Duanju (simplified Chinese: 短剧; traditional Chinese: 短劇; pinyin: duǎn jù) Chinese micro dramas, Chinese short dramas, ultra-short dramas, or TikTok short dramas, are a type of web series that has gained popularity in China. These series are mostly adapted from web fictions and are released on new media platforms such as TikTok (抖音 in China). Each episode is very short, lasting only around one minute. The total duration is comparable to that of a movie. To facilitate viewing on mobile devices, Duanju are directly produced in a vertical screen. Short dramas are sometimes adapted into interactive movie games.
Examples
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- "Billionaire hides his identity, works as a delivery boy but Sexy female CEO loves him at all costs"
- "Worldwide Prices Plummet by 10,000 Times, I Become the World's Wealthiest"
- "Global IQ Drops by 10,000 Times, I Become the World's Smartest Person"
- "Global Freeze, I Built a Doomsday Safe House"
- "After the divorce, I resumed my status as a rich lady. My ex-husband regretted it"
Copyright controversies
Due to the short production cycle and low cost, if a script becomes popular, many companies will rush to imitate it, resulting in the same plot flooding the internet, leading to sense of exhaustion, infringing on the original creator's copyright and other intellectual property rights.
References
- "China's next cultural export could be TikTok-style short soap operas". MIT Technology Review.
- "短剧虽短，版权不容侵犯 - 新华网客户端". app.xinhuanet.com.