Popular TV series examines school education system

With a thought-provoking theme delving into China's education problems, the 44-episode TV series Hand in Hand recently drew dozens of experts and insiders to hold a seminar to discuss its successful formula in Beijing.

Inspired from real stories, the tale follows four families' effort to earn a top primary school's spot for their young children, reflecting the parents' anxiety and stress as well as their pondering over parenting and the school education system.

Concluding the first run in late April, the drama has scored a rating of 2.7 percent in a 59-city survey -- the threshold for a popular show is usually 1 percent -- and accumulated 2.1 billion "clicks" on the streaming site Mango TV.

Besides, the series has seen its related topics ranked on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo's most searched list for 166 times and its short videos earning over 5.7 billion views on the short-video platform Douyin.

Director Chun Kunhui said the TV series is aimed at exploring the essence of education to help anxious parents return to a more normal and healthier way to accompany their children to grow up.

Yu Hong, a professor of TV research at Peking University, said the TV series has obtained a breakthrough in putting its focus on the growing up of the parents, but not just reflecting family tensions caused by education as which are mostly featured in similar themed TV dramas.