The online screening of variety show Day Day Up Cloud Time Photo: Weibo

As many Chinese are quarantining themselves at home and working remotely amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the Chinese entertainment industry has been experimenting with various ways to keep people's attention even though they haven't been able to produce content as they normally do. 

The Lantern Festival gala is usually the second most important performance on television every year, but many TV stations have canceled their galas this year to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP). While CCTV did not cancel its gala, for the first time ever it did not have a live audience and several performances paid tribute to the medical workers fight on the frontlines to contain the epidemic.

To increase audience interaction, Hunan Satellite TV allowed viewers to send in messages using their phones which would appear at the bottom of the screen. The production teams of two representative Chinese variety shows on Hunan Satellite TV, Happy Camp and Day Day Up, released two brand new programs with hosts and guests filming at their homes through the internet instead of in studio. They dubbed this innovative form of filming programs Cloud Filming.

The hashtag DayDayCloudTime generated from the title of the show presented by the hosts of Day Day Up has earned more than 180 million views on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo. The first episode was broadcast on Hunan Satellite TV on Friday night when Chinese singer-actor Wang Yibo performed magic tricks he learned during quarantine at home. It has earned more than 8 million views on the satellite's online platform Mango TV.

In addition to these adaptive strategies, other cultural facilities have been broadening their online presence to entertain audiences. The National Center for the Performing Arts has uploaded recordings of concerts from renowned orchestras worldwide on their website for netizens. Museums all over China have also continued holding online exhibitions of the cultural relics and heritages in their collections.