A crown jewel

Chinese TV series Princess Agents, starring Zhao Liying as a legendary female military leader, wins popularity among overseas viewers. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"It's amazing to see so many foreigners love the series," says Cai Danxiang, an overseas business department director of China International TV Corp.

The Beijing-based company, which is backed by State broadcaster China Central Television, is a leader in international distribution of domestic content.

It acquired the sole overseas-distribution rights earlier this year, according to Ciwen Media Ltd Co, one of the big-budget drama's main producers.

Cai says the series will be broadcast on DramaFever, a US video-streaming website owned by Warner Bros.

She adds that it is still in negotiations with Netflix.

But it has an even more ambitious plan－to translate the show into nine foreign languages for export to 85 countries and regions in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

"The schedule depends on the translations. For Japan, it may take about six months," says Cai.

Unlike The Legend of Zhenhuan, Princess Agents will translate all episodes with subtitles or dubbing.

The Legend of Zhenhuan is a 2011 series about conflicts among royals that condensed the original 76 Chinese-language episodes into six to be streamed in the US under the title Empresses in the Palace.

Wei Lili, the vice-president of the producer, Ciwen, says appealing to overseas audiences has been a longtime marketing strategy for the Beijing-based company, which also produced the 2015 hit, The Journey of Flower.

Led by Taiwan heartthrob Wallace Huo and Chinese mainland actress Zhao Liying, The Journey of Flower was welcomed overseas. It has racked up 40 billion views on Chinese streaming sites.

It held that record until it was recently overtaken by Princess Agents, which also stars Zhao as the heroine.

"We'll produce content that better resonates universally when we consider overseas markets," says Wei.