Chinese historical dramas in the Philippines?

[sinobball]

Before I first met non-Chinese Asians, I had no idea how influential Chinese historical dramas are in the region. Not to exaggerate or sound too nationalistic, but a significant number of Asians I've met have watched Chinese historical dramas. Nowadays on Youtube, one can usually find dubs/subs in Vietnamese, Thai, Khmer, and sometimes Korean, Hmong, Japanese etc. for Chinese historical dramas. But very seldomly Tagalog.

I find it interesting that the Philippines is different in this respect among ASEAN countries. Is the Philippines too Westernized for Chinese historical dramas? For example, John Woo's 2009 movie "Red Cliff" is shown in all East & SE Asian countries in two parts -- except for the Philippines. In the Philippines it is shown as one part like in Europe. Also, a simple wikipedia search for the most popular Chinese drama reveals:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Pearl
It is popular in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and even Thailand.

Again, one glaring omission among ASEAN countries. Can someone explain? I'm just curious.


PS: After some digging, found this, LOL:

[TrueBluePinoy]

The Legend of the Condor Hero is quite familiar here. Also that old tv show featuring the "Sun Style" and "Heaven and Earth Style". I forgot the name though.

[gilasfanatic]

?????

[c_d]

Is the Philippines too Westernized for Chinese historical dramas?

This is kinda true. You can find more Latin American telenovelas dubbed in Filipino than Chinese historical dramas.

[gilasfanatic]

This is kinda true. You can find more Latin American telenovelas dubbed in Filipino than Chinese historical dramas.

maybe in mid 90's to early 20's latin dramas are very popular in the philppines,,but now chinese, korean dramas are popular in the country,,,thats the reality and we had to admit that!!!!

[gilasfanatic]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzD25o8Giu4

[eindhow]

Popular these days are Korean and Taiwanese dramas.. Even Japanese dramas get attention here.. Latin dramas are in the decline.. Chinese historical dramas don't click here.. But yeah I remember Judge Bao..

[b3lowzro]

Western? i don't think so, we do sometimes act like one but into bones.

Back in the days when I was a little lad, TV networks do air a lot of Chinese historical dramas but left not dubbed (well I guess its for the ethnic chinese and for those chinese who are non-tagalog speakers). Its just recently we've seen a an interest among the Pinoys in this genre of programs but still they would thrive because of the Pinoy's interest of a much modern storyline in which, they can easily relate to.

Culturally speaking both of our do have strong cultural links but in history, our colonizers did erased most of what we know on the historical side, replacing it with theirs (much like they did with the Native Americans in latin america). And the we we're not even governed directly by the Spanish, it was the Mexicans or Nueva España, that's why i think we incline more into their telenovelas (well asian dramas are least expensive these days, so that's way we tend to have more right now).

[paolylo]

back in the early 90's/late 80's, a channel would broadcast Chinese shows that included historical dramas every Sunday morning in Chinese... with Chinese subtitles! (i don't know the difference between Mandarin, Fookien, and Cantonese so there must've been a reason why it was that way) the only thing i understood was Yan Can Cook.

i believe Sunday mornings (for that channel at least) back then, catered to the Filipino-Chinese community for them to get in touch with their Chinese roots. i didn't care about that since i'm only a quarter Chinese and i don't speak the language. but i only appreciated Chinese history when a videogame about the Three Kingdoms came out:

[talion]

the media in the philippines, which are wholly controlled by large, enterprising private corporations, are aware that most non-chinese filipinos distrust anything chinese and for this reason the media giants have figured out that investing heavily in chinese dramas will not yield good profits because of poor viewership.
the huge bias can be described in the following instances:

Made in China--- A lot of filipinos will readily conclude that products having this sign are of inferior quality. Foodstuff like cookies and drinks bearing made in China, although cheaper, are almost always left untouched by middle-class buyers because of fear of toxic substances. Interestingly, foodstuff with chinese markings but are Made in Philippines sell like hot cakes.

