Hit Chinese Variety Shows in 2023

The year 2023 saw a wide variety of TV and Internet shows in China, offering to audience not only amazing entertainment but also new insight.

Each week, bands competed in different groups, and via votes cast by the audience and six celebrity judges, five bands earned the title of the “Hot 5” by the end of the season.

The farming-themed reality show Become a Farmer took Chinese social media by storm in the first half of the year, shining a spotlight on agriculture — a crucial part of Chinese culture. The word “farming”, however, may be unfamiliar to many young urban Chinese citizens. In an effort to connect these individuals with the agricultural industry, the 50-episode variety show tackles the topic by inviting 10 young men from various fields to experience life on the farmland. It offers insights into farming practices and modern agricultural production.

With a shocking viewership, the music cultural program Infinity and Beyond 2023 emerged as a resounding success both on TV and on the Internet in the first half of this year. Featuring a star-studded cast, the show improved cross-strait connection and covered classic and popular songs dating back to the 1970s.

This season saw some Chinese actresses and actors embark on a journey to Saudi Arabia, Croatia and Iceland. They explored the beautiful landscapes and diverse cultures of these countries and learned about the collaborative projects related to the Belt and Road Initiative. They have dipped into the local customs and traditions of the places they visited.

It’s never easy to admit the mistakes you make, but doing so is an important step toward moving forward. National Geographic magazine recently published an article with the title “For decades, our coverage was racist. To rise above our past, we must acknowledge it.” It was written by the magazine’s editor-in-chief Susan Goldberg, the first woman and first Jewish person to hold the position. National geographic has acknowledged that its coverage of black and minority ethnic people in America and the wider world has been historically racist, frequently promoting caricatures (讽刺画) of the “nobel savage (野蛮人)” and barely featuring the US’ minority ethnic population.

According to Goldberg, the 130-year-old publication’s April issue “explores how race defines, separates and unites us”. In honor of 50 years since the killing of Martin Luther King, who is known for fighting racial inequality in the US, the issue is devoted to race.

The publication republished a number of examples of historical racism in its coverage. One 1916 article about Australia included a photo of two Indigenous Australians with the caption (说明文字): “South Australian Black fellows: These savages rank lowest in the intelligence of all human beings.”

To review its previous coverage of race, Goldberg asked University of Virginia historian John Edwin Mason to look back at the magazine’s text, choice of subjects, and photography of people of color from the US and abroad. “Until the 1970s, National Geographic all but ignored people of color who lived in the United States, rarely acknowledging them beyond laborer or domestic workers,” Goldberg wrote about Mason’s findings. “Meanwhile, it pictured ‘natives’ elsewhere as exotics, famously and frequently unclothed, happy hunters, noble savages.”

Mason also found that the magazine often ran photos of “uncivilized” natives amazed by “civilized” Western technology.

In recent years, however, the magazine has improved. For example, in a 2015 project, National Geographic gave cameras to young people in the Caribbean country of Haiti and asked them to shoot pictures of their everyday lives.

The coverage wasn’t right before, because it was told from a white American point of view, and I think it speaks to exactly why we needed a diversity of storytellers,” Goldberg told the Associated Press.

National Geographic’s look at its past also inspired other media organizations to revisit their own historical coverage of race. The New York Times admitted that most of its obituaries (讣告) were about the lives of white men, and has started publishing obituaries of famous women in a special section titled “Overlooked”. After all recognizing overlooked mistakes is what makes us grow.

His Refresh

For me, change is in the air. The snow is thawing in the town where Susan and I are living. We both got vaccinated (I’ve never been so happy to have type I diabetes, which qualified me for early shots). And by the time you read this, our daughter will have been married, surrounded by family, on a Mexican beach. Hooyah! This is the spirit of change. In this issue, you’ll find new sections meant to delight you as much as tossing rice at your grinning daughter.

A knowledge quiz. Sharpen your pencils. Brain Games now features “Fact or Fiction” (page 117) to test your recall and worldliness in equal measure. I scored six and got the bonus question only by cheating and consulting 13 Things on page 40.

A new health section. You already our sister site, thehealthy.com. Now we’re curating its content into The Healthy (page 53), full of advice, first person narratives, and medical news.

Where, OH Where? There’s nothing like seeing a gorgeous photograph shot somewhere in the country and wanting —no, needing to know where the heck it was taken. We turn that irresistible sensation into a visual quiz (page 38).

Smile-inducing news. RD editors here and around the world are always finding never-before-seen examples of charity and ingenuity. We’re rolling them into A World of Good (page 18).

Animal stories! Because who can resist? To continue the celebration of our animals’ ability to bond, Best Pet Pals (page 44) will spotlight one priceless submission to your heart’s content.

________ Finally, on page 1,we’re creating a brand-new section, hoping to offer you a friend who brings fun ideas to your kitchen table, who helps everyone laugh and cry together about what makes us all human.

Write to let me know if you have got a flashing idea for the name of this section. And thanks for reading.