A Study On Intercultural Communication Of British TV Series In China

Abstract:In recent years, with the development of communication technical means and the accelerated process of globalization, TV series, as the most normal type of TV program, has been poured into people’s vision, and has set off watching waves around the majority of audience again and again. Throughout overseas drama, from the "Korean Wave" to "US Drama Hot" and now the quickly warming "British Drama Hot", the introduction and broadcast of foreign TV series always cause a huge media attention and public effect. From the perspective of intercultural communication, TV series is not only a form of artistic expression; moreover, it is a special form which is capable of spreading values and cultures.As an important part of British TV cultural products output, British TV series has an excellent reputation and a wide range of audience whether in the local area or over the world. British TV series entered China earlier, it has been widespread through Internet in recent years, and has been sought after by domestic young audiences. According to Edward Hall’s context theory, Chinese and British belong to different context cultures, while the British drama in China has achieved the success of cross-cultural communication; such a phenomenon is worth studying. This paper selects the most representative British classic drama Downton Abbey from the cultural background of China and Britain, with encoding and decoding theory by Stuart Hall, combined with questionnaires, this paper analyses the drama’s cross-cultural communication in China and summarizes the reasons for its success, then learning from advanced experience.The paper consists of the following five parts:the first part is an introduction, mainly on the significance of the topic and research plan; the second part combs British drama history and its development in China; the third part regards Downton Abbey as a case study and begin the analysis. After the comparison of context culture, this part describes the cross-cultural process of encoding and decoding as well as research results:the fourth part is based on the results of above, it sums up the successful reasons of achieving intercultural communication for Downton Abbey; the fifth part is the thought and enlightenment from British drama spread to Chinese TV series production and export.Today is an era of globalization,cultural integration and cultural invasion have been problems for many countries. As a country of culture, China must be tolerant with "bring in" culture, and also to make its own culture "going out". All of these need lots of hard work to do. Although TV series is just one small aspect, with little parts can see large views.