Tax evader--- Lucio Tan, a chinese who became a naturalized Filipino, comes to mind. He is rich and owns a lot of corporations but he is number 1 tax evader with unpaid taxes amounting up to Billions. Not a good role model.

Enemy of Labor--- Henry Sy. Another ultra-rich Chinese who became a naturalized Filipino. He is owner of the SM Mall Chain. His Labor practice is that he only hires contractual employees in 6 month periods to shield him from labor laws. Employees cannot run after him for compensation/ benefits/healthcare because technically they're not regularly employed.

Chinese Restaurants---- Use a lot of monosodium glutamate. bad for the health. There are stories that a lot of these chinese restaurants in Philippines will sacrifice healthy eating for great taste.

Obstacle in Basketball Development---- Graham Lim comes to mind. Not Mainland Chinese but Taiwanese, but still, a lot of filipinos will easily associate him with China.

That is my take on why CHinese Historical Dramas will never be popular in the Philippines. Hope this helps. I love chinese food by the way.

[sinobball]

the huge bias can be described in the following instances:

Thanks, but other than Graham "Interbasket's Public Enemy #1" Lim, I'm pretty sure those things described (evading tax, MSG, improper treatment of employees) can be found among Chinese people in all countries

I don't know but it seems like I can even find more Indonesian-subbed Chinese history series (example) on Youtube than Tagalog, despite how Chinese people are perceived (treated, massacred) in Indonesia. Unless those videos are only for Indonesian Chinese... I dunno.

I think it's more of a cultural thing -- who you can relate to. Anyway, I just find it interesting.

[talion]

Thanks, but other than Graham "Interbasket's Public Enemy #1" Lim, I'm pretty sure those things described (evading tax, MSG, improper treatment of employees) can be found among Chinese people in all countries

I don't know but it seems like I can even find more Indonesian-subbed Chinese history series (example) on Youtube than Tagalog, despite how Chinese people are perceived (treated, massacred) in Indonesia. Unless those videos are only for Indonesian Chinese... I dunno.

I think it's more of a cultural thing -- who you can relate to. Anyway, I just find it interesting.

i must reiterate, these are cultural biases. the chinese people are a great race. they are patriotic and put country first before anything else.

[sinobball]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzD25o8Giu4

Korean historical dramas have recently also occupying Chinese TV... Personally I find them interesting because the cultures in ancient times are almost the same and there is a lot of common history

but i only appreciated Chinese history when a videogame about the Three Kingdoms came out

Cool... I don't know if we should thank the Japanese for spreading our culture but ROTK is indeed the greatest story ever! My Korean friend had read it 5 times... If you haven't, no matter what race you are, I pity you

Also that old tv show featuring the "Sun Style" and "Heaven and Earth Style". I forgot the name though.

It depends on how old. One of the "Huo Yuanjia" series?

I remember Judge Bao..

I believe Judge Bao is the most influential Chinese history TV series ever...

Following the topic, I have questions relating to Philippine culture... I don't exactly know how to ask it, but essentially how "Western" is your culture? For example, Judge Bao (who was a judge in ancient China) -- I don't think Westerners can worship a character like that, because our definition of justice is different from the West. Which is why I ask... are the Filipinos more like Americans or "more Eastern" in terms of beliefs in justice, government, personal liberty, death penalty, public execution, judge vs. jury, sacrifice for the common good etc.?

[c_d]

it was the Mexicans or Nueva España, that's why i think we incline more into their telenovelas

Our culture is totally different from all our neighbors. Taipei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Pakistan etc., etc. This explains the extreme popularity of Mexican telenovelas that have been dubbed in Tagalog. If you dub an American movie into Tagalog, it is not convincing because Filipino characters will not react in the same way to the same situation. But Mexicans and Filipinos have the same values –compadre, fiestas and devotion to the saints.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=155775&publicationSubCategoryId=64

[pachador]

we may be more westernized, but racially speaking, filipinos are the most tolerant of the chinese compared to malaysia or indonesia. we never had the large-scale race riots that they had except the ones in the 17th or 18th (?)century but then that was sparked by among other reasons, the chinese pirate limahong.