Too much influence from administrative power harms the nation's arts and cultural activities, Cai Wu, the minister of culture, was quoted in a new book as saying. These words are supported by the fact that China has hundreds of TV channels nationwide but they hardly offer influential programs and that it can generate 20,000 songs a year yet few are lasting.

Cai has hit the nail on the head, says 21st Business Herald. In the 2014 sessions of National People's Congress and National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, several movie and TV drama directors complained about the complicated review procedures that compelled them to give up good ideas.

Such over-intervention has led to one disappointing phenomenon: When some TV drama topic is found both marketable and satisfactory in content, producers would swarm to the similar stuff, thus filling TV channels with boring dramas that look identical. That is essentially why overseas programs and dramas came to fill the TV market in China while many young people switch to online network plays.