Taiwan TV drama set for Latin America debut

2015-04-14

A Taiwan TV drama is set to screen for the first time in Latin America later this month, helping spotlight the nation’s pop culture and soft power with viewers throughout the region, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs April 11.

“The Fierce Wife,” an award-winning series airing five years ago in Taiwan, will be broadcast with Spanish dubbing and subtitles. It was selected by the MOFA on the strength of its culturally representative storylines and high production values.

“Pop culture plays a pivotal role in the development of Taiwan’s soft power, and the government places a premium on deepening ties with ROC diplomatic allies in Latin America through expanded cultural exchanges,” MOFA Vice Minister Vanessa Shih said April 11 at the launch event in Taipei City.

“The initiative was started in September 2013 and, after more than a year of reviewing possibles and probabales, the ministry settled on ‘The Fierce Wife’ as Taiwan’s trailblazer.”

Audiences will be able to watch the drama on 10 TV networks in eight countries, including El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Paraguay, as well as nondiplomatic allies Argentina, Chile and Ecuador.

According to Shih, the initiative will introduce Taiwan’s multicultural society and open the door to new opportunities for local TV and film productions companies in the lucrative 400 million-plus Spanish-language market worldwide.

Starring critically acclaimed actors such as Amanda Chu, Sonia Sui, Chris Wang and Wen Sheng-hao, the drama portrays the life of an ordinary housewife who survives a broken marriage to emerge as an independent and successful woman.

The series is one of the most viewed Taiwan TV dramas in recent years, and garnered high ratings when broadcast in Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=229225&CtNode=413)