Switching on to more dynamic TV culture

More than 200 production staff members from China's most populist entertainment television channel, Hunan Satellite TV, spent a grueling two days recently learning ways to make their channel's programming more creative and more socially relevant. It was a unique experiment by one of the most creative and commercially savvy broadcasters in China. Producers and directors had to learn and absorb the latest methods of creative thinking used by practitioners in the West and then immediately start to practice their new skills.

The new creativity drive coincides with government pressure to encourage broadcasters to broaden their program range. This seems to reflect a concern that television has become too commercial, too entertainment oriented and perhaps less socially relevant and useful. The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) is considering restricting TV stations' ability to run shows that are solely entertainment.

The Hunan Satellite TV producers were quick to focus their minds on ways to use current "hot" issues as the basis for new programs. While some producers sweated over ways to make programs from topics like speed marriages and the problem of over-dependent young adults, other teams of producers were struggling with the topic of 30-something men and women who can't find suitable marriage partners, while others pondered the graver issue of how to try and reduce drunken driving.