'Friends' in China 20 years on
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E-mail Xinhua, November 6, 2014
Changing values
Friends is far more than a comedy in China. Since the late 1990s, it has been a textbook for students of English. Teachers play episodes without subtitles as a warm-up for comprehension or speaking lessons. In 1998, Taiwan added U.S. slang tips at end of each episode.
"It is good for English learners, who can get fresh and practical language materials for oral training and help them understand the cultural background," said Professor Lyu Hui, of the China Foreign Affairs University.
Liu Chang, began watching Friends addictively when she was a freshman in college four years ago, but she felt uncomfortable when actors talked about sex. "I almost skipped all the sex dialogue."
In 2004, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) considered importing the series, but abandoned the idea after a director conceded that "it talks about sex in every episode, which a Chinese audience would not accept."
Lyu Huayang, an English major graduate, said the sitcom helped her understand U.S. culture. She has vivid images of how Americans dress for Halloween parties or prepare gifts for Christmas, but some subjects she had never encountered before, such as homosexuality, surrogate mothers, and strippers at bachelor parties.
Today, Chinese are more familiar with these topics. Shen Ruoyi, 17, thinks Friends is a very "safe" program and she watches it with her father. "We laugh together, without any problems."
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