Hong Kong film auteur Wong Kar-wai’s TV debut Blossoms Shanghai aired its finale on Jan 9. Although ended more than a week ago, the fever of the TV series still lingers.
Posts about the drama alone have been read 4.3 billion times on China's micro-blogging platform Weibo. Boasting a stellar rating of 8.5 on Douban, a major Chinese media review platform, Blossoms Shanghai won mostly positive reviews from critics and audience.
The TV series set off a new upsurge in cultural tourism in Shanghai, with many citizens and tourists checking out the real-life locations of scenes depicted in the series.
As of Jan 5, the search volume for Shanghai as a travel destination has increased by over 20 percent compared to last month's, with pre-orders for both private and group tours jumping by 75 percent and 30 percent, respectively, according to data from Chinese online travel platform Ctrip.
Directed by Wong, an Oscar nominee who was born in Shanghai, the 30-episode show, six years in the making, is adapted from a 2012 novel of the same name written by Shanghai writer Jin Yucheng. Written in Shanghai dialect, the novel won the 9th Mao Dun Literature Prize, one of China's highest literary honors, in 2015. John Balcom, the translator of its English version, said the novel "could almost be called a Shanghai encyclopedia."
The series takes audience back to Shanghai in the early 1990s, following the rise of Ah Bao, an ambitious young man who seizes the opportunities of the early stock market and transforms into a self-made millionaire, expanding his business to foreign trade.
Wong purchased the adaptation copyright of the novel around a decade ago, and had spent three years on shooting the TV series, also Wong's first directorial television project, making it one of the most anticipated works for his fans.
Through Wong's lens, the series is a testament to the cultural richness of Shanghai — bustling, vibrant, and captivating. The drama features some of the city's landmark sites from the era, ranging from the flamboyant and lively Huanghe Road, where businesspeople from all over the country gather, to the Fairmont Peace Hotel, which showcases Shanghai's charm and international flair.
Due to its distinctive style, many viewers saw shades of Wong's previous Hong Kong movies like In the Mood for Love and Days of Being Wild in the show, though the keywords for the last one are "retro," "the 1990s," and "Shanghai city."
The unique visual and auditory language Wong used, as well as memorable music and characters that linger long in the memory stays true to the novel's distinctive local flavor, especially through a cast that were all born or raised in Shanghai.
Diving into the bustles of Shanghai in 1990s
The essence of the city has been captured well in Blossom Shanghai, with a lot of vibrant night scenes, cramped and noisy old houses in the bustling Huanghe Road.
The road, named after the Yellow River, was one of Shanghai's gastronomical paradise that used to be home to over 100 restaurants. Many served high-end fare that only the rich and famous could afford. Still, everything started to change in the late-1990s when a spate of changes sapped the luster out of this bustling street.
But now, the road is gaining new popularity due to the series, along with Tai Sheng Yuan, the inspiration of the most grand restaurant in the drama.
While some viewers were surprised by the shocking prices of the signature dishes in the drama, others arrived at Tai Sheng Yuan, ready to relive their memories of old-school Shanghai in the 1990s. Many diners have ordered the restaurant’s 10-person Blossoms Shanghai-themed nostalgic set meal for 1,680 yuan.
At the Fairmont Peace Hotel, Ctrip shows that its British Blossoms suite has been fully booked for Saturday and Sunday. Not only because of the 16,888 yuan per night suite that the characters stayed in which became fully booked overnight but also for its co-branded Blossoms Shanghai dinner and afternoon tea. The hotel, on the city’s Bund, has exploited the huge popularity of the show by offering a 1,460 yuan Blossoms Shanghai set meal. For a comparatively moderate 698 yuan, you can enjoy a Blossoms Shanghai-inspired afternoon tea.
Other traditional Shanghai dishes, such as pork chops and rice cakes, have also attracted many curious viewers during the same period. In the week the drama was broadcast, the number of orders for pork chops and rice cakes jumped 237 percent compared to the previous week on ele.me, a major food delivery platform in China.
Rekindling sidelined Shanghai dialect
The show also boosted the popularity of the Shanghai dialect, with almost all the lead actors being Shanghai-born and raised and spoke the local dialect while filming, bringing an extra layer of Shanghai authenticity to the drama.
"We insisted on using the Shanghai dialect because it is a story that took place in Shanghai, and we also want to let the local dialect thrive and pass down to younger generations," said Chen Long, an actor who plays a good friend of Ah Bao.
The series, while also available in Mandarin, has particularly drawn audiences with its Shanghainese version. On the lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, thousands have actively posted videos of themselves learning the Shanghai dialect from the show.
For locals, the popularity of shows like Blossoms Shanghai also provides an opportunity to debate the lack of representation of their mother tongue in media and celebrate their shared memories and identity.
With fewer and fewer speakers of the Shanghai dialect amid a national push to standardize Mandarin across the country, experts say such TV dramas are not just a form of entertainment but also a valuable means of cultural preservation.
Though spoken by more than 10 million individuals, a 2014 survey released by the Shanghai government showed that citizens aged 13-20 exhibit the lowest proficiency in listening comprehension and speaking ability of the Shanghai dialect when compared with other age groups.
As a first-tier city, Shanghai annually attracts a growing number of people from outside the city. In 2022, official data estimated that migrants made up 40 percent of the city’s population.
But in recent years, efforts to protect the Shanghai dialect have increased. In 2014, 20 kindergartens were chosen as pilot schools for teaching the Shanghai dialect, promoting its use and communication. Some schools have also implemented language training for kindergarten teachers. Additionally, some bus routes and a new subway line have added broadcast in the Shanghai dialect.
Moreover, the drama has a broad audience base. For the Yangtze River Delta, one of the most economically developed regions in China, the Shanghai theme and urban scenes have a geographical proximity and linguistic affinity, serving as a kind of identity label for the region.
The spirit of opening-up
As one of the most talked-about dramas in recent years, Blossoms Shanghai has attracted a lot of attention, not just due to the filmmaker's fast-paced storytelling and quality, but also thanks to the depictions of ordinary people and their vitality under the era of China's reform and opening up dating back to 1990s.
The 1990s was the era when Shanghai became a key center of foreign trade and finance in China, riding the wave of reform and opening up. Many seized the opportunity to get rich on the land, which boasts the Chinese mainland's first stock exchange and first pilot free-trade zone.
For viewers who have not read the original work, Blossoms Shanghai is a slice of life work that allows viewers to understand the fast-developing country at that time as well as the vitality of the people. With the opportunities brought about by the great changes of the times, everyone strives to reach the top.
The TV series has also become another example of the cooperation between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong in terms of films and TV series. China's rich literary treasure trove and resources have inspired more and more international directors such as Wong to tell Chinese stories with their own unique style and through means that are more easily acceptable by global audiences.
Executive Editor: Sonia YU
Editor: LI Yanxia
Host: Stephanie LI
Writer: Stephanie LI
Sound Editor: Stephanie LI
Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni
Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.
Presented by SFC
编委: 于晓娜
策划、编辑：李艳霞
播音：李莹亮
撰稿：李莹亮
音频制作：李莹亮
设计：郑文静、廖苑妮
21世纪经济报道海外部 制作
南方财经全媒体集团 出品
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