giants, which have steadily increased their forays into drama serial production since 2014.

A number of top faces, from Zhang Yimou, the first Chinese director to take home a Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, to iconic Hong Kong star Andy Lau Tak-wah, have joined serials tailored for the online market.

The decisionmakers, backed by leading internet companies, say they plan to expand their investment in broadcasting to a wider range of genres to increase their audience base.

Han Zhijie, senior vice-president of Tencent's Penguin Pictures, says the company has kept storing various new serials in genres tailored to particular groups of viewers, such as campus thrillers and financial crime stories.

"For instance, The Trading Floor has just five episodes, but is very innovative in terms of its theme and storyline. It is well received and we plan to explore more of these genres," he says.

Starring award-winning actor, Francis Ng, and Taiwan actor, Chang Hsiao-chuan, The Trading Floor, produced by Lau, is a Wall Street-inspired series revolving around a tale of financial fraud.