Yet Chaguan quizzed visitors to a museum in the city of Changchun, housed in a palace built by Japanese occupiers when they installed the last Qing emperor as the puppet ruler of north-east China from 1932-45. 但是本刊《茶馆》专栏在长春市某博物馆（该博物馆位于日本侵略者所建造的宫殿里，在这里日本侵略者让清朝最后一位皇帝成为中国东北的傀儡统治者）里采访了几名游客。

Such dramas just use history as a backdrop, scoffed two students, Taylor Wu and Linda Zhang. 这样的剧只是以历史做背景，两名学生吴泰勒和张琳达如此表示。

They are really stories about "modern life", they added, whether that means love stories or concubines seeking promotions. 他们补充说，无论爱情故事还是嫔妃渴望晋升，这些故事其实是和“现代生活”有关的。

The students are on to something. 学生们言之在理。

Watching bored, paranoid concubines waiting for the emperor's summons, the penny drops: this is a workplace drama, and these employees are failing a performance review. 看着无聊、多疑的嫔妃们等着皇上的召唤，豁然开朗：这就是一场职场大戏，这些就是绩效考核不及格的员工。

Young maids in a palace dormitory, torn between small acts of kindness and infighting, could be teenage workers at an electronics plant. 宫里的年轻宫女们，在小恩小惠和明争暗斗之间左右为难，可能正是电子厂里年轻工人的写照。

Even bejewelled dowagers sound like scolding parents from 2018, with one calling a daughter "gutless" for failing to ask Qianlong for a promotion. 即使珠光宝气的贵妇，也像2018年的家长，责怪女儿没胆量，没能向乾隆提出晋升。

Imperial dramas have reflected the politics of their time since they first hit Chinese TV screens in the 1980s. 自上世纪80年代宫斗剧首次出现在中国电视屏幕上以来，一直在反应当时的政治。

Film-makers study what Communist Party ideologues call the "main melody", a musical term they have borrowed to describe the core political ideas upon which creative sorts are encouraged to riff. 电影制作人研究的是共产党理论家们所称的“主旋律”，他们借用这个音乐术语来描述鼓励创造性思维的核心政治思想。

"TV Drama in China", a study published by the Hong Kong University Press, elegantly catalogues permitted themes. 《中国电视剧》是香港大学出版社发表的一份研究报告，巧妙地列出了允许讨论的主题。

Historical dramas from the 1980s stressed the weakness of the last Qing rulers. 20世纪80年代的历史剧强调了清末统治者的无能。

In the authoritarian aftermath, such shows praised 18th-century emperors as stern patriots whose ruthlessness supposedly preserved national unity. 在威权统治时期，此类电视剧则称赞清朝皇帝是严厉的爱国者，他们的无情据说维护了国家统一。

"Yongzheng Dynasty", a drama from 1999, recast the unpopular Yongzheng emperor as a flinty corruption-fighter. 1999年的电视剧《雍正王朝》将不受欢迎的雍正皇帝重新塑造成一个强硬的反腐斗士。

That reminded contemporary viewers of Zhu Rongji, a crusty reformer who was prime minister at the time, Ying Zhu of the City University of New York has noted. 纽约城市大学的朱英指出，这让当代观众想起了朱镕基，时任总理的朱镕基锐意改革。

By 2007 viewers were glued to "The Great Ming Dynasty 1566", a cynical drama about rampant corruption. 到2007年，观众们被《大明王朝1566》所吸引，这是一部关于猖獗腐败的讽刺剧。