A reality TV show featuring celebrity fathers and their children living a humble life in the countryside has become a hit in China, prompting many people to rethink parent-child relations.

In each episode of the show, "Dad! Where are we Going?", famous fathers are required to take care of their children in a poor rural area where they have never been.

A few fathers behaved well, including singer and actor Jimmy Lin from Taiwan, who wowed the public with his sense of responsibility and his optimism.

Some others came off less well. Fathers lacked patience, had no basic life skills, and even threw tantrums, a sharp contrast to their perfect role-model images.

All this caused quite a stir on the Internet. The show is trending on Weibo, with microbloggers saying it has made them view parent-child relations in different ways.

"I like the way Jimmy passes on 'positive energy' to his son whenever they encounter a problem," said Chen Jing, 26, and six months into her pregnancy. Previously she had absolutely no idea how to educate a baby, but what she saw on the reality show was quite enlightening.

"For example, when they were facing a difficult task, Jimmy would tell his son that everything would be OK, and I thought that was quite inspiring for the kid," Chen said.

Inspiration for some, means castigation for others. The show got fathers thinking about their cold relations with their children.

A businessman from Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province said he regretted not communicating with his son more often when he was younger. His son frequently hid, because as a father, he was always strict with him, making them grow apart. "I feel like I barely know him now that he's gone to college."

Zhou Keda, deputy director of the Institute of Social Sciences at the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, knows that in many Chinese families, the image of a father is someone who is busy at work, and the children are traditionally closer to the mother, who they spend a great amount of time with.

"This inevitably widens the gap between the father and the children." What matters the most between parents and children is love and mutual respect, says Zhou. Parents, especially fathers, should try to communicate with their children more often, to help build a sound family.

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