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 The 48-part drama series chronicles a period between 1976 and
1984, when Deng began pushing China toward market reforms that
ignited its transition into the world's second largest economy.
"In recent years, China's restricted areas of speech have
obviously decreased. This series marks significant progress,"
the Global Times, a tabloid owned by party mouthpiece the
People's Daily, said in an editorial on Monday.
But the show has prompted debate about how producers will
approach sensitive internal conflicts that have more or less
been air brushed out of official party accounts.
More contentious than the show's central figure is the novel
appearance of actors depicting several other controversial
politicians, among them the late reformist Communist Party chief
Hu Yaobang, who Deng ousted.
Hu's death in April 1989 sparked student protests centered on
Tiananmen Square, a movement that later turned into
pro-democracy demonstrations that were crushed by the military
on orders from Deng on June 3 and 4 that year.
The timeframe of the series means it is likely to skirt Hu's
1987 ouster and the Tiananmen crackdown, and it is unclear how
it will address, if at all, the 1981 downfall at Deng's hands of
Hua Guofeng, Mao Zedong's anointed successor.
The proof would be in the showing, said Zhang Ming, a political
science professor at Renmin University in Beijing.
"[The show] is perhaps a signal that events in this era are no
longer as sensitive," Zhang added.
"If it turns out that they reveal certain things, then it could
have desensitizing benefits," he said, referring to party
battles between leaders.
In China, all broadcast media and films are pre-screened for
approval and anything deemed politically sensitive is banned.
China's government and the party have a track record of covering
up bad or embarrassing information. Mention of events such as
the Tiananmen protests remains taboo, and strict censorship
limits the public's awareness.
The myriad off-limit topics tend to funnel productions toward
the drama of war, typically with programs that pit Communist
armies beating back Japanese invaders. China's state
administrator approved 69 anti-Japanese television series for
production in 2012.
Despite the popularity of those shows, a series about Deng's
struggles is something of a fresh turn of events for prime-time
viewers.
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Some marveled that screened episodes of the show deal with the
downfall of the Gang of Four, led by Mao's widow, an event at the
end of the disastrous Cultural Revolution that remains one of
China's worst political scandals.
"It appears it's the first time the Cultural Revolution Gang of Four
has been mentioned in a television drama ... China really was in its
most calamitous moments at that time. Intense!" one viewer wrote on
the Weibo microblog.
'TYPICAL PROPAGANDA'
Without question, the series has propaganda value to the party now
led by President Xi Jinping, who has pledged to embark on his own
economic reforms to reduce dependence on exports and state
investment.
Produced by state broadcaster China Central Television in honor of
Deng's 110th birthday in August, according to the official Xinhua
news agency, the drama opens with a scene in which Deng draws water
in the rain to swab his disabled son during the Cultural Revolution,
when he was purged.
It comes amid a broader wave of efforts by the party to highlight
Deng, with state media publishing a string of articles on the leader
and previously unreleased speeches.
More than 10,000 copies of the $19.4-million production were sent to
government leaders, researchers and close connections of Deng "to
seek their opinions", the official English-language China Daily
said, citing director Wu Ziniu.
Wu could not be reached for comment.
Hao Jian, a film critic and professor at Beijing Film Academy, said
he was skeptical how far the series would go in loosening the
narratives around China's ruling elite.
"I know many people are reading this as a political symbol, but I
don't see it," said Hao, who was among a handful of activists
detained by authorities for more than a month in May for attending a
small meeting to commemorate the 25-year anniversary of the
Tiananmen protests.
"Often, they will change the facts of history to suit propaganda
goals. It's typical propaganda," Hao said.
(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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