Micro-dramas, as a new form of online cultural and artistic expression, have swiftly captured the mass cultural consumer market with their unique charm. However, this burgeoning field also needs regulation to ensure its healthy and orderly development.   

Media has reported that Chinese authorities have recently released guidelines to regulate micro-dramas about romantic relationships with CEOs, overly emphasizing the need to avoid promoting ideals that glorify marriage with powerful, wealthy individuals or families. Additionally, they warned against the intentional creation of content flaunting wealth and showcasing power.

The guidelines, reportedly released by the National Radio and Television Administration, point out that there are issues in the micro-dramas market that deviate from reality and are overly entertaining. It calls for joint efforts from both within and outside the industry to reduce quantity, enhance quality, and avoid promoting unhealthy values.

As a new phenomenon, the growth rate of micro-dramas is astonishing. The White Paper on the Development of China's Micro Drama Industry (2024) shows that by June 2024, the user scale of micro-dramas in China had reached 576 million people, accounting for 52.4 percent of all netizens, surpassing online food delivery services and quickly rising to the top of the digital life list. 

The report also shows that China's micro-dramas market value in 2024 is expected to reach 50.44 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 34.90 percent. In the global market, Chinese micro-dramas applications have swept the top three downloads in the same category, opening up the broad overseas market for Chinese entertainment products.

However, this rapid "growth spurt" has also brought "growing pains." In the pursuit of streaming, works that are tasteless, uniform, and overly binary, with a strong emphasis on black-and-white dichotomies, are all too common. This also indicates that the means to achieve artistic tension in micro-dramas are still limited, and there is still a lack of exploration in themes and subjects.

The dramatic increase in user scale provides a greater space for micro-dramas to expand themes and innovate in expression, and it also provides a rare opportunity for their refined development.

Insiders suggest that the development of micro-dramas should go beyond the mere pursuit of clicks and viewership ratings, insisting on the principle of "content is king" and taking a refined creative path. 

It is necessary to integrate excellent traditional Chinese culture, achieve creative transformation and innovative development to enrich the connotation of micro-dramas while promoting the dissemination of traditional culture.

For example, under the guidance of the National Radio and Television Administration's "Travel with micro-dramas" plan, a lot of works have explored content that enrich viewers and convey positive and uplifting forces, winning a lot of attention and praise. This fully proves that micro-dramas have great potential in conveying warmth and hope.

For example, micro-drama The Story of Suzhou, which focuses on the intangible cultural heritage of Suzhou handfans and the protection and renewal of the ancient city of Suzhou, has greatly stimulated local cultural and tourism consumption.

Lü Jianmin, known for his work on the Wolf Warrior action films, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the future development of micro-dramas will move toward refinement and normalization. 

"Micro-dramas are different from all previous forms; they are born from the market and are truly paid for by the audience. They are directly facing the audience. Under such a premise, the popularity of micro-dramas actually stems from real audience demand," he said, adding that micro-dramas have changed the audience's viewing habits. In the future, stories with short single-episode durations and strong stories and twists may become very popular. 

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. life@globaltimes.com.cn