BAGHDAD, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- A popular Chinese TV series recently aired on Iraq's official al-Iraqiya TV has captured the hearts of Iraqi viewers who eagerly anticipated each episode to see the latest twists in the romantic Chinese story.
DOUDOU GAINS POPULARITY
"A Beautiful Daughter-in-law Era," known as Doudou in Iraq, is a 36-episode family TV drama revolving around the young marriage of Yu Wei and his bride, also namesake of the show, Mao Doudou.
In an interview with Xinhua in Baghdad, Haider al-Fatlawi, director of al-Iraqiya TV, an outlet of the Iraqi Media Network (IMN), said the series "has attracted a large number of audience across Iraq," according to data provided by a research company specialized in measuring TV audience.
"TV series allow people to be acquainted with the details in other peoples' lives and their lifestyle. It also let them to see places, customs and traditions of other people," al-Fatlawi said.
The series was dubbed in Arabic and played a vital role in allowing Iraqi audience to see the lives of modern couples in China and to understand fragments of their culture and traditions after years of conflicts and suffering.
And despite the late showtime, at midnight in Baghdad, Iraqi families grouped in front of their TV screens to see how the happy couple will face the challenges and troubles laid in their way.
At a popular cafe in Baghdad, locals swarmed around the TV screen to catch up with the dramatic Chinese story, struck with the Doudou fever.
"Some Chinese TV series now rival Turkish and Egyptian productions and we prefer them over the rest. We eagerly anticipate the opportunity to see new Chinese series," Baghdad resident Mohammed al-Bazzaz told Xinhua.
FOND OF CHINESE STORIES
Family drama shows have grown very popular in Iraq in recent years while IMN has opened a window to peek into the details of the everyday life of ordinary people in modern China.
Iraqi-Chinese relations have seen a significant improvement in recent years, embodied in the increase in investment of Chinese companies, and the prevalence of Chinese goods, such as smartphones and cars that became part of the everyday life of many Iraqis.
"There is a significant economic cooperation between Iraq and China, but today we are covering another angle, the cultural cooperation between the two sides," al-Fatlawi said.
Doudou is not the first TV series from China to draw attention of Iraqi viewers. A TV series based on a Chinese classical novel by Shi Nai'an became a hit in Iraq during the 1980s and 1990s.
Like Jackie Chan's actions comedy films from the 1990s, "The Water Margins" TV series became a part of the collective memory of generations of Iraqis, who were enthralled by the epic drama and martial arts, the series offered at the time.
Earlier in August, during the Muslim holidays of Eid al-Adha, al-Iraqiya TV also aired two Chinese films, "Go Lala Go!" and "Out of Inferno." The state TV is planning to air Chinese documentary films, also provided by the Chinese embassy, in the near future.
TRUE SINO-IRAQI LOVE STORY
The series tackles an array of social issues in modern China, such as inter-marriage as in the case of the protagonist Doudou, played by famous Chinese actress Hai Qing, who is depicted as a girl from the countryside, unlike her husband who is from the city.
A one-of-a-kind love story straight out of China's fairy tales was incarnated in the relationship of a Chinese man and an Iraqi woman as a true real-life example of the love story in the TV series.
The relationship of Wang Mao and his Iraqi wife Batoul has fruited an extraordinary happy marriage, and the couple that has been married since 2013 now has two boys: Akram and Khalil.
In an interview with Xinhua, Wang, who said he met his wife online while studying Arabic in Cairo, explained that his family agreed with his decision to marry an Iraqi girl and that they have actually showed him the support he needed.
"My wife and parents go well together, they respect each other and she enjoys a good relationship with them. There are not any problems in my life and I'm happy about it," Wang said, adding that the two peoples, the Chinese and Iraqis, have so much in common.
"Apart of the language, there are not any differences between the two countries. China and Iraq are both old countries with long history and culture," he concluded.
Al-Fatlawi said seeing a TV program ignite an interest in visiting the places where its scenes were shot in, and expressed hopes for a wider cooperation between the two countries that will facilitate the travels of Iraqi tourists to China.
The Iraqi prime minister started an official visit to China on Sept. 19, which is expected to further increase the Sino-Iraqi cooperation in various fields, including media collaboration in a way that will allow Iraqi viewers get a chance to see more Chinese movies and TV productions.
