Up to a billion viewers are expected to watch the show.
In mid-December, a Chinese TV station will devote an entire show to Croatia, and it is expected that up to a billion people will watch it, reports Index.hr on November 12, 2017.
The show, originally called Tian Tian Xiang Shang (TTXS), which means “Learn well and progress more every day”, spent the last month shooting in Dubrovnik and Zagreb, where they filmed humorous stories about Croatia, its people, culture, food, and music. The stories feature football manager Miroslav Ćiro Blažević, singer Jelena Rozga, violinist Ana Rucner and pianist Maksim Mrvica, who has long been a star in China.
The second part of the Croatian episode was filmed in the city of Changsha, which has about 7.5 million inhabitants. It is titled “Croatian Rhapsody”, which is the name of Mrvica’s most popular song in China.
The filming took place in the studios of Hunan TV, and in addition to Mrvica, it featured Croatian Ambassador to China Nebojša Koharović, owner of the “Stari Puntijar” restaurant Zlatko Puntijar with daughter Matea, the Xiaoting Chen-Li family, who are owners of a Chinese restaurant in Croatia, and singer Lana Jurčević.
Three contestants fought for the main prize – a trip to Croatia, and the final decision was made after they demonstrated how well they were prepared for a trip to Croatia. Ambassador Koharović played the role of the chief referee, at the same time answering numerous questions from the contestants and presenters, who tried to introduce Croatia to the Chinese viewers. In addition to the visa regime and the lack of direct flights, the contestants were mostly interested in how many days of annual vacation Croats use, how long does the maternity leave last, whether Croatia is a safe country and what are the main differences between the two countries.
There was also no lack of traditional Croatian dishes, thanks to Zlatko Puntijar, who together with his daughter appeared in the studio in traditional costume. The most famous Chinese family in Croatia, which opened their first restaurant in Zagreb in the early 1990s, explained to the Chinese audiences which Chinese dishes are the favourites among Croats.
The 90-minute show about Croatia will be broadcast on 15 December, and it could be viewed by as many as a billion people. The number of viewers could even be higher since the show can be seen over the internet and on social networks. Hunan TV was founded in 1997 and is currently the second most-watched channel in China, right after the state-run CCTV.
Although young people are its targeted audience, TTXS is trying to attract viewers from all age groups and has recently begun to open towards the wider region and the world. In addition to inviting celebrities from Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, it has also started producing topical shows focused on tourism and individual countries.
The Chinese have recently become one of world most numerous travellers, thanks to their fast-growing purchasing power and rising standard of living. The new Chinese middle class spent 261 billion dollars on foreign travel last year.
Some of the countries which have already been featured on Chinese television, such as the Czech Republic and Denmark, recorded in the months following the broadcast a substantial increase in the number of tourists from the Far East
Translated from Index.hr.
