Love and Destiny event. Photo: Xinhua

The 48th International Emmy Awards were held on Monday as a virtual ceremony streamed from New York. Fans of the Chinese fantasy costume drama Love and Destiny awaited the results with bated breath as it had been nominated for Best Telenovela. While the coveted award ended up going to Brazilian series Órfãos da Terra (Orphans of a Nation), Chinese netizens still expressed their pride that the show had been nominated for one of the world’s most prestigious awards for international television production. 

Starring well-known Taiwan island actor Chang Chen and Chinese mainland actress Ni Ni, Love and Destiny is a 60-episode Chinese streaming drama that was first released on Chinese video platform iQIYI in July 2019. The drama tells the story of the bittersweet romance between the hero Jiu Chen and heroine Ling Xi. Highly praised, the show ranked among the top 10 highest-rated Chinese TV series on Chinese media review platform Douban with a high score of 8.3/10. The drama has also reached audiences outside China in countries such as Japan, Vietnam and South Korea.  

As a TV production that has reached the international stage, Love and Destiny was nominated by the International Emmy Awards, which differs from the well-known Emmy Awards in that it focuses on recognizing outstanding TV productions outside of the US. The 2020 awards included 44 works in 11 categories from 20 countries. 

After the news about the drama’s nomination, Chinese fans of the show took to China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo to express their pride. 

"The only Chinese TV show… [It was] definitely a highlight among Chinese web dramas,” wrote one netizen. 

"A great one, the production has been internationally recognized,” posted another. 

Some fans suggested that the unique Chinese culture and aesthetics on the show were likely major factors behind the show’s nomination. 

"I was obsessed about the beautiful clothing and setting. It was finely made to show Chinese beauty,” commented one netizen. 

"First of all, because it tells a story about love, its artistic value was universally praised… At the same time, more importantly, the drama shows unique traditional Asian cultural characteristics. Be it the magnificent visuals or traditional Chinese virtues, they all convey the uniqueness of Chinese culture,” Shi Wenxue, a Chinese culture and film critic, told the Global Times on Wednesday when discussing the reasons for the drama’s nomination. 

"From national policies to audiences’ increasing aesthetic demands, more and more attention is being paid to the revival of traditional Chinese culture. Therefore, it is an irresistible trend for more and more TV and film works to highlight traditional Chinese culture,” Shi emphasized.